GAO (2009) has ascertained that there will be remarkable growth following the decision of the Base Realignment and Closure also known as BRAC, which will lead to significant growth in communities’ transportation systems. The initiatives of other defense will also add to the needs of the transportation. Growth of the Base Realignment and Closure will lead to increased traffic in small as well as large and metropolitan areas. The impact of transportation, according to GAO (2009), has influence on the decision regarding relocation. Such impacts of traffic played a very important role in the decision of the Department of defense to acquire Fort Belvoir that is projected to cost 1.2 billion USD. GAO established that transportation remains the biggest challenge as ascertained by the office of Department of defense on economic adjustment.
Federal government of the United States of America have made several attempts to provide direct help to assist in addressing transportation impact of BRAC, hence, the local and state governments of the US have put in place a number of strategies to address the problem. For instance, the Defense Access Road Program of the Department of Defense has certified transportation projects to ease traffic in different communities. In addition, OEA has allocated considerable amount of money of fund in form of grants to fund local planning as well traffic studies. Federal government of the United States offer reasonable financial aid to ensure smooth and effective transport in the military. GAO found out that one of the main goals of the Federal-Aid Highway program is the country’s national security even though DOT lack serious programs concerning the growth of the military. Several transport grant programs are offered by the federal government in a bid to address transportation challenges experienced by the Base Realignment and Closure.
It is felt among several communities that Base Realignment and Closure as well as other initiatives of the military growth will have remarkable effect on the local transportation. Studies on transportation, which have been conducted by many scholars, prove that BRAC-related growth is likely to lead to decline in the conditions of traffic. Military growth is believed to have significant impact on transportation despite the fact that the impact varies from one community to another. Research by the GOA established that Base Realignment and Closure growth affect several communities and they believed that such impacts are likely to increase pressure on their transport systems. GAO (2009) established that seventeen out of eighteen communities of Base Realignment and Closure growth pointed out that transportation is topping their list of priorities. The communities who perceived transportation as their top priority are both small and large; however, the impact is dependent on the size of the community.
Department of defense funds transportation, but the funding is limited and as a result, projects compete for funds from DOT. In order to ensure the success of DOT funding, the local and state governments play a very crucial role in making sure that the projects are expedited. Since growth in the military have serious impact on transportation, the federal government have responded by estimating the costs of projects, planning as well as allocating some money for some projects. GAO (2009) has found out that DOT and DOD have some good programs in place that assist in funding both localities and states projects. Highway projects have been consequently prioritized by the local and state government, which several agencies fund to have proper transportation network and services.