NYT: Mark Center Raises Safety Concerns

Roughly 3,600 DoD employees are now in Alexandria's Mark Center.

BRAC Deadline Day: Why Locals Feared Sept. 15

2,500 employees moved in; 3,900 to come in the next year to the Mark Center.

Today marks the infamous Sept. 15 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) deadline, but it is not the local traffic doomsday people feared. That is because only about 2,500 federal employees have moved into Alexandria’s Mark Center at the intersection of I-395 and Seminary Road. The move-in of another 2,500 people will continue slowly through the rest of this year. The brand-new facility will eventually be the workplace for 6,400 Washington Headquarters Service employees. The remaining 1,400 employees are expected to move into the building by September 2012. Why So Many Feared Sept. 15 Sept. 15, 2011 was mandated by Congress as the end-date for the BRAC process, establishing a timeline in which the needed buildings had to be constructed and …

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NOVA Lawmakers: 'Strong Opposition' on BRAC Move-in Plans

Senators Webb and Warner, and Reps. Moran and Connolly express concerns in letter to Defense Secretary.

The Department of Defense's occupancy plans for the Washington Headquarters Services facility at Alexandria's Mark Center property has been met by "strong opposition" by members of Northern Virginia's congressional delegation.  It is widely agreed that the road network surrounding the facility cannot currently meet rising demand. The facility has to be ready for operation by Sept. 15, 2011.  "The plan… contravenes the department’s assurances to work with the Virginia delegation and local governments to ensure that the occupation of the Mark Center does not cause failing levels of service to surrounding roadways and intersections, including Interstate I-395," wrote U.S. Senators Jim Webb (D) and Mark Warner (D), and Reps. Jim Moran (D-8th) …

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The BRAC Imposition: An Interview with Sharon Bulova

The fourth part of an ongoing series with key officials.

A “big, challenging mess” is how Sharon Bulova, Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, described the September influx of 19,000 federal employees to northern Virginia. “We feel a little bit let down here, being faced with a major move, especially at the Mark Center, without some way of being able to fund and to build transportation,” said Bulova, who spoke with Patch from the Fairfax County Government Center. “Fairfax County is installing some new Connector routes and redesigning some of our Connector service that will serve both the Mark Center, but also the South County/Richmond Highway area. And we’re also going to be providing some shuttle capability from the VRE [Virginia Railway Express] Station and the Franconia-…

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Will Radle

10:55 am on Monday, August 1, 2011

People want Solutions. Not Excuses. Ft Belvoir is in Fairfax County; Mark Center is not.   more ›