Fairfax Co. Sees 20 Percent of Employees Telecommute

FAIRFAX, Va. - Fairfax County is the first jurisdiction in the Washington area to convince 20 percent of its eligible government workforce to telecommute, says Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly.

Connolly says the county has met a goal set by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments five years ago.

More than 1,000 of the county's 5,000 eligible employees worked from home or a telework center at least one day a week in 2005. The county has 11,000 employees.

The Examiner quotes Connolly as saying that meeting the goal means the county will eliminate 1.8 million commuting miles and prevent 720,000 pounds of pollutants from entering the air.

The Council of Government's goal is to take 20 percent of the region's nearly 2.5 million commuters off the roads at least once a week to ease traffic congestion and improve air quality.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)