Worst Traffic Spot in US found on I95 in NOVA (Richmond: apartment, townhomes)

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by LuvVA

May I-66 qualifies for the worst highway on weekends....

Doesn't even compare to I 95 on weekends. I 95 still takes the cake.

[BOS2IAD]

Originally Posted by skeddy

it's a quality of life issue. NoVa traffic is some of the worst in the nation.

And it's going to keep getting worse as they aren't done clearing land and building subdivisions

[elias9193]

Originally Posted by the resident09

Virginia should be six lanes along 95 in each direction from the Beltway to at least past Fredericksburg, and then maybe drop down to four lanes each direction all the way to Richmond. Then run a commuter train up the median of the highway or along the side of it. It's so not rocket science.

Your right its not rocket science its about money. The company that owns the EZ-Pass lanes will lose lots of
revenue if they build the extra lanes before and after the Occoquan bridge. Thats why they keep shutting it
down.

[Old Dominionite]

There are ways to reduce congestion along I-95 between Fredericksburg and Fairfax. None of them are cheap, and none of them are quick fixes:

1) extend a fourth travel lane south to I-295;
2) extend the HOT lanes south to Thornburg (there's even some justification to extending them south to I-295);
3) construct high-speed rail to Richmond, Williamsburg, and Hampton Roads, and;
4) build a new six-lane bypass of I-95 roughly along the Route 301 corridor between Richmond and Wilmington; offer only a limited number of exits along the bypass to entice usage by long-distance traffic.

[1984]

They got the title wrong in the news article. It should say "Worst traffic spot in North America found on I-95 in Northern Virginia"

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by NOVA_guy

To Prince William's credit, Ruth Anderson, district supervisor of Lake Ridge/Occoquan has complained for YEARS about extending 95 from 3 lanes to 4 lanes where it bottlenecks at Occoquan and as usual, the ever so diligent folks down in Richmond continue to ignore or make excuses as to why they can't fix it.

Virginia really needs to do something about its infrastructure. It's ridiculous that roads like 28 go years with literally nothing being done about the major traffic issues.

Agreed and the answer needs to stop always being 'OH LETS JUST ADD SOME TOLL LANES'- We need general purpose lane expansions in a number of areas across this region as well.

Richmond is part of the problem but you also have a sizable concentration of NIMBY/ pseudo environmental advocates in this area who constantly complain and attempt to fight every single transportation improvement that isn't adding a bike/bus lane or handing over more money to Metro. You've seen them in the papers- people like Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth who had a quote in the Post article regarding this same traffic hot spot that literally said that I-95's congestion proved that additional lanes only make it easier to people to drive! He had similar things to say about Maryland's I-270 and Beltway expansion proposal announced the other week. We need a variety of improvements across the board in this area (including mass transit improvements)- adding one or two toll lanes on 95 or 66 and ending them in areas located well before the major congestion dies down isn't going to solve anything.

[djplourd]

I used to commute from Lorton to the Bailey's Crossroads are (Skyline Towers). Before they extended the 4th lane on 95 the bottleneck used to start around mm 167, the Backlick Rd exit. After the extension I could usually get to mm 163 (Lorton) and exit there. Now that its been a few years the backup has crept back up toward Backlick.

Here's what I think needs to be or should have been done:

1. Two way express lanes on 95. Pretty much whichever direction the express lanes are headed, traffic is backed up in the opposite direction. Adding the third lane for a stretch helped but figuring out how to make it both directions all the time would have been better.

2. Extend the express lanes at least to Fredericksburg.

3. Create an outer loop around Fredericksburg, like 295 around Richmond.

[e2ksj3]

Originally Posted by the resident09

Virginia should be six lanes along 95 in each direction from the Beltway to at least past Fredericksburg, and then maybe drop down to four lanes each direction all the way to Richmond. Then run a commuter train up the median of the highway or along the side of it. It's so not rocket science.

There is already commuter rail down that corridor, i.e. VRE. What they need to do is work with CSX (since they own the tracks) and expand the capacity to allow extra trains to run north and south along that corridor, similar to SEPTA in the Philly area or NJ Transit/Metro North/LIRR in the NYC area. This will give people another option, especially folks headed into DC during the summer months where 95 is at its worst.

For 95, I think they should widen it down to at least Dumfries where the former HOV ended. When they converted the HOV to HOT/EZ-Pass Express it essentially reduced the capacity during off peak hours. Before you had 5 "free" lanes (depending on which way the HOV was pointed) south of FFX County but now you essentially only have 3 "free" lanes. Add that on top of the continued growth along the corridor and cheap gas for folks traveling up and down the east coast and you essentially have the perfect storm for a traffic nightmare.

I was going to move to Woodbridge but glad I decided against it as the traffic just isn't worth it. State leaders from the governor on down just don't seem to care other than trying to fix a serious gash with a band-aid, (i.e. the private toll lanes) instead of finding a real solution. It just isn't that difficult.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by e2ksj3

There is already commuter rail down that corridor, i.e. VRE. What they need to do is work with CSX (since they own the tracks) and expand the capacity to allow extra trains to run north and south along that corridor, similar to SEPTA in the Philly area or NJ Transit/Metro North/LIRR in the NYC area. This will give people another option, especially folks headed into DC during the summer months where 95 is at its worst.

For 95, I think they should widen it down to at least Dumfries where the former HOV ended. When they converted the HOV to HOT/EZ-Pass Express it essentially reduced the capacity during off peak hours. Before you had 5 "free" lanes (depending on which way the HOV was pointed) south of FFX County but now you essentially only have 3 "free" lanes. Add that on top of the continued growth along the corridor and cheap gas for folks traveling up and down the east coast and you essentially have the perfect storm for a traffic nightmare.

I was going to move to Woodbridge but glad I decided against it as the traffic just isn't worth it. State leaders from the governor on down just don't seem to care other than trying to fix a serious gash with a band-aid, (i.e. the private toll lanes) instead of finding a real solution. It just isn't that difficult.

Great assessment of the problem.

I live in Woodbridge and was one of those travelers who used the "5 free lanes" and worked my hours around that. It was a pretty sweet commute for me. Enter the HOT lanes. I still work early hours but I (and thousands of others) lost two of our "free" lanes. It's make a very noticeable different in my commute. Not a huge deal, but it has added 10 minutes to my morning commute and at least 15 minutes to the afternoon commute.

Now, if I can get a third rider or I want to pay, it's a lovely ride. I don't think the HOT lanes did anything to help rush hour flow and, in fact, made it much worse for the everyday person. If you are a carpooler, wealthy, or get company paid tolls, it's great.

Now, for the weekend traffic, I do think it made a difference during the summer. The HOT lanes are fairly affordable on the weekend and I think more people made use of them then when they were HOV lanes. I believe a lot of travelers are confused by the HOV concept but not by the HOT concept. While the traffic was still bad, at least through the HOT lane stretch, I personally thought it was better on weekends. Stafford/Fredericksburg area is a separate story. I was forced to drive down there twice this summer from Woodbridge and it was awful, even at 7AM on a Saturday morning. I'm glad the Woodbridge stretch isn't quite that bad.

And I never understood why they didn't make the HOT lanes bi-directional yet they did on I495, where, IMO, they needed HOT lanes a lot less. Those lanes appear to not get much use.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by LuvVA

May I-66 qualifies for the worst highway on weekends....

The difference between I-66 and 95 is that on 66 you have bail out options, lots of them, depending on where you are. Route 123, DTR, 29, Route 7, Route 50. There are many ways around (albeit there should be several other road grid links created). On 95, a combination of bad land use and bad transportation planning that has prioritized just widen widen and toll has made the road completely susceptible to failure. A single crash and now the one or two other options around 95 are completely overloaded.

If you want solutions to 95, 1) let's talk VRE expansion and funding to get more trains 2) Let's talk about stopping the unfunded sprawl continuing south past Fredericksburg as we speak, which doesn't pay for the infrastructure it demands 3) Let's talk about adding new road links between PWC and Fairfax County through some of the most NIMBY of neighborhoods so that we get more resilience in our infrastructure.

I'm sure instead we'll spend 4 billion dollars to widen it one more, and not learn any lessons.