More News

New Defense Department support for a second entrance to the Medical Center Metro station is a big step forward for solving Bethesda traffic woes, according to officials.

In the Defense Department budget proposed by President Barack Obama for fiscal 2010, $20 million has been included to pay for a new entrance to the Medical Center station on the east side of Rockville Pike, across from the current entrance at the National Institutes of Health.

The $20 million, which would actually be spent during fiscal 2011, represents the first time that the Defense Department has given official support to the project through the Defense Access Roads program, which funds traffic mitigation measures necessary due to increased military activity. The budget must be approved by Congress.

Government officials and residents have argued that a new east-side Metro entrance is a key component in dealing with the 2,500 new employees at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

The facility is scheduled to open on the current National Naval Medical Center campus in September 2011 following the relocation of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Washington, D.C. to the Navy Med campus in Bethesda. This is scheduled to take place under Base Realignment and Closure, which in 2005 reorganized military installation infrastructure and locations around the country.

"The Defense Department has specifically said, we want this, by putting it in their budget," said Phil Alperson, the county's BRAC coordinator. "This is no longer an earmark. This is no longer one member of Congress, or one member of the Senate saying, I want a Metro entrance."

Alperson said the $20 million line item is "a huge deal" because of the county's efforts to promote the use of mass transit and bike and pedestrian pathways, instead of new car trips, for the roads around the future Walter Reed facility.

He also said a new entrance would make it more likely the new Walter Reed facility's mission would succeed because it would decrease travel times for wounded warriors coming to and going from the medical center.

Proposals for the new entrance include street enhancements connecting NIH to Navy Med over Rockville Pike, elevators on one or both sides of the Pike connecting to the Red Line along with a shallow underground pedestrian tunnel, and a pedestrian bridge over the Pike. Cost estimates for the various proposals range from $12 million to $60 million.

While the $20 million could cover a significant amount of the entrance's, for now the line item is a placeholder, Alperson said, adding that eventually the Defense Department will re-submit a final dollar request for fiscal 2011, when a design for a new entrance has been chosen.

He said he "can't see why" the $20 million would run into trouble in Congress, but added that he "can't guarantee" it would pass.

"I've been told by many people that this has been a source of discussion at high levels of the Pentagon," Alperson said.

In a statement issued May 20, U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington praised the $20 million allocated for the Metro entrance, saying, "This new facility will support our wounded warriors and provide world-class care for these brave men and women, but I am working hard to mitigate the impact of the relocation on the existing community...we will work hard to preserve this critical funding."

Ed Krauze of the Bethesda Park View Citizens Association, one of several neighborhood groups on the county's BRAC Committee, said the news about the $20 million budget item was "awesome" but wanted to make sure it was in the final budget signed by President Obama.

He also said the news did not reduce the importance of improving intersections and general commuting environment around the Walter Reed project, and that a new Metro entrance would not solve all the local traffic problems.

"I think it shows the federal delegation has stepped to the plate. Now we need the state and the county to step up to the plate," Krauze said.