"I had been having nightmares trying to figure out how we are going to get through all of this," mused Isiah Leggett, the County Executive for Montgomery County, Maryland. He was referring to the expansion of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, wihch is part of an impending base consolidation that will bring about 19,000 military jobs to the region. Lawmakers announced today that they will allocate $300 million to improve traffic flow, public transit facilities, and pedestrian walkways in the area. Officials hope to run a shuttle bus between Fort Belvoir and the Virginia Railway Express station at Lorton and between Fort Belvoir and the Springfield-Franconia Metro station. They also hope to add a rail spur to the current railway system.
To improve traffic flow, officials are thinking of adding an exit directly off the Beltway onto the Navy base, a high-speed elevator that would make it possible to reach the Medical Center Metro Station from the east side of Wisconsin Avenue, and an underground tunnel that would be open to car and foot traffic. In the Fairfax area, lawmakers hope to devote about $500 million to improving traffic flow. Currently, the base is difficult to reach by bus and rail. But the on-base population is about to double, adding another 24,100 workers to the local traffic flow.
A new hospital is being built at Fort Belvoir as well.
As officials try to work out the logistical problems involved in bringing thousands of people into the area, families are preparing for their moves as well. Barbara Pate, the executive officer for the deputy chief of staff for resource management, G-8, was enthusiastic about the move. "I think when you are on a military installation you feel more connected to the military because you're in their environment," she said.
Fort Belvoir has set up a website where families can find resources related to their relocation, including a lending closet which will loan out household items for up to two weeks while families wait for their moving vans to arrive, a link to an online calculator that will allow families to make customized checklists and calendars to keep track of their move, and a link to a fact page about the Fort Belvoir area, including information about schools, child care, the cost of living, housing, employment, the commissary and base exchange, banking, medical services, and recreation.
Because the cost of living is higher in the Fort Belvoir area than it is at other bases around the country, families who downsize may also appreciate knowing about self-storage facilities in the area. There are many around the Beltway. Extra Space has numerous facilities in the area, and offers the first month free.