Virginia Lawmakers Play Traffic Cop

The forced march of some 6,400 national security employees to presumably safer digs in the Washington suburbs has never sat well with the Northern Virginia congressional delegation.

With the multi-agency moves required under the Base Realignment and Closure process now underway, skepticism about the Pentagon's ability to manage the long-foreseen traffic congestion has prompted a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta from Reps. Jim Moran and Gerry Connolly and Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb.

The four Democrats are asking the Pentagon to help them keep an eye on commuter woes at the Mark Center on I-395 in Alexandria. They ask Panetta to provide a list of any changes the Defense Department makes to the project's transportation management plan, to detail all planned traffic abatement measures planned in case the current strategy fails to ease gridlock, to consider mandatory alternative work schedules, and to publish measurements of rises in traffic volume every 30 days.

Angry commuters vote.