Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a study that examined BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) decisions made in 2005 to move personnel from bases slated for closure to new ones, and found that public transportation should be given much more serious consideration.

As the deadline looms for the latest BRAC moves in the Washington, DC, area, partners involved in three relocations—Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD; the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) headquarters to Fort George G. Meade in Maryland; and Washington Headquarters Service and several other Department of Defense (DOD) agencies to the Mark Center in Alexandria, VA—are working aggressively to provide alternative means of transportation.
 
Naval Medical Center
The addition of 2,500 personnel to the National Naval Medical Center, not counting visitors, when the current construction is finished in Bethesda, MD, will mean a net decrease in parking spaces. For that reason, the facility is working with Montgomery County and the state to explore transportation options besides driving.

For example, working with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is just across Rockville Pike—the highway that separates the two campuses—the Navy is contracting with a commercial bus commuter service that will bring in people from other parts of Maryland such as Columbia, Annapolis, Bowie, and Laurel.

Montgomery County and the state have also coordinated with the Navy. NIH has a bike club of 700 members, which, as Phil Alperson, the county’s BRAC coordinator, noted, is “700 cars not on the road.”

The county is building new bike paths next to the road that will connect to an existing network and the Navy is encouraging its own bike club. “If we can make that bike system more accessible,” he said, “you get hundreds more cars off the road.”

Alperson continued: “What we’re doing—‘we’ being the county, the state, and the Navy—is encouraging personnel to use alternative forms of transportation, certainly Metrorail and bus and [Montgomery County] Ride On—as well as car and vanpool.”

The county is applying for a portion of the $300 million in federal funds designated for transportation infrastructure projects at BRAC-impacted military medical facilities. “I am very, very confident that we will submit a very strong application and we will receive funding,” Alperson said, stressing the focused support of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sens. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).

Currently, about 3,000 people cross Rockville Pike to get to the naval hospital. Not all of those individuals come from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Medical Center Station at NIH: 20-25 percent of them are from buses, Ride On, carpools, bicycles, or just walking. When BRAC is completed, that number will increase to about 7,000.

So Alperson described a two-component project that will address the problem of how to get thousands of workers safely across the major thoroughfare each morning and afternoon.

One project is building a bank of high-speed elevators on the Navy side of the street that go all the way down to the Metrorail platform. The other is a shallow pedestrian tunnel. It can’t be an over-the-road walkway, he noted, because of security concerns about the proximity of the Navy’s helipad. “With those elevators and the tunnel, we should be able to make it easy, safe, and quicker for those pedestrians to get across the street,” he said.

All these efforts are focused on ensuring access to the medical center—for the wounded warriors, family visitors, and medical personnel. “We’re not trying to turn Rockville Pike into a freeway,” said Alperson, “we’re just trying to prevent untenable gridlock.”

His final words? “This is iconic Walter Reed. That’s all I need to say!”

Mark Center
In Alexandria, WMATA will implement a new Metrobus route, 7M, to run between the Pentagon and Mark Center and will enhance several other routes in anticipation of the relocation of 6,000 personnel from nearby Crystal City in Arlington.

“In an effort to improve transit service to this portion of Northern Virginia, we have developed a service plan that will provide reliable, frequent bus service for relocated workers,” said Jack Requa, WMATA’s assistant general manager for Metrobus.

As an added incentive, DOD employees can ride for free on select Metrobus routes in these areas simply by showing their Mark Center ID card. The program is funded by DOD and the city of Alexandria.

Fort Meade
With more than 5,800 employees from DISA headquarters in the Pentagon in Virginia soon relocating to Fort Meade, DOD is promoting transportation alternatives for the commute. For example, the Maryland Transit Administration operates about 25 MARC commuter trains on the Penn Line each weekday that stop at nearby Odenton Station.

For commuters living near Virginia Railway Express (VRE) stations, MARC has a cross honor agreement with VRE that provides riders on inbound VRE trains with a free transfer to outbound MARC trains. Also, several organizations on Fort Meade offer shuttle service from the station to their facilities, which are about two to five miles away.

DISA, in partnership with MeadeRide—a one-stop resource connecting commuters to Fort Meade with information about transportation choices, including matching those who want to “share getting there”—is arranging for subscription coaches to transport employees from high-demand areas directly to Fort Meade. In addition, local public transportation providers such as Maryland’s MTA are offering new routes to serve employees there.

Further, on its website, DISA explains how individuals can apply for federal commute benefits that may be applied to public transportation— including WMATA’s Metrorail, VRE, MARC, and more than 100 area buses—as well as subscription bus service and vanpools.

In June, Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, chairman of the Governor’s BRAC Subcabinet, announced new funding, partnerships, and initiatives to support BRAC jobs coming to Fort Meade, including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with all public, private, and governmental parties to develop a Transportation Demand Management Plan for that base.

“Because of the strong partnerships we have forged with the private sector, local government, and the Department of Defense, Maryland is BRAC-ready,” Brown said. “By providing Marylanders with viable alternatives to driving while upgrading the road network, we are making great strides to achieving a balanced approach to prepare for BRAC growth in Anne Arundel County and across the state.”

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman added: “This partnership allows us to pool our resources and develop a solution to what is undeniably one of BRAC’s biggest challenges—the creation of a sustainable transportation plan.”

Federal, state, and local officials signed the MOU to develop a comprehensive Transportation Demand Management Plan to ensure adequate transportation infrastructure around the installation. The plan intends to reduce congestion by using a number of initiatives that encourage new and incumbent Fort Meade employees to consider alternative transportation options, including transit as well as ridesharing and telecommuting.

“This MOU represents the region’s commitment to work together, on all levels, to tackle the multiple transportation needs that are involved with BRAC and other mission growth,” said Fort Meade Installation Commander Col. Daniel L. Thomas. “It is this type of commitment between the state, Fort Meade, our partner units, and the business community that allows Fort Meade to support its war fighters, their families, and civilian workforce so we can remain the nation's preeminent center for information and intelligence.”

Lt. Gen. Carroll F. Pollett, DISA director, said: “We are committed to staying actively engaged with all of our Fort Meade and Maryland partners to develop both short- and long-term transportation solutions.”

All these measures will not be the silver bullet to avoiding traffic gridlock, but DOD’s beginning recognition of the importance of public transit in providing alternatives to driving to all these relocated employees is a valued step forward.

Photo by Larry Levine, WMATA Passengers board bus at Pentagon Bus Transit Center, site of the new 7M BRAC-related Metrobus route.

DOT Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Funding Available

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on July 28 the availability of $30 million for a new Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative that will soon make it easier for servicemen and women, their families, veterans and people with disabilities to access transportation services in their communities.

“This new initiative,” said LaHood, “will help ensure that getting a ride to work, daycare or to a medical appointment is no longer an obstacle.”   

The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative will award competitive capital assistance grants to local transportation providers and other groups around the country so they may better coordinate and deliver important information through “one-call” or “one click” centers—which will provide comprehensive responses from just one place.

“Military families and veterans must be able to take full advantage of the transportation resources in their communities,” said Peter Rogoff, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. “Every service member who returns home or relocates to a new community should have a reliable ride to earn a reliable paycheck.”

Also contributing money and support is the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Transportation and Community Living Initiative and the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

For complete information, click here.

Caption
Photo by Larry Levine, WMATA
Passengers board bus at Pentagon Bus Transit Center, site of the new 7M BRAC-related Metrobus route.