The world’s largest Army post has its own hospital, police and fire department and infrastructure.

And much like other major cities in Bell County and elsewhere in the United States, Fort Hood sees the need for improvement.

“You’ve got to continue to advocate what the ‘Great Place’ can provide,” said Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, III Corps and Fort Hood commanding general. “When we do things like improve our housing and improve our barracks and improve our training areas, it becomes more attractive to other units.”

Last month, the post received a significant financial shot in the arm when Fort Hood was awarded more than $600 million in federal stimulus dollars to build a brand new hospital and behavioral health center.

But there is a lot more going on than that.

In fact, there are more than $1 billion in projects that are either recently completed, under construction or in the design phase.

“Just in the ’09 program, we have $758.8 million,” said Lisa Cuellar, chief of the planning branch for the director of public works on Fort Hood. “We actually have over $2 billion in planned construction if you factor in Texas Department of Transportation projects and your Fort Hood Family Housing … all our different other special initiatives.”

Among some of the projects currently under construction include officer housing areas in Wainwright Heights and Patton Park, a new Chili’s Restaurant on post, which was announced last year, and several child development centers.

But there are other big Army projects under way, such as the motor pool and headquarters buildings for the 62nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion, barracks and dining facility for the 1st Cavalry Division and the Women’s Health Center at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

Cuellar, responsible for planning for all major Army construction projects on Fort Hood, said this is both a busy and exciting time for construction on the post.

“It’s been pretty busy,” she said.

Of course, everyone is excited about the new medical center project.

“When you look at our Military Construction Army program, it used to average about $300 million before the Base Realignment Commission announcement in 2006,” she said.

However, after that, federal funding for construction virtually dried up with posts like Fort Hood receiving less than $100 million annually.

That is, until last month.

“To get $758.8 million programmed for one year is pretty big,” Cuellar said. “We are pretty excited about this.”