The worst is yet to come at the Mark Center, with another 600 employees on the way in addition to the thousands of Defense of Department workers who have yet to move to their new offices.
The Institute for Defense Analyses, a current tenant of the Mark Center, plans to add about 600 more workers to its ranks, bringing the total number of Defense Department workers at the new offices to about 7,000.
The Mark Center is expected to be a “traffic nightmare” as thousands of cars line up along the highway near the center, which has no Metro or mass transit access. Military and local officials have spent months passing the blame for the decision to move workers there.
Meanwhile Virginia Department of Transportation officials are gearing up for a public meeting Jan. 25 about a new ramp expected to alleviate traffic at the Mark Center. The new High Occupancy Vehicle ramp will move carpools from Interstate 395 to Seminary Road, cost $80 million and is expected to be completed in late 2015. The meeting is at 7 p.m. at Francis C. Hammond Middle School, 4646 Seminary Road, Alexandria.
