I-95 HOT Lanes aka "Toll road" (Springfield, Fairfax: prices, vs)

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by greekchampion04

Bringing this back to the HOT lanes, I got from 14th Street to the 610 lot (exit 143) in exactly 40 minutes yesterday. I picked up slugs at 14th and G at 4:15 and pulled into the 610 lot at 4:45. There was almost no traffic on the entire trip or backup at the merge at the end of the express lanes, but this could be because I was early. Beats the hell out of taking 45 minutes to merge into traffic at exit 152 and then sit in gridlock all the way down to 143.

I guess now we can call this a success.

[greekchampion04]

Considering the point of the project was to alleviate traffic and the bottleneck at the end of the old HOV merge? By that metric and on this one day, yes. Still quite a bit to be determined.

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by greekchampion04

Considering the point of the project was to alleviate traffic and the bottleneck at the end of the old HOV merge? By that metric and on this one day, yes. Still quite a bit to be determined.

I do not accept that was the point of the project. If that were the point of the project I do not see why they would have to bring in third parties to collect money and contracts that guarantee they will not lose money.

[greekchampion04]

Enlighten me. What is the point of this?

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by greekchampion04

Enlighten me. What is the point of this?

https://www.city-data.com/forum/37643532-post23.html

[gomason]

Originally Posted by ReblTeen84

When I jumped on HOV yesterday it was nice, no backup in Springfield. Slow going after though, found out why - some idiot had already hit the gates on the ramp from I95N into the lanes...except the gate was broken TOWARDS 95N, which means he would have gone into oncoming traffic. They're lit, and you can clearly see you're going to go into the wrong side. How dumb can you truly be to hit those things?!

Honestly, I'm surprised I've never seen anyone hit them.

The only thing I like about these HOT lanes is that they encourage carpooling and people to use buses. On the other hand, 93% of the people who use the 495 express lanes are paying tolls and not carpooling, so I question how successful it really is (albeit 95 has a much longer history of carpooling than 495).

I'm also kind of surprised Stafford County isn't setting up a commuter bus system to take advantage of the HOT lanes extension. Quick and Martz are very expensive compared to all the other subsidized commuter bus systems in Northern VA.

[greekchampion04]

It is cheaper for me to drive and park than take the Martz bus. VRE is cheaper than driving and parking, but only by a few dollars.

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by greekchampion04

Bringing this back to the HOT lanes, I got from 14th Street to the 610 lot (exit 143) in exactly 40 minutes yesterday. I picked up slugs at 14th and G at 4:15 and pulled into the 610 lot at 4:45. There was almost no traffic on the entire trip or backup at the merge at the end of the express lanes, but this could be because I was early. Beats the hell out of taking 45 minutes to merge into traffic at exit 152 and then sit in gridlock all the way down to 143.

It's too early buddy. A lot of people are off from work for the holidays. The real test will be on Jan 5th

[gomason]

I used the express lanes yesterday for the first time. Traffic south of the Beltway was definitely better than it was before when there were just two lanes.

Also, getting to Kingstowne from the express lanes is 10x faster than getting to Kingstowne from the Franconia Rd exit with all the stupid holiday traffic at the mall right now. Might make it worth it to pay the $2 or so dollars for the few miles between Edsall Rd and the Franconia/Springfield Pkwy.

[elias9193]

I used the HOV express today around 3:00 pm going south. I got out at the 619 exit and the HOV lane was
backed up all the way from the Stafford merge all the way back to the Quantico exit a good 5 miles.
What a nightmare! Like I said in an earlier post, all they did was move the bottle neck to Stafford.