Belvoir seeks 'Green' ideas for transportation management

As a member of the Traffic Coordination and Management Plan Working Group, Fort Belvoir's Transportation Demand Coordinator, Juanita Green, has been tasked with finding alternative ways to alleviate the traffic flow on and off the installation.

"My job is to encourage employees to take or use alternate modes of transportation to and from work to reduce traffic congestion on Fort Belvoir," Green said. "For instance, carpools, vanpools or riding the Virginia Railway Express."

Green was born in South Carolina and started out on active duty as a Military Intelligence officer and then transferred to the Army Reserves in 1984. After her discharge in 1989, Green traveled with her husband and their family to his various duty stations throughout the world.

Prior to her recent appointment, Green held several internships at Fort Belvoir. She first was an Army Materiel Command Intern with the G3 shop for a three-month
period.

After her stint at AMC, Green served as an intern with the Directorate of Logistics for almost a year. She was hired as a full-time action officer for the DOL Plans and Operations Division prior to assuming her current position in December.

Green is set on meeting the installation commander's goal of reducing the amount of single-occupancy vehicles by 10 percent over the next two years.

"Right now, we have five measures we are working on to reduce traffic: alternate work schedules, teleworking, rideshare Web sites and internal and external shuttles," Green said. "We are coming up with policies for the alternate work schedule and teleworking. If we can educate and then encourage people to do these things, I can see us achieving this goal."

With the alternate work schedule, employees would be able to use flextime hours, a compressed workweek or work in staggered shifts. In a survey conducted last year, 35 percent currently participate in this measure. According to the working group, most opt for participation on Mondays and Fridays. The working group hopes to push the rest of the days of the week, as well.

Employees interested in teleworking, must follow DoD's policy, but it is a low-cost alternative to a normal schedule.

A pilot Web site for ridesharing recently got underway for employees of the 300 area. Officials will continue to test it for another month before offering it to more employees.

External shuttle service will provide service to regional bus and rail services, including the Franconia Metro Station and Lorton VRE. The shuttle would then take an express route to Belvoir.

At this time, there is a tentative plan for an internal shuttle that will complement the external shuttle. According to the TCMP, service would operate between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m., with 20 primary stops and seven secondary stops throughout the installation.

According to the TCMP working group, both shuttle services plans are approximately 6-12 months from being implemented.

"We have some agencies that are currently doing the vanpools and the carpools, so we hope to spread those out to the garrison staff," Green said. "I encourage

employees to take alternate modes of transportation, so we can reduce the amount SOVs coming to the installation."