| Page 2 of 2 < |
Expansion Proposal For Navy Hospital Draws Traffic Fears
The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda is preparing to accommodate for the closing of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The facility will be renamed Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
(By Robert A. Reeder -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The first alternative would add about 1.1 million square feet of usable space, and the second alternative would add 650,000 square feet on top of that to the 4.7 million square foot facility. About two-thirds of the additional space would be new construction, with the remainder renovations of facilities.
The Navy held several open houses this month to present the proposals and solicit public opinion.
"Overall, I'm amazed," said resident Peter Kennedy as he left one of the sessions. "How do you take an area like this, which is already overwhelmed with business and traffic, and keep adding to it?"
"It's a stressed area already," added Ilaya Hopkins, a member of the East Bethesda Citizens Association. "I think there'd be a lot more traffic."
Public input, part of the scoping period, comes in advance of preparations for an environmental impact study that is to be submitted by June, followed by a 45-day public-comment period. "The earlier we have the input, the better," Badura said.
The environmental study is required by law and will evaluate the potential effect of the hospital consolidation on traffic, noise, land use and services. If the process advances as planned by the Navy, a final study would be completed by the end of 2007, with a decision made by February 2008.
"It's reassuring to see they're recruiting people to take a look," Hopkins said. "I just hope that will be an ongoing activity."
Bronrott said he and Montgomery County Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda) will ask the Navy to extend the scoping period, scheduled to end Thursday, by 30 days.
"We're going to ask them to go back out and reach out to the neighborhood associations and make sure people know about it," Bronrott said. "There are a lot of questions that need to be thoroughly looked at."
Mobile
Email