Military installations developed alongside our nation, with many intertwined with neighboring communities. As the U.S. military expanded to meet threats, so did our military installations and facilities across the country, culminating in the mix of small and large communities we now know.
From the expansive training grounds of Fort Moore, Georgia to a single building of a National Guard Readiness Center, each service and type of facility has specific needs within its gates. The communities outside the gates have their own needs, too.
Adopting inclusive planning practices fosters productive dialogues between military and community leaders, helping to address shared challenges. This blog shares how planners from both sides of the gate can collaborate to understand each other’s needs, mitigate friction points, gather essential data, and align their plans to secure design and construction funding.
Outside the Gate
As military installations grow, so do the surrounding communities—often at a faster rate. A challenge for our military installations is encroachment toward its facilities. If growth on the civilian side is not accounted for in municipal planning processes, developments may be subject to unwanted engine and artillery noise as well as general security risks that may arise with development near the installation perimeter.
Weighing each installation’s and community’s unique needs, municipalities and consulting planners should consider some form of buffer to prevent avoidable conflicts between the installation and neighboring communities. This could take the form of an agricultural preserve in a more rural context or an environmental and forest conservation in suburban areas. For urban areas where space is at a premium, a buffer could take form in a general commercial or light industrial area near the installation.
At the Gate
Another factor of concern for military installations and surrounding communities is traffic. Especially at traditional peak hours, traffic at installations’ main entrances can back up onto local and state roads. In some cases, the traffic blocks access to fire stations and post offices. The cause of extensive traffic is not always poor drivers or extensive security screenings—often, the gates simply pre-date the development and population influx of installations.
Military design standards for access points (aka gates) allow for flexibility in application to increase capacity, decrease the dwell time of each vehicle, and increase the efficiency of entry in general. Of course, these efficiencies are balanced with necessary security measures. Planners factor this in, prioritizing the need for safety and security on the installation while mitigating outside impacts through relocating a gate or constructing additional gates.
Inside the Gate
As society moves toward multimodal options in our communities so, too, does the military. Planners can assist installations and communities to incorporate walking, biking, and possible transit options as a physical connection across the gate. Mead & Hunt is designing multiple shared use paths in Annapolis, one of which connects a regional trail along the USNA campus perimeter into the city’s downtown historic district. Mead & Hunt is also working to add high-capacity transit access to Joint Base Andrews in the National Capital Region. A powerful method to reduce traffic congestion in the area involves preventing vehicles from queuing at the gate.
The Way Forward
Established in 1961, the Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) now provides a variety of planning and infrastructure programs designed to directly address needs that concern leaders on both sides of the fence: noise mitigations, local infrastructure, and facility grants, encroachment challenges, and resilience planning for both the installation and community. By combining general military construction program upgrades, such as smart access gate redesign to better accommodate traffic, we can create more resilient and adaptive communities. Bridging the needs of military installations and the surrounding regions benefits everyone on both sides of the gate.
Related Reading: Mission Accomplished: Stakeholder Collaboration Creates Successful Planning at Tinker AFB »
