Through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, the Department of Defense approved a move of more than 20,000 Defense jobs from offices in Arlington to Fort Belvoir in southern Fairfax and to Quantico. These jobs would be taken from Metro stations to areas only accessible by car. New roads and transit to serve the areas could cost $600 million to $1 billion. Even with this investment - for which there is little funding - traffic on the already clogged I-95 corridor could become impossible. Worse, destruction of forests and streams will further undermine efforts to restore the Bay.
Placing jobs next to the Springfield Metro station and VRE could help somewhat, but better to cancel the moves entirely because they represent one of the worst land use decisions yet made in the DC region. Write to Senators Warner and Webb, and Governor Kaine to ask for the move to be reconsidered.
