Posted on 11/24/2015 4:05:59 PM PST by markomalley
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced Tuesday morning that VDOT will extend the 95 Express Lanes two miles farther south, in an effort to fix the bottleneck where these HOT lanes merge back with the regular lanes of I-95.
Anyone driving south on I-95 from the D.C. area Tuesday or Wednesday will realize why the governor’s announcement on WTOP radio is important. Both the regular lanes and the express lanes can be backed up for miles at peak periods where the two sets of lanes merge near Garrisonville Road in Stafford County.
McAuliffe said the express lanes will be extended under an agreement with Transurban, the company that operates the high-occupancy toll lanes on I-95 and on the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia. He said construction should begin in 2016.
The project will take about two years to complete. At the new terminus, express lanes traffic will rejoin the regular lanes from a left-side merge. The express lanes are reversible, to accommodate rush hour traffic, so drivers heading north would follow the same pattern: They will enter the express lanes from the left side. This extension may help the northbound traffic flow as well, but it’s the southbound traffic that has experienced the severe problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What a maroon. How about this...deport illegals and islam scum. Instant traffic reduction and tax savings.
It’s time.
So they’re moving the bottleneck two miles farther south?
Have you ever heard a democrat propose a program or a solution to a problem that didn’t involve making the government bigger, giving the government more power and/or control, or a way for the government to extract more money from taxpayers?
Usually they go for all three at once.
It's dirt cheap and never been stuck in the 95 parking lot.
The HOT lanes need to be extended all the way to Fredericksburg.
Geez, how many years did they screw-up I95 south of DC just RECENTLY COMPLETING this CF to begin with?
And now they are going to “fix it again”?
Last year I drove the DC/Beltway/Fairfax part of this road and one of the reasons for the amazingly horrible traffic jams was that people were driving at 35-40mph while on their cellphones and texting while driving. I started counting how many slowdowns were caused by texting and was astonished when I got to 75.
The need to be extended to Richmond at the 295 junction.
The traffic on 95 isn't that bad in the mornings until you hit the beltway. Somehow in the afternoon it is worse. The weekends can really suck. 95 is the main north south artery on the east coast and running in and out of DC, but it only has three lanes. Now that they are selling these HOV projects to private companies there will be no lane construction on the regular lanes. Having McAwful as a governor makes it even worse. In NOVA traffic and roads are the main campaign issue for the state house.
495 and 95 = malfunction junction.
It was a whole lot worse back in the 90s before they built the new Woodrow Wilson bridge and reorganized the interchange ramps into and off of 495 and 95.
Those middle HOT lanes need to go all the way to Fredricksburg mile marker 126. That is the only solution.
There is something wrong with this picture when the cost to go from Tyson's Corner to Garrisonsville costs about $20 (at 8:30 PM...I just checked). I've seen the Beltway toll lanes up to $16 during the morning rush. And that's just 14 miles.
I am not a big fan of govt intervention but a high speed rail system between Richmond and DC would make sense. Three stops; Richmond - Fredericksburg - DC.
I'll even accept two more stops: Woodbridge & Springfield (still would beat a VRE).
And there would likely be enough traffic to allow for it to be self-sustaining.
Southbound Freak Staters ping!
In July, I was stuck in that Virginia bottleneck. I had to go to the bathroom so I missed the last HOA lane for 13 bucks. What a mistake. I should have just gone in my pants and get on that HOA lane. I was at least 3 hours behind by that mistake. Sorry but my time is worth more then 13 dollars for 3 hours. That day, I would have paid 100 easily. Still bitter about it.
Always keep an empty coffee cup handy for that occasion.
I drove through this today. Yes there was a delay. Not sure what another two miles will do but am thankful for it.
Lesson learned for sure. Stupid me.
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