For NoVA Newbies: Slugging as a form of Transportation

[greekchampion04]

I think the bottleneck at Edsall Road will end up just as bad as the bottleneck down at Exit 152 is right now. I also think that the extended HOV/HOT is not going to solve the bottleneck at 152, it will just move it down to 143.

In the mornings and evenings now, 95 comes to a crawl at exit 152 (where the current HOV ends) and at Exit 143 -- the major slugging exit that will soon be the southern end of the HOV/HOT lanes.

[jeff22152]

Originally Posted by greekchampion04

I think the bottleneck at Edsall Road will end up just as bad as the bottleneck down at Exit 152 is right now. I also think that the extended HOV/HOT is not going to solve the bottleneck at 152, it will just move it down to 143.

In the mornings and evenings now, 95 comes to a crawl at exit 152 (where the current HOV ends) and at Exit 143 -- the major slugging exit that will soon be the southern end of the HOV/HOT lanes.

I don't think any bottleneck at Edsall will be as bad as the bottlenecks down south, primarily because only a portion of the HOT/HOV traffic will merge onto the I-395 main lanes during the AM rush.

Your point about the I-95 gridlock is well-taken. In my view, the only meaningful way to mitigate daily bottlenecks along the entire corridor would be to extend the HOT lanes south past Fredericksburg.

[greekchampion04]

Good point, Jeff. Its not going to be a single exit/merge point as it is now, which causes the huge backup. I still think itll be a mess, but you are right in that it wont be as bad as the southern end.

I think there is a plan to extend the HOT lanes down to exit 133, but I don't know when/if that construction will begin.

[johnsonkk]

Prediction is that the Edsall dump off back onto 395 will be that cause for backed up traffic back onto the HOV lanes. The assumption is that 395 will be locked and the ramp from HOV to 395 won't take long to backup. This will mirror what happens now on the merge of 495 and the hotlanes. Now traffic routinely backs up to the Dulles toll road ramp. Much longer distance on 495 compared to the short ramp off 395. Why they didn't just cut off the pay lanes at the 95/495 interchange will remain a mystery.

Look how long the line is off the current HOV at the Pentagon. All because everyone has to stop and wait for all the exiting buses at the Pentagon. Everyone thought the recent off-ramp construction would have eliminated the backup onto the HOV lanes but having the single traffic cop stopping traffic doesn't help.

[NOVA_guy]

Originally Posted by greekchampion04

I think the bottleneck at Edsall Road will end up just as bad as the bottleneck down at Exit 152 is right now. I also think that the extended HOV/HOT is not going to solve the bottleneck at 152, it will just move it down to 143.

Yep, my co-worker and I were talking about that this morning. Edsall road is going to be a giant mess.

I'm trying to be optimistic so hopefully this new HOV/HOT lanes will help.