Army’s BRAC traffic plan flawed

By Suzanne Kubota
Senior Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.com

The Defense Department Inspector General has found some serious flaws in the Army’s report on the traffic and environmental impacts of the BRAC move. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) says he has forwarded the report to officials in Alexandria and Fairfax County, encouraging them to sue the Pentagon.

A report from the Inspector General found that in 2008 when the Army predicted the impact on traffic and the environment of moving 6,400 defense workers to the massive Mark Center office complex in Alexandria, it “assumed no change in existing or baseline traffic conditions and volume from 2008 to 2011.”

Instead, the IG points to reports that find “significantly greater traffic congestions than predicted” in the 2008 report.

The 2008 report concluded that there would be no significant impact on traffic from the Base Realignment and Closure moves.

The IG’s report recommends the Army go back revise the impact statement, update its traffic management plan and conduct a more technically robust, traffic impact analysis.

If the Army’s original Finding of No Significant Impact (FNSI) is reversed, Defense may be required to help pay for transportation improvements.

Moran told the Washington Post he’d like to see the IG’s report used to file suit in U.S. District Court asking for an injunction to block the BRAC move.

WTOP.com reports local leaders are digesting the 200-page report before deciding whether to go to court.

Moran told Federal News Radio he expects the increased traffic will be “a nightmare because we’re going to have delays of as much as an (additional) hour for everyone that lives south of Seminary Road,” once the move is underway.

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