When Lt. Col. Jonathan Howell signed on as deputy commander of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in 2009, he jumped into three months of intense house-shopping in Vicksburg, Monroe and Jackson.

“There was no on-post housing at ERDC available when I was assigned,” said Howell, a third-generation military man who was used to riding a bicycle to and from his on-post quarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The family — wife, Irena, daughter Naomi, 8, and mother-in-law, Natasha — landed in Clinton, about a half-hour east of Vicksburg.

Now, Howell arrives at work by way of a van pool funded through federal government vouchers. About 180 Vicksburg-bound federal employees do the same.

“There were no rental options, and the purchase options were all either well beyond our price range or did not have the features to accommodate our extended family requirements,” said Howell of his decision to live in Clinton.

The van pool is a concept borne of the energy crises of the 1970s and is commonplace in busy urban centers. Since 2000, the Mass Transportation and Vanpool Transportation Fringe Benefit Program, an anti-pollution directive by President Bill Clinton to cut the number of vehicles on the road, has enabled the Department of Transportation to issue vouchers for fuel, maintenance and other costs for federal employees. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act raised the pre-tax benefit for mass commuters everywhere from $120 a month to $230.

That extra money faded in November, ahead of many such stimulants in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will expire by year’s end. Quarterly vouchers for van-pooling in 2012 will be cut to $125 a month, the Internal Revenue Service decided Nov. 7.

Twenty van pools rode to and from work between metro Jackson and Vicksburg through November, according to the website of VPSI Inc., a Michigan-based van pool operator. All went to ERDC, the Vicksburg District headquarters and the 412th Theater Engineer Command, with 16 daily routes out of Clinton. This month, the company’s routes declined to six, all to and from the District, after ERDC inked a new deal with a similar service offered by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

The option has proved cost-effective and a morale-builder, said Howell, 39.

“It keeps you on a rigorous schedule,” he said. “It’s enjoyable to ride to work among a fellow group of friends.”

Van-poolers train as alternate drivers after records are checked by the service provider. Costs to ride include state sales taxes and fuel, and total about $1,500 for a six-passenger van and about $2,000 for a full-sized, 15-passenger van.

Before last month, per-person costs on a small van with six riders broke down to about $250. Costs on the larger vans were between $130 and $200, depending on capacity.

“I think there may be some commuters that will drop out of the program if out-of-pocket costs get too high,” said Tim Lewis, van pool coordinator at ERDC and the 412th. Lewis credited the stimulus for ERDC’s pool growing to 15 vans through November, up from two in 2008. Lewis said ERDC’s ridership alone makes up about 140 of the Corps’ local van-poolers.

For loyal van-poolers such as Patrice Creel of Byram, coming up with an extra $50 to $100 a month to ride a van versus several fill-ups a month at gas stations is easier on a budget that includes her husband, Willie, and son, Samuel, 17.

“I knew it once I got the Chevron bill,” Creel said of her decision last winter to ride the 7:30 a.m. van to her new public affairs job at ERDC from her hometown of 21 years.

The decision to van pool started at home for Jackson-area suburbanites who work at ERDC and the District.

“Costs would have to go up substantially for me to stop,” said Lamar Rutland, 28, of Clinton, an engineer for Northern Projects at the East Clay Street district base. “Clinton is a centrally located point between Jackson, where my wife works, and Vicksburg, where I work.”

Cori Shiers, 26, a Vicksburg native and Flowood resident, rode a van from Clinton to her job with the District as an environmental specialist until last week, when she received her own van line — dubbed Cori’s Group. It’s an arrangement she sees lasting a while.

“It’s a stress reliever,” Shiers said. “I’ve met many new people on it.”

I “grew up in Vicksburg and wanted to try somewhere new,” she said. “Depending on my employment, I will possibly move back to Vicksburg in the future.”

Mass transit cut congestion on the nation’s major commuter arteries and eliminated nearly 8,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per person while 850,000 commuters nationwide have used the tax-free commuter benefits, according to a 2010 report by New York-based TransitCenter Inc.