‘‘The parking garage is full!” This and similar comments are often heard in passing conversations in the hallways here at the National Naval Medical Center Bethesda. Why? The reason is the ongoing construction of the mandated Base Realignment and Closure project. Recently, 120 parking spaces were closed to provide space for a temporary road that shifts a portion of the inbound and outbound traffic through the southern end of G-Lot on North Palmer Road while the new North Palmer Road is constructed, according to David ‘‘Ollie” Oliveria, facilities director and BRAC program manager, Navy Medicine National Capital Area.
The temporary road should be in place until December. According to Oliveria, North Palmer Road has to change to allow required anti-terrorism⁄force protection standoff distances from Building A and the road once constructed. With safety a command priority, he encouraged attendees of the weekly NNMC Town Hall Meeting to emphasize to their employees the importance of driving slow through the new traffic pattern, to pay close attention to directional signage and lane designations, and to not cross the solid yellow line while inside the jersey barriers.
‘‘Please tell your employees, patients and visitors to be very, very careful when driving through the new traffic pattern, especially in the mornings when it is dark,” he said. ‘‘In the near future, flood lights will be attached to existing light poles in G-Lot to provide additional lighting.”
Transitioning to the topic foremost on the attendees’ minds, Oliveria forged forward, ‘‘As you are all aware, the construction projects onboard NNMC has constrained [available] parking and will continue do so throughout the duration of these [BRAC] projects,” Oliveria said.
He explained that in order to address the parking challenges, various options are being studied or looked at as potential solutions. For instance, the Facilities Department is updating the basewide Transportation Management Plan to outline specific methods that may be implemented to help reduce the number of personnel who are commuting daily to NNMC via Single Occupancy Vehicles. According to Jeff Miller, transportation program manager, one of those initiatives is to implement a basewide vanpooling program.
‘‘While all the details on how this program would work are not yet finalized, the opportunity for this program to significantly impact the number of vehicles entering the base on a daily basis certainly exists,” he stated in an e-mail to the employees.
‘‘For example, one vanpool will hold a maximum of 15 passengers, or the potential reduction of 14 vehicles entering NNMC on a daily basis. Multiply this reduction by the number of vanpools we can create (sky’s the limit!) and the benefits of increased employee satisfaction, reduced pollution, less congested travel on NNMC, arriving on time and finding a parking space could be considerable,” he wrote in the e-mail.
Oliveria noted that NNMC’s leadership is personally involved in attempting to find solutions to the parking issues. More information will be provided regarding those possible solutions at the next Town Hall meeting, he said.
Ending the meeting with the topic of patient care, Oliveria said, ‘‘Remember our motto, ‘Caring is what we do best.’ Put the patient first and provide or offer assistance when necessary.”
Editor’s note: To read about other topics covered at the Town Hall Meeting, read What’s hot in BRAC? Or, visit the BRAC Web site at www.bethesda.med.navy.mil⁄Professional⁄Public_Affairs⁄BRAC⁄index.aspx.
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