The Defense Department must take steps to ensure that traffic ramifications are weighed heavily in plans to relocate more than 123,000 service members and civilian employees within two years, according to a Sept. 9 report by the Government Accountability Office. The changes, as set forth in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round, "will greatly increase traffic" in communities that surround the 18 stateside installations that will gain population, the GAO report stated. "While legislation mandates that BRAC growth be completed by 2011, major highway and transit projects usually take nine to 19 years," the GAO stated. The federal government provided $ 2 billion to pay for such projects in the near term, with $1.1 billion of that earmarked for the Washington, D.C., area. In the mean time, the report stated, some communities have begun taking steps to improve matters on their own. Maryland officials are working on a low-cost plan to improve a critical intersection near Bethesda Naval Hospital, and Texas officials are using an "innovative financing approach" to improve a highway near Fort Bliss.
