Without any traffic, it takes Lt. Richard Ulsh 15 minutes to get from his driveway to work with the 2nd Marine Logistics Group.

Traffic, however, adds between 30 and 40 minutes to his commute, he said.

Currently, 70 percent of military personel and civilian employees live off Camp Lejeune, including Ulsh.

And most of them head to work and back home again at roughly the same time, causing gridlock along N.C. 24 around Camp Lejeune.

Base officials say they working on getting more vehicles through the gate per hour and are working with Jacksonville officials to do it.

"The rules have changed here on base and that's part of the pain," Installation Security and Safety Director David Leppelmeier said, explaining that a 10-lane gate cannot immediately be built. "We are working on getting people through the gate and to work on time."

In order to get on base, sentries must be able to see either the government issued decal stating that the driver is able to drive aboard base or a temporary pass, Maj. Nat Fahy, Director of Public Affairs, said.

With about 20,000 people commuting to work on Camp Lejeune daily, that can be a time-consuming task.

"To facilitate traffic through the gates of MCB Camp Lejeune, its Department of Public Safety has designed a new temporary pass that is larger and easier to read. After issuance, to ensure uniformity and visibility, both temporary passes and vehicle registration decals will be affixed to the lower-left hand corner of the windshield by Vehicle Registration personnel or Visitor's Center personnel as appropriate," Fahy said. "Individuals who have temporary passes that are not already affixed to the windshield should tape them to the inside lower-left hand corner of the windshield as described above."

While solutions are being worked on, both ISS and Jacksonville Police Department officials ask that drivers remain cautions.

 "We want them to be able to get to base and get there on time," JPD Chief Mike Yaniero said.

But that doesn't mean they'll turn a blind eye to infractions.

The JPD wrote more than 140 traffic citations last week, and that was only to those on N.C. 24 heading to Camp Lejeune, Yaniero said.

In an effort to cut down on collisions, JPD has joined forces with ISS to ensure that drivers are moving safely on their way to work in the mornings.

Speeding in the left lane and cutting into a right lane heading to the Camp Lejeune gate, Yaniero said, is a "recipe for an accident."

Reckless driving, he said, is often a common sight on N.C. 24 in the morning hours.

"We've got a lot of people arriving at work mad," Leppelmeier said of the traffic.

Many drivers are using the Hubert entrance and N.C. 172 entrance to Camp Lejeune rather than the main gate, he said, while others are leaving early for work in order to avoid some of the aggravation.

While JPD is monitoring traffic outside of the main gates, they have also been talking to the Department of Transportation about changing the light lengths, widening N.C. 24 and removing or adding lights, Yaniero said.

"There's a number of solutions we've been working on outside of the gate," Yaniero said.

The problem, Fahy said, is that there are too many people and not enough lanes.

"To help speed things up, we ask that people who are not under any time constraints obtain their temporary passes outside of rush hour and ensure those passes are readily visible to the sentries," he said.

Contact Jacksonville/Onslow County reporter Amanda Hickey at 910-219-8641.