Virginia

[Stephane Dumas]

A reader column in today's Washington Post:  "The Confederacy on Va.'s Roads" (title in the print edition)  The author, from Arlington, suggests renaming all the highways in Virginia named for Confederate leaders.

I don't like the idea.  For one thing, highway names like Jefferson Davis Highway and Lee Highway are used in a lot of street addresses, since both highways are long and have lots of businesses and homes along them.  A name change would be painful for them.  But even leaving aside the practicalities, I think it's kind of neat that both of those highways come within spitting distance of D.C.   

I don't like that idea either, political correctness run amok. Btw, wasn't some roads names for Jefferson Davis or General Lee in the West?

I guess he might suggest to rename for Martin Luther King but as Chris Rock once mentionned: http://www.hark.com/clips/swxzmbndkj-martin-luther-king-boulevard

"You know what's sad? Martin Luther King stood for non violence. And I don't care where you are in America, if you're on Martin Luther King Boulevard, there's some violence going down."

[1995hoo]

I have nothing against King, but you know, at least Robert E. Lee had a local connection (he lived at what is now Arlington Cemetery).

[Henry]

Hideous. I've always hated that slogan, too.

Wonder if anyone in the Empire State has been accusing them of plagiarism? Apparently, they saw the "I <insert heart here> NY" slogan and decided to one-up it!

[hbelkins]

Virginia has been for lovers since at least the mid to late 1960s. I don't remember the "I (heart) NY" slogan taking flight until the late 70s or early 80s.

[kkt]

I had no idea "Virginia is for lovers" had been around that long.  Learn something every day.

[Henry]

Virginia has been for lovers since at least the mid to late 1960s. I don't remember the "I (heart) NY" slogan taking flight until the late 70s or early 80s.

I take it back. In any case, it's a draw, because both slogans have the same meaning to me. Too bad nobody can be in two places at the same time 

[Alps]

Virginia has been for lovers since at least the mid to late 1960s. I don't remember the "I (heart) NY" slogan taking flight until the late 70s or early 80s.

I take it back. In any case, it's a draw, because both slogans have the same meaning to me. Too bad nobody can be in two places at the same time 

Don't forget I Lovermont!

[Henry]

Virginia has been for lovers since at least the mid to late 1960s. I don't remember the "I (heart) NY" slogan taking flight until the late 70s or early 80s.

I take it back. In any case, it's a draw, because both slogans have the same meaning to me. Too bad nobody can be in two places at the same time 

Don't forget I Lovermont!

Oh really? Well, that's a horse of a different color!

[1995hoo]

Too cool! A split-screen video from VDOT showing Shirley Highway in 1949 in the left-hand pane versus in 2014 in the right-hand pane.

[Takumi]

That's just crazy. The original interchanges remind me of the Colonial Parkway.

[andrewkbrown]

I was hoping the video might have shown the Shirley Highway at-grade railroad crossing that has been mentioned on here several times in the past.

[cpzilliacus]

I was hoping the video might have shown the Shirley Highway at-grade railroad crossing that has been mentioned on here several times in the past.

Did not get far enough north to pass the grade crossing near Four Mile Run (between Shirlington Circle and Va. 123/South Glebe Road).

[1995hoo]

VDOT has another video online showing Arlington County then and now. I haven't had time to watch it, hence why I didn't link it here. I don't know if it shows the RR crossing.

[cpzilliacus]

VDOT has another video online showing Arlington County then and now. I haven't had time to watch it, hence why I didn't link it here. I don't know if it shows the RR crossing.

Isn't that the one that goes down "29/211," as it was once known - (most of) Lee Highway?

[Takumi]

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/01/bill-advances-raise-reckless-driving-threshold-va

[hbelkins]

I'm of two minds about this.

One one hand, I don't think that there should be a set speed at which you're recklessly driving per se. In some instances, 100 mph may be perfectly safe; in others, 35 mph may be reckless.

On the other hand, I don't think reckless driving should be subjective, either. The cop may think you're driving recklessly, but you may be well within your own abilities.

[1995hoo]

VDOT has another video online showing Arlington County then and now. I haven't had time to watch it, hence why I didn't link it here. I don't know if it shows the RR crossing.

Isn't that the one that goes down "29/211," as it was once known - (most of) Lee Highway?

As I said, I haven't watched it, so I don't know. We just got back from a day trip out to a part of the Virginia countryside that is blessedly free of all cellular service (voice or data), so watching it was the furthest thing from my mind.

(I did see something I've never seen before in Virginia: an overhead BGS in advance of a new roundabout on US-522 entering Culpeper. We had visited Linden, Little Washington, and Sperryville, so I decided to take the scenic route home.)

[davewiecking]

I especially like the earthmover backing up in an active traffic lane.

[1995hoo]

VDOT has another video online showing Arlington County then and now. I haven't had time to watch it, hence why I didn't link it here. I don't know if it shows the RR crossing.

Isn't that the one that goes down "29/211," as it was once known - (most of) Lee Highway?

As I said, I haven't watched it, so I don't know. We just got back from a day trip out to a part of the Virginia countryside that is blessedly free of all cellular service (voice or data), so watching it was the furthest thing from my mind.

(I did see something I've never seen before in Virginia: an overhead BGS in advance of a new roundabout on US-522 entering Culpeper. We had visited Linden, Little Washington, and Sperryville, so I decided to take the scenic route home.)

I started watching the Arlington video and it is indeed Route 29[/211]. I didn't watch the whole thing, found it much less interesting.

[cpzilliacus]

Bacon's Rebellion: U.S. 29... The Saga Continues

The battle over the Charlottesville Bypass may be over, but the battle over what to do instead is heating up. After pulling the plug on the super-controversial, $240 million bypass early last year, the McAuliffe administration dusted off a plan to upgrade the U.S. 29 commercial corridor north of Charlottesville by investing in a series of spot improvements, parallel roads and grade-separated interchanges. Now the community is up in arms over the proposal to put an $81 million grade-separated interchange at the intersection with Rio Road.

Last week, "hundreds"  of citizens attended an open house meeting to voice their opposition to the interchange, which would eliminate a major bottleneck along the clogged commercial corridor, which also serves as a U.S. highway. (See WVIR's coverage from last week.)

The most steadfast opposition comes from businesses located near the proposed interchange, whose access to major thoroughfares would be diminished by the new configuration of the Rio Road/U.S. 29 intersection. The businesses have been joined by citizens who worry that construction will cause detours and other inconveniences.

[1995hoo]

Having lived in Charlottesville during the previous round of widening from Hydraulic Road up to about Rio Hill Shopping Center, I am sure they are correct about serious inconvenience and detours during construction. But that's true of most projects and is not, by itself, a reason to forego road improvements.

[1995hoo]

Normally that's what VDOT does. I passed this sign this afternoon in Springfield; it's to be hoisted over the road in the direction I was heading. Maybe the sheer size of the other sign on I-395 was part of the issue? I don't expect to use I-395 again until next weekend, so I don't know when they might finish that one.

I posted the above on the date shown above. Not only has the sign assembly never been hoisted into place above the road, but when I drove through there this weekend, the sign had been removed altogether! There was a workman's truck nearby and I might have considered stopping to ask about it had I not been on the far side of the road separated by a jersey wall.

Very strange to see a huge sign sitting out for over a year only to be removed without being posted!

[MillTheRoadgeek]

Normally that's what VDOT does. I passed this sign this afternoon in Springfield; it's to be hoisted over the road in the direction I was heading. Maybe the sheer size of the other sign on I-395 was part of the issue? I don't expect to use I-395 again until next weekend, so I don't know when they might finish that one.

I posted the above on the date shown above. Not only has the sign assembly never been hoisted into place above the road, but when I drove through there this weekend, the sign had been removed altogether! There was a workman's truck nearby and I might have considered stopping to ask about it had I not been on the far side of the road separated by a jersey wall.

Very strange to see a huge sign sitting out for over a year only to be removed without being posted!

Looks like the old signs, really, must have been enough. Anyways, quite a waste of money, eh?

[Mapmikey]

Found another interesting short VDOT video - 100 years of the Highway Dept

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FobeyH4f58I

At 1:45 it gets to showing US 1 NB approaching VA 350.  The Overhead signs are clear but the US 1 and VA 350 shields never get clear enough.  not long after it shows US 1 NB at the south end of the Fredericksburg Bypass.  Overheads are perfect and no route shields seem visible at all.  Further in the video it shows tunnel construction from several different ones.


There is also a 27-minute VDOT video on Virginia interstates which has vintage scenes sprinkled throughout and also interviews Scott Kozel.  There are a few snippets of Shirley Highway that are not in the "Then and Now" video during the closing credits including a fuzzy VA 350 cutout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHJdQ_X1-yk

Mapmikey

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: Is it time to shut down Virginia speed-trap towns?

For many people, the only souvenir of time spent in tiny Hopewell, Virginia is a paper speeding ticket.

The independent city, with a 2010 population of 22,591 is at the center of AAA's latest effort to limit what the not-for-profit auto club calls "policing for profit,"  with targeted speed enforcement.

"There are some communities in Virginia that use money from police tickets to make up a major part of their town's finances,"  says Lon Anderson, director of public and government relations for AAA Mid-Atlantic, which serves more than 3.4 million members from New Jersey to Virginia.

The most egregious example is a two-mile stretch of interstate highway that runs along the western side of the 10.8 square mile town.

"We dubbed the part of I-295 that runs through Hopewell a "˜million dollar mile,' because they make almost 2 million dollars a year,"  from revenue raised by speed traps, says Anderson.

Most law enforcement agencies say targeted speed enforcement is intended to induce drivers to slow down in areas where road design, volume, and conditions would preclude faster driving.