Community Corner

BRAC Deadline Reached at Newly-Minted Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Members of the BRAC Implementation Committee set to discuss the group's future.

After six years of planning, the federally-mandated Sept. 15, 2011 deadline arrived today for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) transitions across the country, including at Bethesda's newly-minted Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Patients and staff who have been gradually transitioning over a course of months from the old Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. are now in place at Bethesda, along with the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. The last of the 18 inpatients were to Bethesda Aug. 27, just ahead of the impending Hurricane Irene, and the hospital boasts to treat wounded warriors.

Since 2005, when BRAC became law, “2.6 million square feet of new construction and 472,000 square feet of renovations have taken place on the Bethesda campus and Fort Belvoir to accommodate the new, expanded missions there,” according to a report in the American Forces Press Service.

Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In Bethesda, 2,500 new employees have been added to the military hospital and the number of yearly visitors is expected to nearly double to one million.

But work is far from over both on the base and off. Transportation improvements to accommodate the traffic associated with the new, expanded military hospital are underway. The work will include intersection improvements around the hospital and an upgrade at the Medical Center Metro that will feature deep elevators and a pedestrian underpass beneath Rockville Pike to ease access, along with bike path and sidewalk improvements.

Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Members of the BRAC Implementation Committee, a group of stakeholders tasked with reviewing transportation improvements spurred by BRAC, are in the to help pay for the projects. Some state and federal dollars have been set aside for the intersection improvements and the Metro upgrades, but about $100 million more is needed to complete the intersections and construct the pedestrian tunnel and Metro elevators, officials have said.

Montgomery County recently revamped its BRAC website, which allows users to view project details for each upgrade, and the Bethesda Transportation Solutions’ BRAC page details alternative transportation options to help encourage commuters out of their cars. Parking on the base will also prove to be a challenge. The Navy is encouraging its employees to use alternative transportation like Metro or carpooling—parking spots at the hospital are limited to one to every four employees.

"BRAC in Maryland means more jobs, a stronger economy, and our state's contribution to our national security.  Thanks to the hard work of so many from Maryland’s Congressional Delegation, the military, the private sector, and every level of government, we have been able to assist these military missions, personnel, and contractors in their transition to Maryland," said Lt. Governor Brown in a statement marking the BRAC deadline. "But as the official BRAC process comes to an end, our hard work goes on. We must continue our efforts to improve our infrastructure and ensure a workforce pipeline in order to maximize and sustain the benefits of BRAC for years to come." 

Recently, the Navy announced a plan to at the hospital, including a 563,000 square foot building and a 500-space underground parking garage at the hospital and a new 341,000 square foot research and education facility and a 400-space parking structure at the  Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Though the upgrades are not related to the BRAC transition, the move has many residents concerned about the impact of more construction on the community in addition to the impacts of the new traffic.

For now, the BRAC Implementation Committee will continue its work as is, even though the deadline for the transition has arrived, according to Phil Alperson, Montgomery County’s BRAC coordinator.

The committee has served as a way for community members to voice their concerns about the impact of BRAC to the Navy and other stakeholders.

Members are expected to discuss the committee’s future at a Tuesday meeting, Alperson said.

“The community wants to continue because they want and need to monitor the progress of BRAC and its impacts,” Alperson wrote in an e-mail to Patch. “And the Navy wants to have a BIC to serve as its community liaison outlet.  So we need the BIC in some fashion. The County Executive’s office hasn’t weighed in with a specific plan—we want to hear what the BIC members have to say.”


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