Northern Virginia HOT Lanes

[cpzilliacus]

Trucks over 2 axles are banned on all the NoVa HO/T lanes.

As 1995hoo noted, semis could use I-95 HOV lanes from Dale City northward during non-HOV hours up until they were converted to HO/T 24-7 on Dec 29, 2014.

They could use them during HOV hours as well, if they had at least three passengers in the vehicle. 

There used to be a refuse truck business based in Triangle (I think it is gone now) that had a lot of customers in D.C. and nearby areas of Northern Virginia, and their big trucks (three axles) used to run the HOV lanes northbound in the mornings and southbound in the afternoons. 

Usually two persons in the cab, and one or two persons sitting in the loading hopper in the back of the truck.   

I saw a VSP trooper flag one of them over in the afternoon near Dale City because there were only two heads visible up front, but they were waved on when he determined that there were two more people in the back of the truck.

[1995hoo]

It's not unusual to see trucks using them. On I-95 trucks used to be allowed prior to the HO/T changeover (except south of Potomac Mills Mall due to the weigh station out on the mainline), so some drivers may just mess up. On the Beltway, it's less understandable. I've seen a number of trucks in the Beltway lanes stopped by police.

If the VSP observe a truck with an apparent gross vehicle weight over 10,000 pounds, then will stop it and give the driver a ticket.

I thought such trucks were no now banned from the HOV/Toll section of I-95 as well?

Correct, they are now banned on I-95. I was saying (perhaps not clearly enough) that they used to be allowed in the then-HOV lanes except for the part near the weigh station. During HOV hours they had to meet the HOV requirement of 3 or more people.

[Mapmikey]

Major Fail!

Gates on the express lanes were frozen and had to be opened manually.  Even with opening time at 2 a.m. they were not able to open them fully until nearly 6.

Part of the reason for how long it took to do it manually is that all the ramps now have 10-16 gates each...

Mainline 95 from Dumfries to Woodbridge does not do well at all when the lanes are closed for whatever reason...a little better north of VA 123.

Mapmikey

This happened again this morning.  Supposedly the storms last night caused problems requiring manual opening of the gates.  They were still closed as late as 6.

Mainline 95 was worse this time than the last time this happened over the winter.

Mike

[cpzilliacus]

Major Fail!

Gates on the express lanes were frozen and had to be opened manually.  Even with opening time at 2 a.m. they were not able to open them fully until nearly 6.

Part of the reason for how long it took to do it manually is that all the ramps now have 10-16 gates each...

Mainline 95 from Dumfries to Woodbridge does not do well at all when the lanes are closed for whatever reason...a little better north of VA 123.

Mapmikey

This happened again this morning.  Supposedly the storms last night caused problems requiring manual opening of the gates.  They were still closed as late as 6.

Mainline 95 was worse this time than the last time this happened over the winter.

Transurban spent a lot of money to install generators to power their toll collection equipment in the event of power failure along their lanes on i-495 and I-95/I-395.  Similarly, MdTA has generators at each of its toll collection points along Md. 200, and at the toll points along the I-95 ETLs north of Baltimore.

Wonder why they (Transurban) did not bother to pay for generators to power the gates in case of an outage, since malfunctioning gates will cost them plenty in terms of customers that cannot use their lanes.

Wonder if their contract with VDOT has a liquidated damages clause if they do not have the lanes open on-time?

[froggie]

Wonder if their contract with VDOT has a liquidated damages clause if they do not have the lanes open on-time?

Given what was made public of the 495 contract, I'd suspect that the state did not push this.  A shame, too.  Transurban rolled over VDOT way too easily on these HO/T lane contracts.

[jeffandnicole]

If people down there make a lot of noise, which they should be doing, maybe VDOT and Transurban should agree to call in people when thunderstorms may occur and have them available at or near interchanges to manually control the gates if power goes out.

Expensive?  Yep.  But I'm sure there's enough maintenance people to handle it.  When Transurban has enough of that, they'll install the generators necessary.

[cpzilliacus]

Given what was made public of the 495 contract, I'd suspect that the state did not push this.  A shame, too.  Transurban rolled over VDOT way too easily on these HO/T lane contracts.

I unfortunately agree. 

But I think the blame lies more with the Commonwealth's lawyers (Assistant Attorney Generals) assigned to VDOT (who work for the state Attorney General, not Virginia's Secretary of Transportation) who were not experienced in such matters.

[cpzilliacus]

If people down there make a lot of noise, which they should be doing, maybe VDOT and Transurban should agree to call in people when thunderstorms may occur and have them available at or near interchanges to manually control the gates if power goes out.

Expensive?  Yep.  But I'm sure there's enough maintenance people to handle it.  When Transurban has enough of that, they'll install the generators necessary.

One can only hope.  I am not confident that Transurban will want to make the substantial investment (now) to have backup power for the gates.

[Mapmikey]

Transurban has begun to install red flags with white Xs onto the barrier gates along the 95 Express Lanes.  You know.  In case you don't notice 16 closed gates with red lights on them.

Mike

[cpzilliacus]

Transurban has begun to install red flags with white Xs onto the barrier gates along the 95 Express Lanes.  You know.  In case you don't notice 16 closed gates with red lights on them.

I suppose those flags cost a little bit less than motors and the cables needed to reach the gate arms?

[slorydn1]

I'm fixin' to ask a stupid question.

How do they know that you have 3 people in your car or not to make the charge/no charge decision? (seeing that everything is automated).

I went through there on Memorial Day but I had to stay on the mainline since I didn't have the EZ-pass equipment. I didn't need to be in the HO/T lanes since traffic was light anyway so I'm not sure I would have used them even if I had. I did have 3 in the car, and I was wondering how the system would be able to tell so that I wouldn't have been charged to use them if I had.

[Mapmikey]

You have to have a special EZ-pass device called EZ-Pass Flex.  It has a switch that you can put in carpool mode and it won't get charged.

If you have one of these and forget to put it back into regular mode and are driving with <3 passengers, you are subject to ticketing by the State Police.

I only have the regular EZ-pass transponder and I would have to pay no matter how many people are in my car if I used the lanes with 3+ people.

Mike

[froggie]

The Northern Virginia HO/T lanes all require you to have an EZPass, regardless of whether you have 3 people in the car or not.  For commuters, VDOT has what they call an EZPass Flex, which allows you to switch back and forth between "regular" and "HOV".  State Police apparently have technology that can read whether the Flex is in regular mode or HOV mode, and can/will pull over vehicles in HOV mode but who don't have 3 or more people in them.

If you don't have the EZPass Flex (which is probably everybody outside the DC area), you can still use the lanes if you have an EZPass or compatible (I believe NC's transponder is compatible now), but you will still be charged even if you have 3 people.

[slorydn1]

Thanks Mapmikey, that makes sense.

I wonder why they don't give out the flex equipment as the default? Well then again of course I know why-it's cheaper and more people get charged that way.

[slorydn1]

The Northern Virginia HO/T lanes all require you to have an EZPass, regardless of whether you have 3 people in the car or not.  For commuters, VDOT has what they call an EZPass Flex, which allows you to switch back and forth between "regular" and "HOV".  State Police apparently have technology that can read whether the Flex is in regular mode or HOV mode, and can/will pull over vehicles in HOV mode but who don't have 3 or more people in them.

If you don't have the EZPass Flex (which is probably everybody outside the DC area), you can still use the lanes if you have an EZPass or compatible (I believe NC's transponder is compatible now), but you will still be charged even if you have 3 people.

Thanks Froggie.


I don't own an NC EZ-Pass, I don't live near enough to a toll facility to warrant it. Even when I am up in the Raleigh area shopping and whatnot I avoid I-540 like the plague anyway.

[froggie]

I wonder why they don't give out the flex equipment as the default? Well then again of course I know why-it's cheaper and more people get charged that way.

Limited demand, all things considered.  Because even with the Flex, you need to have 3 people in your car in order to use the Flex.

[Zeffy]

I wonder why they don't give out the flex equipment as the default? Well then again of course I know why-it's cheaper and more people get charged that way.

Limited demand, all things considered.  Because even with the Flex, you need to have 3 people in your car in order to use the Flex.

Are the tickets for being pulled over like this more than speeding tickets? I'm only asking because running a toll doesn't have as much as fine as speeding seems to, unless you're a repeat offender.

[froggie]

Arguably worse than speeding tickets.  Virginia law is less kind to HOV violations than it is to speeding violations (unless you're going 80+ or 20 over...that's a different animal).  1st offense in Northern Virginia is $125.  Subsequent offenses incur higher fines plus points off your license.

[1995hoo]

I wonder why they don't give out the flex equipment as the default? Well then again of course I know why-it's cheaper and more people get charged that way.

Limited demand, all things considered.  Because even with the Flex, you need to have 3 people in your car in order to use the Flex.

They further discourage frivolous obtaining of a Flex by imposing a one-time $10 fee if you go six months without using it in HOV mode (if you obtained it after October 1 of last year, I believe). It's a one-time fee, period–it's not $10 every time you go six months without an HOV-mode trip. But still, why incur a fee you don't have to? We have two standard E-ZPasses and didn't get a Flex because we almost never have three people in the car. Our neighbors two doors down have three kids, so they have a Flex in their minivan (but not in their other vehicle, a Passat).

Regarding the HOV fines, I believe (I don't have experience with it!) that the fourth violation is a cool $1000. I can't see time savings being worth that much money.

[NJRoadfan]

Its too bad no other E-ZPass facility has looked into the Flex transponder system. The PANYNJ car pool discounts would be a good candidate for it. Right now you have to register for the program, and someone in a staffed lane has to verify the number of vehicle occupants and manually apply the discount rate.

Anyway, I did notice something about pricing. The "base" price for the HOT lanes seems to be higher when the lanes are operating northbound vs. southbound. Well.... based on my observations traveling through the area early in the morning when the mainline is free flowing and the HOT lanes totally empty.

[cpzilliacus]

Arguably worse than speeding tickets.  Virginia law is less kind to HOV violations than it is to speeding violations (unless you're going 80+ or 20 over...that's a different animal).  1st offense in Northern Virginia is $125.  Subsequent offenses incur higher fines plus points off your license.

Maryland is worse in terms of HOV violators.  Any HOV violator who is convicted in Maryland will likely have violation of Transportation Article § 21-201, Obedience to and required traffic control devices, on their driving record, which is a "moving" violation that allows auto insurance companies to increase rates.

[NJRoadfan]

That didn't seem to deter folks from using the 24-hour HOV2 lane on US-50 for passing last Sunday. 

[1995hoo]

Seems there will be "purple striping" added to certain HO/T lane entrances. It sounds like the purple will be sort of like a shadow (for lack of a better term) alongside existing white skip lines. One wonders to what extent the average driver associates purple with managed lanes so far–perhaps it's more reasonable to think these markings might help people to learn to make that association (though on the Inner Loop of the Beltway, in particular, I'm sure there'll always be people who think the two left lanes near the Robinson Terminal are there for them to use to try to cut the line in the other lanes).

https://www.expresslanes.com/feature/1779

[cpzilliacus]

That didn't seem to deter folks from using the 24-hour HOV2 lane on US-50 for passing last Sunday. 

It's not well-enforced (most of the time). But when the State Police do enforce it, they tend to catch a lot of violators, and those tickets almost certainly lead to higher insurance rates for many that get caught.

[Thing 342]

That didn't seem to deter folks from using the 24-hour HOV2 lane on US-50 for passing last Sunday. 

It's not well-enforced (most of the time). But when the State Police do enforce it, they tend to catch a lot of violators, and those tickets almost certainly lead to higher insurance rates for many that get caught.

Similarly, the VSP are often out in force to catch violators on the HOV lanes along I-64 on the Peninsula on summer Fridays. (Which doesn't make a lot of sense, since most beach traffic would seem qualify for those lanes, but they seem to catch a lot of people)