Is I-395 heading for a traffic catastrophe?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- One of the region's busiest highways is about to be congested in ways that are unthinkable, and there's no solution to fix the oncoming mess.

A huge office complex called BRAC 133 is being built on 16 acres at the Mark Center, right off Seminary Road and Interstate 395.

Virginia leaders say it will have a catastrophic effect on traffic.

The complex is being built as part of the U.S. military's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. About 6,400 personnel will be shifted to the Mark Center location in 2011.

Currently, there is no direct mass transportation option to get workers to the center. Plans to build a direct exit ramp from I-395 to the Mark Center have been dropped due to environmental concerns over a nearby nature preserve.

"It is a horrendous situation," Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., tells WTOP. "There's no money {to find the fix}."

Moran takes issue with the City of Alexandria, which he says is not moving fast enough to come up with a solution.

"Unfortunately, I think it is going to be much too late by the time we have a single-consensus plan to be able to address that situation in any reasonable period of time," Moran says.

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille says the issue was discussed a week ago with the Army, BRAC officials, Duke Realty (site developers) and VDOT.

"It was very well attended and we shared our many concerns about traffic impacts with them," Euille says. "Everyone agreed to keep working at solutions, including seeking Federal funding to address access issues and transit/shuttle services."

The main concern about the Mark Center location surrounds the Seminary Road interchange off I-395. That interchange will provide the most direct access to the Center.

However, as vehicles use the exit, they will have to pass through a number of traffic lights before getting on a local road that leads to the massive building. The fear is that as traffic queues up, cars and trucks will form long lines, and eventually block travel lanes on the highway.

"It is going to gridlock I-395 in ways we can't imagine," Fairfax County Supervisor Jeff McKay, D-Lee, tells WTOP.

"It was the dumbest land-use decision associated with BRAC that I can come up with. It is in a bad location, there is no mass transit, it has an interstate interchange that doesn't work now."

Before the decision was made to build at the Mark Center, the government's General Services Administration site in Springfield was thought to be the leading candidate to land the relocating jobs. That site, which is a short walk from the Franconia-Springfield Metro and Virginia Railway Express stations, is in McKay's district.

"I frankly cannot think of a single solitary positive comment about choosing the Mark Center site," says McKay. "It is an absolute disaster that this region will live with for years."

Right now, the only mass transportation plan calls for workers to take Metro to the King Street Station on the Blue and Yellow Lines, then take a shuttle to the complex.

McKay says that simply will not work.

"People are not going to use transit when they have to change three different modes to get from their house to the workplace," he says.

(Copyright 2010 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)