Home » Archives » "Fort Lewis fixing up old barracks with $2.8 billion"

Fort Lewis fixing up old barracks with $2.8 billion

May- 8-2008 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT , 4/2 SBCT , 5/2 SBCT , Ft. Lewis

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press

Soldiers at Fort Lewis live in buildings that date back as far as 1927, but base officials say an ambitious barracks construction and renovation project is keeping soldier housing entirely hospitable.

Fort Lewis, base for about 28,924 soldiers, has been building new barracks and upgrading old ones for the past seven years, mostly to accommodate population growth as new Stryker brigades are formed or moved to Washington state.

The 86,000-acre base is in the midst of a $2.8 billion construction plan, which will add 6,000 new barrack spaces and renovate thousands more as well as pay for other construction, said base spokesman Joe Piek.

An inspection of every barrack this past week found no serious life, health or safety issues at Fort Lewis, Piek said.

"We did find some isolated incidents of minor maintenance issues - some peeling paint or maybe a broken toilet - but nothing serious," Piek said.

He said none of the maintenance issues represented the kind of "unlivable conditions" that inspectors were told to look for. Piek said he couldn't give any more details about the base report to U.S. Army headquarters because it had already been passed along to officials in Washington, D.C.

Another $1.9 billion is budgeted for base construction over the next five years, including facilities other than barracks. [...]


Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by a site administrator before your comment will appear. We appreciate your patience.)

Advertisements