Defense Communities 360 Daily DOD Funding Needed to Accelerate Transportation Projects, Appropriators Say The Pentagon should allocate funding for transportation projects outside the gates of military installations to help host communities accommodate increases in traffic stemming from mission growth, according to the report from the Senate Appropriations Committee accompanying the fiscal 2015 military construction and veterans affairs spending bill. “By including mission growth transportation projects as eligible infrastructure projects for federal defense funding, important improvements can be made while creating jobs and strengthening national security,” the report states. There are a significant number of mission critical transportation projects in defense communities requiring funding, the committee notes. To achieve its aim, the committee encourages DOD to adjust eligibility thresholds and requirements of the Defense Access Road (DAR) program for installations of “strategic importance.” The program is the only federal mechanism for DOD to fund upgrades to roads outside of a military installation. In the past, the panel has pressed the department to lift the program’s requirement that existing road traffic must double, an impossible threshold in large metropolitan areas with traffic that already is highly congested. The committee also calls for a separate funding source for DAR projects to offset the impacts of base expansion and resultant traffic congestion. “Providing Department of Defense funding in con junction with state transportation improvement programs to address defense-related transportation projects, including those required as a result of Base Realignment and Closure development, would enhance the ability of work on these projects to begin promptly,” according to the report. The Senate is expected to debate the milcon spending bill, passed by the committee May 22, later this month or in July. The report, S. 113-174, is available from the committee website.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 13:26:22 +0000
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