Belated New Year Roundup

Well, it's almost lunar new year.

The new overlords are in. Virginia's new governor, Bob McDonnell (R) says transportation is not on his agenda this year but he is using emergency money to reopen highway rest areas. He also wants to raise highway speed limits in rural areas.

Meanwhile the Beltway is winning accolades. If you thought the congestion at I-495 was bad, you weren't alone. The Daily Beast says the Capital Beltway is #3 among national bottlenecks. No surprise there.

Mind your vehicle occupancy. There have been many media reports of high-occupancy vehicle enforcement on I-66 since December. Fines are pricey and violations have been many. If you need a review on the region's HOV restrictions, check with the Commuter Page.

Metro is seeking input on its big budget decision. The region's transit backbone (Metrorail and Metrobus) has to cut service and/or raise fares and is presenting four options.

And some sorta good news. Fairfax Connector has adjusted schedules, including Centreville's 442 and 444 to Sully Station and Stone Road. This should mean a little more service and more frequent buses during peak periods. Check out the new schedules if you're a minute minder.

Sorry for the holiday hiatus. We're back.

Photo credit: Tom Saunders, VDOT

The 15 Minutes the Earth Stood Still

Just before 10 am this morning on eastbound I-66 approaching the Beltway interchange, an incident brought traffic to a 15-minute standstill. Traffic reporters said a motorcade was moving through the Falls Church area and on the Beltway. People got out of their idling cars to stretch. WTOP confirms that the president was visiting a local school.

Motorcades are another traffic incident the area deals with, but backup at the Beltway happens almost everyday with or without the Obama administration dropping by. Traffic getting on the Beltway on the left and right lanes of I-66 often often clog the middle lanes for through traffic.

Partly to blame is the ongoing construction of high-occupancy/toll lanes on the Beltway, which worsens the bottlenecks at the I-66/I-495 interchange. This interchange is being reconfigured to accommodate HOT lanes and ramps, new bridges, and toll facilities. Honestly, I don't know what the interchange will be like in the HOT era, but it has to better than it is now, right? Right...?

Today was just one of those days I wish I took the bus.

Photo credit: Ryan Sandridge

Playing Chicken on I-66

I often travel Interstate 66 eastbound to Route 7 late in what is called the peak period. That's incredibly annoying, as if rush hour in its peakiness weren't annoying enough already. Traffic between Route 29 and the Beltway is hard to predict -- WAMU and WTOP don't mention it unless it's really bad, and anything less than really bad can vary between not bad and bad. Lately has been really bad.

Points of congestion are many. But the mess approaching the Beltway is usually the worse bottleneck. Traffic backs up in each lane, waiting for the glorious opportunity to get on an off ramp or break on through to the other side. (What can only pray that the Beltway's high-occupancy toll lanes will offer relief.)

But here's the tricky part. I, like most of my fellow drivers, am not party to a high-occupancy vehicle, so going solo isn't statutory inside the Beltway. As I idle before Nutley Street, my last chance to bail before the Beltway, the time is 8:43.

Do I risk getting through too early and getting pulled over by a motorcycle cop at 8:57? Or do I pull off on Nutley for a new sense of bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go on Route 29? The former is an expensive slap on the wrist (if caught), the latter a detour to more delay.

For the record, I usually take the bus. If I'm driving at the height of rush hour I have to allot about the same time anyway. Or leave later and risk being late.

But what about you? If you drive eastbound when I-66 inside the Beltway is a no-go, how do you go about it?

Photo credit: Nutley Street sign by Luigi de Guzman.