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The Washington Post has all the details about the $300 million that Montgomery and Fairfax counties stand to receive from the federal government to alleviate soon-to-be major traffic problems. As part of the government’s BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) decisions in the past year, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Bethesda Naval Hospital were consolidated, adding thousands of personnel to the Bethesda location and doubling the number of visitors to a million per year. In Virginia, thousands of employees are being moved from near the Pentagon out to Fort Belvoir, which Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va) said, “will generate rush hours of three to four hours longer.”

During the summer, Montgomery and Fairfax county officials begged the Department of Defense to assist with funding to increase public transportation options, expand pedestrian access, and make other traffic improvements. The $300 million just barely made it into a military spending bill before it was passed and sent to President Obama to sign this week. There isn’t a decision yet on how the money will be split between the counties, and the amount is only around a third of what’s needed to really deal with the traffic problems, but for now county officials seem to be thrilled that the federal government is ponying up to fix a problem they created.