As elected officials received an on-sight construction update at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, garrison commander Col. Charles Hodges put the $7.2 million overpass project into perspective today with his insightful comment.

JBLM has been a joint base for four years.

"Yet it's not connected," Hodges said.

In January, when the overpass at the Lincoln Gate is completed, military personnel wanting to drive from Lewis Main to McChord Field won't have to travel Interstate 5 to get there.

"What this does is it makes this a continuous installation," Hodges said. "You won't actually have to get onto I-5 to go back and forth."

Hodges figured the overpass will pull 300 to 500 drivers off of I-5 during the day, keeping them on base as they travel to appointments and assignments.

Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Congressmen Adam Smith and Denny Heck nodded in approval as Hodges spoke. Fixing the traffic jam along the six-mile stretch of I-5 that cuts through JBLM has been a challenge facing the state's Department of Transportation.

"While it's not part of the overall solution to the traffic problems of the South Sound, I think it does push us in the right direction," Hodges said.

Phase II of the project would expand a seven-mile stretch of a base-access road from two lanes to four lanes, bumping speed limits from 35 mph to 55 mph. The road goes through the Lincoln Gate access and continues along the backside of on base training areas. It also stretches off base toward Spanaway.

"That gives you a true alternative to I-5 for high speed travel," Hodges said.

However, that phase of the project is not yet funded. For it to move from proposal to project, Smith said a couple of things need to happen. First, the state needs to pass a transportation bill. Then the federal government needs to pass its six-year transportation bill. And Smith said a go ahead on Phase II is dependent on the gas tax, the main money driver for road projects in the state. With gas demands down because of higher gas prices, people are driving less and using less gas. As a result, funding is down.

"We need a new source of revenue," Smith said. "Whether that's increasing the gas tax or coming up with a per-mile-driven tax. We need a new source of revenue to fund the infrastructure we need for this state."

Smith said funded road projects statewide needs to be a priority.

"You get what you pay for and right now we're not putting enough money into transportation infrastructure," Smith said.

However, several mega budget projects in Seattle - the $4 billion tunnel to replace the Alaska Way Viaduct and the $419 million 520 bridge - are over budget and eating up DOT money. In January, the WSDOT announced it would need another $170 million to complete the 520 bridge.

The overpass project at the Lincoln Gate began in May and is on schedule to be finished in five months. In late September, a big challenge in the project will begin when 12 183-foot girders for the bridge that are being built in downtown Tacoma will be moved in the middle of the night. A stretch of that trip will be done on I-5 with a police escort.

The overpass will bypass the Lincoln Gate and other security gates, which are not open 24 hours a day. If someone lives on McChord Field and works at Lewis Main, they have to go through that gate frequently. The overpass will now allow them to bypass that gate, avoiding the slowdown of traffic waiting to get through.

"It's a cheap investment for what we get," Heck said.