At the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field in Florida, hundreds of Air Commandos have to be able to get to base to launch a mission at a moment’s notice.
But what happens if they get called in and race over, only to face a line of cars a mile long waiting to get through the gate?
Heavy traffic getting onto bases have afflicted many military bases across the country before. But the end of remote work and telework for most federal employees, coupled with issues specific to different bases, means the problem is getting renewed attention across the Air Force.
Last month, officials at Hill Air Force Base in Utah told local media they saw a bump in traffic as employees returned to in-person work. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio put out a release saying the same thing and adjusting their gate hours to accommodate the heavy flow.
“On top of executing projects stemming from an increased focus on our gates over the last few years, we now have been working to mitigate rapidly developed congestion problems caused by recent events,” said Brady Klein, a civil engineer with the 88th Civil Engineer Group.
An Air Force official told Air & Space Forces Magazine anecdotally that there was a large traffic increase at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Earlier this month, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona got its own influx of traffic as extra troops arrived there to assist with the Pentagon’s growing mission at the southern border.
“I understand that increased traffic and wait times can be frustrating as we navigate an influx of personnel on our installation,” Col. Scott Mills, 355th Wing commander, said in a March 13 statement. “Please extend patience and understanding to our fellow Airmen and Army guests as each of us plays a vital role in showcasing our commitment to excellence and executing this mission.”
The popular unofficial Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco is full of posts from Airmen at those bases and others describing hourslong delays at gates in recent weeks.
The increase in congestion comes on top of traffic problems that have frustrated Airmen and Guardians for years now—and drawn the attention of leadership including Col. Patrick Dierig, commander of the 1st SOW at Hurlburt.
“I never want to be in the position of calling the Air Force Special Operations Command commander and saying the mission failed because of a traffic jam,” Dierig said, according to a March 14 press release.
Fixing these issues often takes close cooperation with local, state, and federal agencies. Peterson Space Force Base, Colo. and Fort Cavazos, Texas, received about $10 million each last year from the federal Defense Community Infrastructure Program to help with gate access and reduce traffic congestion. Some states such as Florida also offer military infrastructure improvement grants.
Last year, then-Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James C. Slife highlighted that cooperation at an Association of Defense Communities conference.
“This relationship between the local installations and the state and local governments can be really really powerful and do good things to improve the safety and resilience and the mission readiness, frankly, of our installations,” Slife said.
Dierig is trying to tap into that partnership. Last week, he met with Florida state lawmakers to improve the infrastructure surrounding Hurlburt.
Located on the Florida panhandle, Highway 98 is the only major road to Hurlburt, so when an accident or road construction happens, it can take hours to get to and from the base, an Air Force official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. That is a headache for day-to-day commuting, but is also a security risk for responding to the national defense equivalent of a 9-1-1 call.
“Highway 98 traffic is not a matter of convenience for the 1st SOW,” Dierig told lawmakers. “The traffic is a readiness issue.”
That specific issue dates back years—at the conference last year, Slife recalled his own time leading the 1st SOW from 2011 and 2013 and described the intersection in front of Hurlburt’s front gate as “the most dangerous intersection in the state of Florida.” To win support for building an overpass, he even timed a visit from then-Governor Rick Scott so that Scott had to drive through the intersection at the most busy time of day.
“He sat in traffic for 30 minutes trying to get onto Hurlburt Field,” Slife said. “The money flowed rather quickly right afterwards.”
Officials broke ground on the overpass in 2013, but traffic remains a challenge, and the congestion has gotten somewhat worse since the end of remote work, an Air Force official said.
There could be hope for service members stationed at Hurlburt or Eglin at least. Last month, President Donald Trump nominated Dale Marks, executive director of Eglin’s 96th Test Wing, to serve as assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations, and the environment. Having served in his current post since 2022, Marks is likely well-acquainted with traffic struggles in the region.