Fort Bragg shares a similar situation with many large to medium size cities. Fort Bragg and the surrounding region was built using a suburban sprawl model. Therefore moving about makes motor vehicle travel a necessity. Internal and external roadways are overburdened, traffic accidents continue to increase, and funding to build roadway capacity does not exist. Assuming funding were available, the time factor involved in roadway construction delays any relief in the afore mentioned shortcomings.
But there’s good news! According to a recent story published in the Fayetteville Observer, a new high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane will now help commuters travel to Fort Bragg.
We wanted to find out how this new HOV lane would benefit vanpoolers commuting to the fort, so we asked Charles Young, Fort Bragg’s Sustainable Transportation Planner, what he thought.
VP.com: What kind of an impact do you think these new HOV lanes will make on vanpooling at Fort Bragg?
CY: The HOV lanes as applies to vanpools conceptually will do two things: 1) reward those who vanpool with quicker access to post through the ACPs, and 2) greatly reduce the number of vehicles traversing post. The obvious advantage to Fort Bragg will be reduced demand on the roadway network. Consider that a single vanpool will replace an average of seven vehicles yields a high impact solution.
VP.com: Do you know if this is the only HOV lane that goes to a military installation in the country?
CY: I am not aware of HOV access at any other Army post. I am not sure about other services.
VP.com: How has vanpooling helped Fort Bragg commuters?
CY: The Army’s Mass Trans Benefit Program essentially reduces commuting costs to $0.00. Individuals that normally use a POV for commutes save not only the direct costs of commuting, but dollars associated with vehicle ownership. Suffice to say that once fully engaged, a family may find that only one vehicle, rather than two are needed to care for a family’s transportation needs. Savings are likely to be $5,000 - $7,500 annually per family.
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