I-95 HOT Lanes aka "Toll road" (Dale City, Springfield: appointed, purchase)

[ChristineVA]

Well, I just used the EXpress lanes. My son had his twice-a-year visit to the pulmonologist in Fairfax. He had to work today also, so expediency was important.

At 12:15 we headed North and looked over at the southbound regular lanes. They were crawling from Newington down to Dale City. I thought, oh man, he's never getting back to work. It was a no-man's land in the HOT lanes but I do think they had just opened going south.

We left the doctor's office at about 1:30. Decided to use the lanes from Backlick area down to the PW Parkway. It cost me $4.60. It did save me a good amount of time due to the regular lanes being very, very slow.

What I was trying to figure out was if I didn't exit at PW Parkway, I could see that if I wanted to go to Stafford, it was going to cost me $6.00. I only saw that sign down near the Parkway so I couldn't figure out if my whole trip would have been $6.00 or if it was in addition to the $4.60 I was already paying.

[ted08721]

The problem is the three lanes go to two lanes then to one lane which changes into a bridge that goes over the existing three regular lanes you then have to merge with the regular lanes to get to the 143A/B exits.
It will be interesting to hear from anyone doing the hot lanes this first day that it is in effect for rush hour traffic.

[gomason]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

What I was trying to figure out was if I didn't exit at PW Parkway, I could see that if I wanted to go to Stafford, it was going to cost me $6.00. I only saw that sign down near the Parkway so I couldn't figure out if my whole trip would have been $6.00 or if it was in addition to the $4.60 I was already paying.

It would have been in addition. I've been looking at the tolls and it's been about $10-11 for the full length from Garrisonville Rd to Edsall Road all day. Interestingly, it actually got more expensive after rush hour was over.

It's only going to get more expensive as people get used to it. I would probably just take the HOT lanes through the really congested areas and get back in the regular lanes when it opens back up. You can easily figure out the trouble spots with google maps on the iphone and the system allows you to go back and forth all day, although sometimes it's just bumper-to-bumper from the Beltway to Fredericksburg.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by gomason

It would have been in addition. I've been looking at the tolls and it's been about $10-11 for the full length from Garrisonville Rd to Edsall Road all day. Interestingly, it actually got more expensive after rush hour was over.

It's only going to get more expensive as people get used to it. I would probably just take the HOT lanes through the really congested areas and get back in the regular lanes when it opens back up. You can easily figure out the trouble spots with google maps on the iphone and the system allows you to go back and forth all day, although sometimes it's just bumper-to-bumper from the Beltway to Fredericksburg.

I think that will be very expensive. Today, it was $4.20 to go from Rt. 1 in Woodbridge to PW Pkwy. That's 2 exits. Granted, that was the WORST part of the gridlock.

[AnalyzeThis]

Wow the cost of the hot lanes don't seem like a decent value for those considering using it daily.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by AnalyzeThis

Wow the cost of the hot lanes don't seem like a decent value for those considering using it daily.

I can't imagine that anyone, realistically, could afford daily use. It was never proposed as a "value" either. The cost per mile will be at least what it is on 495 and it's not cheap. Only for people with money to throw away.

[johnsonkk]

From DC around 4pm, heading south on HOV/HOT lanes, regular lanes were very slow most of 395, which is usual. I really thought we'd see a big increase in traffic at Edsall and again from 495 but didn't. Even with the usual bottleneck at the Occoquan bridge, not a lot of people were jumping on 95 to avoid the slow traffic.

Cost at 4pm was $5 to go from beltway to hwy 123/ox road exit. I'll need to brush up on my road numbers since lots of the toll rates list a highway number and not the streets name. I don't recognize many of the highway numbers on the toll board and I've been here for years.

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

From DC around 4pm, heading south on HOV/HOT lanes, regular lanes were very slow most of 395, which is usual. I really thought we'd see a big increase in traffic at Edsall and again from 495 but didn't. Even with the usual bottleneck at the Occoquan bridge, not a lot of people were jumping on 95 to avoid the slow traffic.

Cost at 4pm was $5 to go from beltway to hwy 123/ox road exit. I'll need to brush up on my road numbers since lots of the toll rates list a highway number and not the streets name. I don't recognize many of the highway numbers on the toll board and I've been here for years.

Haha. Right! We've been here 22 years and had never heard of "Turkeycock" before.

(Teehee. He said "Turkeycock". )

[jbakerman]

We took them south only a short distance today (3ish) from their start on 395 and to get off at Old Keene Mill (we had been in the HOV on 395 from the DC line). I noticed quite a bit of cars getting off at the Edsall Rd ramp back onto regular 395 where it was already slow from the mixing bowl. I'm definitely curious about how much traffic gets thrown back into the main line in that kind of scenario. My sense is that once most people are back from vacation and things are normal in mid-January, mainline traffic is going to be dreadful until the # of users with new EZ-passes catch-up.

[NOVA_guy]

I feel bad for people going to Stafford/Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania because no matter what time they leave, early or later, they're still gonna hit traffic. At 3 p.m. today Edsall to 234/Manassas exit was moving in the main lanes but beyond the 234 exit it was dead stop traffic until you got pass Fredericksburg and it was like this pretty much until about 7:00.