By Tim Cherry
Staff Writer
Thursday,November 10, 2011
Access to Fort Belvoir Community Hospital will be much easier in the future because of a measure taken by the Department of Defense.
The Pentagon announced, Nov. 1, that it will allocate $180 million to the U.S. Route 1 widening project.
The part of the road affected stretches approximately 3.5 miles from Telegraph Road to Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, which covers the closest entrance to FBCH, Pence Gate.
The project, which is currently under a Federal Highway Administration environmental impact study, could potentially be approved in 2012 with construction starting in 2013.
“Widening Route 1 is critical to ensuring a viable transportation network in the Fort Belvoir area,” said Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell in a written statement.
He added that Wounded Warriors, veterans and their Families deserve to have reliable access to FBCH.
“This widening will improve the quality of life for thousands of commuters and visitors,” the governor said.
Route 1 is receiving more than half of the $300 million DoD is to allocating to improve transportation surrounding BRAC affected Military medical facilities in Virginia, Washington, Texas and Maryland.
The widening project will help improve access to FBCH which is expected to support 3,000 DoD employees in the $1.03 billion facility.
“It’s a wonderful community asset for our Wounded Warriors and military personnel,” said Sharon Bulova, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman.
“We need to make sure we’re continuing to work in partnership with Belvoir and the Army…and help to resolve what would otherwise be a major congestion.”
The National Capital Region is one of the most crowded transportation areas in the United States.
According to the 2011 annual Urban Mobility Report done by the Texas Transportation Institute, a research group based at Texas A&M University, NCR commuters lost 74 hours of time due to traffic delays in 2010, which is more than any other region in the nation.
Route 1 doesn’t improve NCR congestion standards either, as the highway endures 37,000 to 56,000 vehicle trips each day on the four- to six-lane road.
Tom Fahrney, Virginia Department of Transportation commonwealth BRAC coordinator, said the area receiving funding on Route 1 has one of the highest accident rates in Virginia.
He said the widening project will include a median to separate cars in the south and north bound lanes. It will also have more sidewalks, signal crossings and potentially multipurpose trails for pedestrians and cyclists.
Fahrney said the improved conditions will improve safety and road congestion for many years.
“This is a big win for Northern Virginia as a region, the commuters along Rt. 1 and DoD employees at Fort Belvoir,” said U.S. Representative Jim Moran in a written statement.
The Federal Highway Administration is currently overseeing an environmental impact study in cooperation with Fairfax County, VDOT and Fort Belvoir.
Part of the study is analyzing the numerous environmental and human barriers such as the Accotink Refuge and residential areas that could potentially limit the project’s space.
Once the study is completed VDOT will approve the final designs and negotiate right of way acquisitions with the neighboring community.
Col. Mark Moffatt, deputy garrison commander for transformation and BRAC, estimated that Belvoir will relinquish approximately 15 acres of land to accommodate the expansion of Route 1.
“It’s going to help improve the Route 1 corridor from D.C. to Prince William County,” Moffatt said
