Straight Talk: Commercial vehicles entering the base

  • Published
  • By Col. Roman L. Hund
  • 66th Air Base Group Commander
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – In this week’s Straight Talk, a member of the Hanscom community asked what is being done to address the long wait times for commercial vehicles entering the installation.

Q With moving season in full swing, congestion and wait times for commercial vehicles, including moving companies, has been longer than normal. For my permanent change of station move, the moving company arrived at the gate at 8:15 a.m. and finally entered the base at 12:30 p.m. As a result, the movers were unable to finish packing my household goods, which may affect my report date to my new assignment. Is anything being done to remedy this?

A As many have noticed this late spring/early summer, the congestion and wait times of commercial vehicles at the Vandenberg Gate have been larger and longer than normal. This has caused occasional significant delay in commercial vehicles getting on base, whether for official or personal purposes. Our Security Forces personnel go to great lengths, as we saw with the recent incident involving a moving van, to ensure we comply with Air Force and Department of Defense regulations when it comes to searching vehicles and credentialing visitors. The ultimate benefit we derive from their hard work is a safer and more secure installation where we live, work, and play.

In addition to some compliance improvements SFS have made since this time last year, we are also experiencing increased commercial vehicle volume due to a heavy PCS season. Additionally, simultaneous military constructions projects to build a state-of-the-art Primary School and contemporary dormitory are adding to commercial traffic entering the installation.

Our Defenders are working with mission partners to find ways to cut into the queue times and recently discussed with the Integrated Defense Working Group some possible courses of action and process improvements that may assist in getting our supporting commercial vehicles where they need to be more efficiently. While some of these actions may have positive impact, I ask that you please be patient while we work through this high-volume time of year.

If you have a question and are not sure where to find the answer, I encourage you to contact the Straight Talk line at 781-225-1380 or by email at Hanscom.straightalk@us.af.mil.