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?
The first package describes a network of priority bus corridors, the centerpiece of which is the K Street Transitway subpackage focused on improving accessibility and mobility in the city core, the final destination for many surburban commuters. The only component actually on I-66 is a ramp in the median of I-66 providing direct access to and from the left express (HOV) lanes to the Vienna Metrorail station. That could mean big time savings for commuter buses that get caught in the rush-hour backup around the Nutley Street exit. It can also mean less disruption to traffic and a safer situation for buses trying to weave from leftmost HOV lane to the rightmost turn lane.
The second package is a regional bicycle-sharing program that would put bike-share stations across the region, including Arlington County and the City of Fairfax. The region-wide program also includes so-called high-tech intermodal smart hubs that provide transit information and facilitate transfer from different modes (such a bicycle to Metrorail or Zipcar).
Posts
