The Fort George G. Meade (FGGM) access control point located on Mapes Road and Route 175 will reopen on Feb. 29. The gate has been closed since 2013 because of an insufficient number of security guards.
“After two and a half years of hard work, we are pleased to finally make this announcement,” said Fort Meade Garrison Commander Col. Brian Foley. “The available strength of our security guards is finally high enough to re-open the gate, and I want to thank all involved in the effort to hire and retain these valuable employees. The guards work hard 24 hours a day in all-weather to keep us safe, and we owe them a great deal of gratitude.”
Once open, the gate hours will be Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on weekends. With the permanent reopening of the Mapes Road gate during business hours, the gate located at Llewellyn and Route 175, which was open to ease the increased traffic burden during rush hour, will close effective Feb. 26.
The volume in traffic is expected to increase with the growth of U.S. Cyber Command and construction on the National Security Agency’s east campus. In addition to the Mapes Road gate reopening, construction continues on a new access control point at Rockenbach Road. This project will feature a state-of-the-art gatehouse and inspection station for security personnel and four in-bound and two-outland lanes.
FGGM Transformation Director Bert L. Rice expects the construction to be complete this summer.
“They’ve got a lot of work to do still, but we’re going to make this happen,” Rice said. “When the weather breaks, they’re really going to have to get in there. They’ve got a good start.”
For details on the operating hours for all of the access control points on Fort Meade, go to the Fort Meade website.
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