Virginia

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: McAuliffe names Aubrey Layne transportation chief

Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe on Friday named a Virginia Beach resident steeped in the region's traffic woes to be his secretary of transportation.

McAuliffe (D) revealed his selection of Aubrey Layne, a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board since 2009, at a news conference at the Norfolk International Terminals – a location meant to highlight the connection between good transportation and a strong economy.

Layne's appointment was also touted as evidence that McAuliffe, who narrowly defeated Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) this month, will have a bipartisan cabinet, as Layne has served governors of both parties.

In 2009, then-governor Timothy M. Kaine (D) named Layne to the transportation board. And in 2010, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) put Layne on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission. Layne became chair in 2012.

[cpzilliacus]

For those of you who drive in Fairfax County....

What I would love to see in your part of the Commonwealth is the elimination of the miserable at-grade signalized intersections where Va. 286 (Fairfax County Parkway, former 7100) crosses Loisdale Road and Terminal Road (thousands of truck trips come in and out of there every day because of the petroleum terminals and other industrial/warehouse land uses there).

Because there is so much traffic on both of these minor roads, and thanks to I-95 being so close, I don't think that VDOT has any possibility of getting them timed to reduce recurring congestion on 286, even in the middle of the day!

[1995hoo]

We drove through Opal on Saturday on our way south for Thanksgiving. Portable VMS units set up as far north as the Warrenton bypass. In an unusual move for VDOT, but a good one, the signs said "NEW TRAFFIC PATTERN AT RT 17"/"DO NOT USE GPS" and later signs added a third screen saying "RT 17 KEEP RIGHT."

[oscar]

We drove through Opal on Saturday on our way south for Thanksgiving. Portable VMS units set up as far north as the Warrenton bypass. In an unusual move for VDOT, but a good one, the signs said "NEW TRAFFIC PATTERN AT RT 17"/"DO NOT USE GPS" and later signs added a third screen saying "RT 17 KEEP RIGHT."

I've seen many permanent "GPS routing not advised" signs in other parts of Virginia, to discourage use of particularly steep and/or winding rural routes:

[cpzilliacus]

We drove through Opal on Saturday on our way south for Thanksgiving. Portable VMS units set up as far north as the Warrenton bypass. In an unusual move for VDOT, but a good one, the signs said "NEW TRAFFIC PATTERN AT RT 17"/"DO NOT USE GPS" and later signs added a third screen saying "RT 17 KEEP RIGHT."

I've seen many permanent "GPS routing not advised" signs in other parts of Virginia, to discourage use of particularly steep and/or winding rural routes:

Years ago, Va. 56 over the Blue Ridge was marked something like "TRACTOR TRAILERS PROHIBITED" or maybe "NOT ADVISABLE FOR TRUCKS OVER 65 FEET."

[froggie]

Check out this weird design.  Not only is VDOT proposing a diverging diamond at I-264/Ballentine in Norfolk, but the intersection immediately south (at Westminster Ave) would be converted into a roundabout complete with access ramps to/from the "wrong way" part of the DDI.

[1995hoo]

Check out this weird design.  Not only is VDOT proposing a diverging diamond at I-264/Ballentine in Norfolk, but the intersection immediately south (at Westminster Ave) would be converted into a roundabout complete with access ramps to/from the "wrong way" part of the DDI.

If that is built, I think someone should go set up a 24/7 video feed similar to what that guy in Durham does with the 11'8" bridge!

[froggie]

The more I think about it, the more I think it might actually work.  Virtually all of the traffic on Ballentine is to/from the north.  If there's anything that'd confuse people, it'd be the "wrong way" aspect of the DDI.

[Thing 342]

Check out this weird design.  Not only is VDOT proposing a diverging diamond at I-264/Ballentine in Norfolk, but the intersection immediately south (at Westminster Ave) would be converted into a roundabout complete with access ramps to/from the "wrong way" part of the DDI.

This is why Norfolk's signage department shouldn't be allowed to design interchanges.

[cpzilliacus]

Fredericksburg.com: Report knocks public-private agreements—includes I-95 express lanes

A recent report by the  Washington, D.C., advocacy group In the Public Interest paints an unseemly picture of public-private partnerships, something that in recent times has become quite the rave in various sectors, such as healthcare, utility services and prison systems.

But public-private partnerships also are big in transportation nowadays.

We have a big one right here in our neck of the woods—the Interstate 95 express lanes, the nearly $1 billion project that will extend the HOV lanes in the median of the interstate to Garrisonville.

[cpzilliacus]

Check out this weird design.  Not only is VDOT proposing a diverging diamond at I-264/Ballentine in Norfolk, but the intersection immediately south (at Westminster Ave) would be converted into a roundabout complete with access ramps to/from the "wrong way" part of the DDI.

If that is built, I think someone should go set up a 24/7 video feed similar to what that guy in Durham does with the 11'8" bridge!

I doubt that as many box trucks will be destroyed at the DDI - the Durham railroad bridge is a champion at that.

[1995hoo]

....



....

Drove through Springfield in the HOV last night on the way home from Ford's Theatre and noted that VDOT is replacing the northernmost set of overheads for the Beltway interchange, the one for which one of the signs was missing about a third of the sign for the past few years. What's interesting is that this one is a single-panel BGS, a very large sign, instead of the multiple panels shown above. It uses the new APL format, though, with a splitting arrow for the option lane. I haven't downloaded videos yet, so I don't know whether I have any pictures of it, but my initial reaction was that it's a much more effective sign than the other ones shown above because it eliminates the issue of apparently-conflicting arrows. I didn't get the closest look at it because of the HOV construction combined with other traffic, and only the bottom half of the new sign was in place last night.

Ms1995hoo thinks I pay too much attention to road signs, but even she noticed the new APL format and remarked on it (her comment? "That new sign has strange-looking arrows.").

Don't know whether I'll get a picture tonight. We usually use I-295 to come home from Caps games, but whether we do that tonight depends on the weather. (The HOV is not normally open late enough for us to use it after games.)

Speaking of APL signs in Virginia, by the way, I noted one day last week (I don't know which, as my dashcam date stamp was messed up) that VDOT is apparently going to replace at least some of the overhead LGSs on eastbound Franconia Road in Springfield with new-style APL signs. When I exited I-95 onto eastbound Franconia there was a work crew assembling an APL sign on which I managed to notice the word "Mall." The current LGSs are kind of ugly because they say "TO Mall" and the word "TO" was added after the fact and doesn't line up correctly with the rest of the text.

[cpzilliacus]

Bacon's Rebellion: No Easy Answers for NoVa's I-95 Corridor

Traffic flow in the Interstate 95 corridor in Northern Virginia has improved since completion of the "Mixing Bowl"  project (at the intersection with the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway) and travelers could see even more improvements when the I-95 express lane projects open for service. But several sections of I-95 still will operate at failing levels of service, while continued population and job growth in the corridor will keep the transportation infrastructure under continued stress.

So concludes a new report, "Outlook for the I-95 Corridor in Fairfax and Prince William Counties,"  by David E. Versel, senior research associate at George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis.

[1995hoo]

I find it hard to give a lot of credibility to the rosy projections for the I-95 HOT lanes as a means of relieving congestion on that road. I think Mike Tantillo gave a pretty good analysis of those lanes in a post he made here last year: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=7481.0  It'll be interesting to see how it all works out, but I think a lot of his comments were very insightful.

One thing that is quite clear from the (generally quite inexpensive) Beltway Express Lanes is that some drivers are simply stubborn and will just refuse to pay a toll, period, no matter how minimal the toll is and no matter how bad the traffic is. Last Saturday evening Ms1995hoo and I were headed out to Great Falls to meet my parents at L'Auberge Chez Francois (my dad's birthday was last week and we were taking them out to dinner). I presumed I would take the Express Lanes to avoid Tysons Corner traffic, and the radio confirmed a backup in the general-purpose lanes heading north towards the American Legion Bridge. The VMS units indicated the toll from Tysons north to the lanes' northern end was 90¢. Yet Tysons drivers continued to pour into the local lanes, leaving the Express Lanes wide open. I loved it, of course. I did change plans so as to take the Dulles Toll Road west to Hunter Mill instead of staying on the Beltway to Georgetown Pike, but either way, it's a nice experience going 70 mph while the traffic next to you is at a standstill.

See video below (click thumbnail to play). Anyway, experiences like this one confirm to me that the I-95 Express Lanes–which will likely have higher tolls and which will have a more complex "segment-based" tolling system–will face the same resistance from drivers who simply refuse to pay a toll and who are willing to sit in the local lanes. The big difference on I-95 is that they're converting existing lanes, so people will be able to say (with some justification) the project made it worse (if that turns out to be the case). On the Beltway, since the project consisted of building four entirely new lanes, there's no basis for saying the new lanes made anything worse.

(To be fair to the drivers in the general-purpose lanes in this video, I suppose if you were headed to Maryland via the Beltway you'd wind up in traffic anyway even if you used the Express Lanes. In that situation you're just paying the toll to jump part of the queue.)

[hbelkins]

Drove through Springfield in the HOV last night on the way home from Ford's Theatre

Nobody got shot, did they?

[1995hoo]

Following on my comment above from yesterday, here is a video capture of the new BGS in Springfield. I assume the weather is the reason why they haven't finished it.

Compare this to the other signs shown further up this thread (seen in the distant background of this image).

[Alps]

Following on my comment above from yesterday, here is a video capture of the new BGS in Springfield. I assume the weather is the reason why they haven't finished it.

See, usually, in sane states, the sign is finished first, on the ground, and then erected.

[cpzilliacus]

[H.B., there's a quote from a guy by the name of Antony Elkins below - any relation?]

WTOP Radio: Companies propose solutions to fix I-66 traffic

At the same time drivers sit in the bumper-to-bumper traffic that plagues weekday commutes on I-66, an in-depth discussion is going on in regards to long-term solutions to solve the congestion woes along one the busiest highways in our region.

Late last month, nearly 20 companies responded to a Request for Information (RFI) from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on how to solve the congestion.

The documents are now posted online, and reflect a complex debate about toll lanes, HOV rules, law enforcement, toll prices, public-private partnerships and the future of mass transit options, such as Metro, bus-rapid transit and light rail.

[hbelkins]

^^^

Not to my knowledge, unless he can trace his ancestry back to the Lincoln County, WV area, which is where my paternal grandfather was from.

[1995hoo]

Following on my comment above from yesterday, here is a video capture of the new BGS in Springfield. I assume the weather is the reason why they haven't finished it.

See, usually, in sane states, the sign is finished first, on the ground, and then erected.

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.

[Takumi]

I don't remember it being mentioned before, but VA 54's west end at US 33 has been reconfigured fairly recently. It now hits US 33 a little further south of where it used to, and at a right angle. The old alignment is now SR 828 and does not connect to US 33 anymore. Pics to come soon.

[dfnva]

Following on my comment above from yesterday, here is a video capture of the new BGS in Springfield. I assume the weather is the reason why they haven't finished it.

See, usually, in sane states, the sign is finished first, on the ground, and then erected.

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've wonder why VDOT has some sort of aversion to posting SR-789 on BGS's for Commerce St and Loisdale Rd.   

[jeffandnicole]

Late last month, nearly 20 companies responded to a Request for Information (RFI) from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on how to solve the congestion.

...law enforcement...

Because nothing helps traffic move better than cops standing next to vehicles pulled over on the side of the highway.

[cpzilliacus]

I've wonder why VDOT has some sort of aversion to posting SR-789 on BGS's for Commerce St and Loisdale Rd.

Good question. 

Especially (as you know) since Va. 789 continues all the way south to Va. 286 (Fairfax County Parkway) as Loisdale Drive.

I still would love to get rid of the at-grade signalized intersection at Va. 286 and Va. 789.

And at Va. 286 and Terminal Road.

[D-Dey65]

I don't remember the interchange myself, nor have I seen any messages on the topic, but all the aerial photos of the I-81 interchange with US 460 in Christiansburg seems to indicate that this was another unfinished cloverleaf that would have lead to an unbuilt highway. Anyone have some info on that?