In PWC: 95 South @ 123, what the heck is going on? (Newington: to move, design)

[justtitans]

Every time I drive through this area no matter what time a day it is, as I am crossing the Occoquan, even when traffic is lighter, it always seems to be some massive slow down at this point but then as soon as you get pass the 123 exit and you go towards the PW Parkway exit, it starts picking up again. What gives? Is the state trying to fix this because this seems like this is usually the beginning of the backups going into PWC. Thoughts.

[ChristineVA]

You lose a lane at that exit. The lane loss used to occur above 123 but they expanded that part of the road and moved the lane loss down. All they do is move the bottleneck farther south each time they do that.

On top of it all, you have the cars from Rt. 1 that want to get on I-95 South dumping right into the exit lane for 123 at the same time people are trying to merge over to exit. Once past the exit lane, the cars coming from 123 to get on I-95 south have a very short merge lane so those cars coming on to the interstate are not entering the lanes at high speed. It sort of picks up after that but then slows again through the parkway area because that is a very busy (but better designed) exit also.

[HokieFan]

I-95 goes from four lanes to three lanes. Also, there are typically a lot of cars getting on/off at that exit. With the combination of the two, traffic slows (or stops as in the case during afternoon rush).

[oneasterisk]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

You lose a lane at that exit. The lane loss used to occur above 123 but they expanded that part of the road and moved the lane loss down. All they do is move the bottleneck farther south each time they do that.

On top of it all, you have the cars from Rt. 1 that want to get on I-95 South dumping right into the exit lane for 123 at the same time people are trying to merge over to exit. Once past the exit lane, the cars coming from 123 to get on I-95 south have a very short merge lane so those cars coming on to the interstate are not entering the lanes at high speed. It sort of picks up after that but then slows again through the parkway area because that is a very busy (but better designed) exit also.

Yup she hit the nail on the head. You used to lose that lane around Newington.

[justtitans]

You would think they would have resolved this. I figured it was bottleneck, but it seems like common sense to address this area, since in my opinion it really creates a lot of congestion after the mixing bowl.

[ReblTeen84]

Originally Posted by pgtvatitans

You would think they would have resolved this. I figured it was bottleneck, but it seems like common sense to address this area, since in my opinion it really creates a lot of congestion after the mixing bowl.

They'd have to widen the bridge (again) to move the Rt.1 exit/123 entrance over a lane and continue the 4th lane down towards the PWC parkway or farther. Until then, traffic is always going to bottle up at the bridge. I don't expect it to happen anytime soon, if ever.

[Grsz11]

I think you also have some trouble because those coming from Route 1 have to merge twice, and those exiting to 123 are coming across the other way. The distance between those on and off ramps is short.