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Transportation projects for Walter Reed Army Medical Center's move to Bethesda could soon get a big infusion of federal cash.

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed a Defense Appropriations Bill last week for fiscal 2010 that includes $300 million that would be shared between Walter Reed's relocation to the National Naval Medical Center and Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

In Bethesda, the money can be used for transportation projects such as improvements to four intersections around the base, as well as a proposed pedestrian access tunnel under Rockville Pike that would connect Navy Med to the Medical Center Metro station. After presidential approval, the Department of Defense has 90 days to submit a plan to Congress detailing how the money for projects at both bases will be used.

"The expectation is that at least half would come to the Walter Reed BRAC construction in Bethesda," said U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. in a Thursday interview.

Both Navy Med and Fort Belvoir are expanding due to the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, set to open on Navy Med's current campus in September 2011, is expected to bring 2,500 additional jobs to Bethesda.

"This is an acknowledgment ... that the transportation needs are an integral part of the success of the BRAC process," said Phil Alperson, Montgomery County's BRAC coordinator. "Congress gets it. Congress has stepped up to the plate and is trying to address it."

In an Oct. 2 letter to Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8), Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D) and County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) identified six Bethesda BRAC-related projects that were ideal recipients for additional federal funding. The total funding request for the projects in the letter is $127 million, with the largest shares requested for the intersection of Cedar Lane and Rockville Pike ($50 million) and the Medical Center Metro pedestrian access project ($40 million), which would use an underground passage to connect Navy Med to the Metro station for pedestrians and possibly vehicles.

The other projects identified in the Oct. 2 letter include upgrades to the Connecticut Avenue and Jones Bridge Road intersection ($20 million), the Old Georgetown Road and Cedar Lane intersection ($7 million), the Rockville Pike and Jones Bridge Road intersection ($5 million), and bike path and sidewalk upgrades around Navy Med ($5 million).

The funds from $300 million appropriation would cover all of those projects should the state and the county choose to proceed, Van Hollen said, although specific transportation projects are not identified in the bill approved by the House on Dec. 16. He said it is not certain when the money will actually be released for use.

"This is obviously a huge federal commitment. This is beyond what our local and state leaders were expecting from the federal government," Van Hollen said.

The state has roughly $29 million to spend on the intersection projects, although earlier this month the House and Senate approved $4.4 million in federal funds for two of the intersections, Cedar Lane and Rockville Pike, and Jones Bridge Road and Rockville Pike.

It is unclear what effect the $300 million appropriation will have on other federal funding possibilities, specifically for the pedestrian access project to Metro. The county submitted a $20 million grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the project earlier this year, a decision on which will be announced in February. There is also $20 million "placeholder" for a new entrance to the Metro station in the federal fiscal 2010 budget.

Given the newest $300 million appropriation, Alperson acknowledged, the $20 million grant request could be deemed superfluous by the transportation department. He also expressed concern about the military's response to spending $300 million on transportation projects during overseas military engagements.