BRAC move to Fort Belvoir will create 'chaos'

WASHINGTON - Rep, Jim Moran, D-Va., calls the decision to move 20,000 civilian employees from buildings close to the Pentagon to Fort Belvoir in 2011 "an absolute traffic nightmare."

"It's going to be chaos," Moran tells WTOP. "I'm trying to get this across to Secretary Gates before it's too late."

Moran wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, asking him to reconsider the decision laid out by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.

"It will generate rush hours of three to four hours longer," Moran says, who is asking for a meeting with Gates.

Moran says, "Traffic waiting to access Fort Belvoir would back up onto I-95 and extend morning congestion between one and two hours... These effects would lead to reduced employee productivity and degradation of quality of life."

A lack of public transportation in the Fort Belvoir area would create the congestion, Moran says. The area around the Pentagon can be easily accessed by public transportation, including a Metro rail stop at the Pentagon on the Blue and Yellow Lines.

"The influx of employees being sent to Fort Belvoir threatens to greatly exacerbate an already problematic situation," Moran said in a news release. "We must directly address the transportation needs of the Fort and surrounding communities before the transfer occurs."

Moran also tells Gates that out of the $458 million the military says it needs for traffic improvements, only 8 percent has been funded so far.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)