[CPEO-MEF] REALIGNMENT: National Academies warns of traffic problems

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
National Academies
February 7, 2011

Implementation of BRAC 2005 Will Lead to Serious Traffic Congestion in 
Some Major Metropolitan Areas; Report Calls for Special Appropriation to 
Mitigate Immediate Problems

WASHINGTON - Implementation of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment 
(BRAC) law of 2005 will concentrate tens of thousands of additional 
personnel at or near 18 domestic military bases, several of which are 
located in major metropolitan areas with already congested 
transportation infrastructure.  The September 2011 deadline for 
realignment is far too soon for surrounding communities to deal with 
significant added traffic congestion for military personnel and other 
commuters during peak travel periods, says a new congressionally 
mandated report from the National Research Council's Transportation 
Research Board.  It calls on the U.S. Department of Defense to pay its 
share of local transportation improvements.

The committee that wrote the report developed case studies to examine 
impacts around six bases where BRAC requirements will cause personnel 
shifts to occur faster than infrastructure can be improved.  The 
committee found that transportation and congestion problems resulting 
from the realignment will impose substantial costs on some of the 
surrounding communities and may be detrimental to the military as well. 
 Transportation improvements needed to handle extra traffic demand 
exceed state and local resources.  Similar problems could exist at other 
BRAC 2005 growth bases.

"Normal planning and funding will not be adequate to make near-term 
improvements needed to avoid significant, even severe, added traffic 
congestion in some BRAC cases," said Joseph M. Sussman, committee chair 
and JR East Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

The report offers ways to mitigate the effects of base realignments for 
the near, medium and long term.  For the near term, it calls on Congress 
to consider a special appropriation or the allocation of uncommitted 
stimulus funds to address the most adverse transportation problems.  The 
intent of these funds would be to initiate projects within the year that 
would reduce the severity of congestion impacts within three years.

...

For the entire release and a link to the full report, see
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=13104

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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