Springfield Interchange

[Mergingtraffic]

Here is a YouTube video going through the Springfield Interchange and Wilson bridge.  The new roads look nice and wide open.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCXfG0Bh6qA

Frewway Jim even mentioned it was the easiest time driving through there in 25 years.  I'm not that familiar with the old or new interchange, but was all the work worth it?  Are the traffic jams gone in this area?

The beltway portion in the beginning before the I-395 off ramp looks really wide, like 7 lanes or so?  What was it like before hand?

As a roadgeek are you satisfied with the results?

[Buummu]

yeah.. i drove through this interchange once.. and i was heading North on I-95 to I-95/I-495 East.. and the interchange was very impressive. Much better than the old interchange back in 2001 before the rebuilt... I think they still work on the interchange.. by adding HOV/HOT ramp lanes.

[1995hoo]

I live near the Van Dorn exit off the Beltway (three miles east of the Springfield Interchange) and it's been one of the best improvements ever made in this part of Fairfax County. The Wilson Bridge is not having quite the same effect on the Virginia side because the Beltway is still under construction leading to the bridge. But on the Maryland side the bridge-related backups are mostly gone.

I'm looking forward to the completion of the HOV ramps in Springfield.


Revising this to say more than I had time to post earlier today: I've found that the biggest benefit of the Springfield Interchange has been on the Beltway, especially the Inner Loop heading towards Springfield where I-95 used to choke down to that small ramp on the right and then merge left to continue south. My mother and father live in Fairfax and prior to the opening of the flyover from the Inner Loop to I-95 South I wouldn't even bother to use the Beltway if I were headed over to visit them. Wasn't worth the trouble of having to sit in traffic for upwards of 20 minutes to go the three miles to Springfield.

The thing that still needs work is, as usual, signage, primarily on southbound I-395 south of Edsall Road. The signs are small and not oriented properly over the lanes, so in multiple places you have two arrows pointing to the same lane where they were meant to point to adjacent ones. While often I think pull-through signs' importance might be a bit overstated, the Springfield Interchange is a major exception where it's imperative that you get into the correct lane, as you will have to drive several miles to turn around for another try if you go the wrong way. Of course I recognize that the Beltway, especially to the west, is a work zone and so the signs will continue to evolve there. I'm also interested in seeing what they do as to the signs for the new HOV ramps. VDOT's signs for the Shirley Highway HOV facility predate most of the MUTCD guidelines for such lanes and they tend to be a mish-mash of stuff that evolved over the years. The renderings I've seen for the new Beltway HOT lanes (which are being built by Fluor-Transurban, not by VDOT) show some very clear signs, but I haven't seen any renderings for the new ramps at Springfield.


BTW, this is what the Outer Loop looked like in the old days as you approached Springfield from the west, although usually there was a lot more traffic heading to I-95 here. (Picture from AARoads) Four-lane carriageway, two-lane ramp to I-95 exited on the right but narrowed to one lane fairly quickly (a lot of drivers used to bomb along the shoulder there as though the lane continued, very dangerous), and a two-lane ramp to I-395 departed on the left after you crossed over Shirley Highway (the exit is now on the right before the overpass, but it swoops around to the left and uses part of the old ramp). None of these trees are there anymore.

[mrsman]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I had a question regarding this interchange.

I was recently driving through there and then spent some time looking at the interchange on GSV and satellite images.  Wow, this is a massive interchange with many many ramps.

(1) Is there a diagram somewhere that delineates where each ramp goes?  I've seen some construction related documents related to the interchange project, but most of the ramps to/from the 395/95 express lanes were built after the Interchange project was completed, as part of the 495 express lanes project?

(2) Here is a satellite view of I-95 just south of the interchange:

http://goo.gl/maps/IRvue

If you notice the carriageway that is furthest left (west) has 6 lanes.  It is the widest carriageway in the link.  Surely, this must be the I-95 mainline I would think, but no -- it's an exit ramp. Yes, traffic from 395 and both Beltway ramps merge here and then eventually lead to Franconia Rd or the Springfield Mall, but are 6 lanes really necessary?  It would seem to me that since all of that traffic will later have to merge in anyway that a 2 lane or a 3 lane ramp may make more sense and lead to less overall lane changes.  Is there that much traffic to a local exit?

In last week's drive, I transitioned from 395 to 495 N (towards Tysons), there too there are a lot of lane changes there.  It seems like all the drivers have to come in and make multiple lane changes in a relatively short span. 

(3) The secret bypass lane.  Correct me if I am wrong, but are there secret ramps that allow one to connect from the Beltway and then resume driving on the Beltway in the same direction.  But to get there, you have to take a ramp towards the 95/395 express lanes and then continue onto another ramp going back to the Beltway.  Are these ramps at all restricted to HOT traffic, or can someone drive them and then merge out before the 495 lanes start at Braddock Road??

[1995hoo]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I had a question regarding this interchange.

I was recently driving through there and then spent some time looking at the interchange on GSV and satellite images.  Wow, this is a massive interchange with many many ramps.

(1) Is there a diagram somewhere that delineates where each ramp goes?  I've seen some construction related documents related to the interchange project, but most of the ramps to/from the 395/95 express lanes were built after the Interchange project was completed, as part of the 495 express lanes project?

There used to be some maps on the HO/T lane website, but I can't find them now. They weren't really all that good, but on the whole they did the job. The best diagram I ever saw was a full-page map printed in the Washington Post in either December 1998 or January 1999 just before construction started. I think I saved it, but I have absolutely no idea where it is (I suspect it is in a box in our self-storage unit with some other newspapers and the like). I am striking out trying to find it online.

The image below used to be on a VDOT-created website about the project (no longer active with its completion). It's a "before-and-after." While it doesn't trace the ramps for you, you can use your finger or your mouse pointer to follow them yourself if you like.

(2) Here is a satellite view of I-95 just south of the interchange:

http://goo.gl/maps/IRvue

If you notice the carriageway that is furthest left (west) has 6 lanes.  It is the widest carriageway in the link.  Surely, this must be the I-95 mainline I would think, but no -- it's an exit ramp. Yes, traffic from 395 and both Beltway ramps merge here and then eventually lead to Franconia Rd or the Springfield Mall, but are 6 lanes really necessary?  It would seem to me that since all of that traffic will later have to merge in anyway that a 2 lane or a 3 lane ramp may make more sense and lead to less overall lane changes.  Is there that much traffic to a local exit?

In last week's drive, I transitioned from 395 to 495 N (towards Tysons), there too there are a lot of lane changes there.  It seems like all the drivers have to come in and make multiple lane changes in a relatively short span. 

It's much improved over how it used to be. That southbound segment of I-95 you cite used to be the I-95 mainline but with a twist: Traffic coming south took the Inner Loop of the Beltway, funnelled down onto that two-lane ramp, then had to weave to the left to continue south. Meanwhile, traffic coming south on I-395 looking to exit at Springfield had to weave right at exactly the same point (the current Exit 1B ramp did not exist). Instant gridlock every day for much of the day, coupled with loads of accidents. Southbound I-95 used to back up well beyond the Van Dorn Street interchange three miles to the east just to funnel through that area.

I think the six-lane ramp you mention is a function of the following:
–Two-lane Exit 169 from the Inner Loop to Springfield, joined by
–Two-lane Exit 1B from I-395 to Springfield that joins the aforementioned ramp to make four lanes, and then
–A single-lane ramp from the Outer Loop joins on the right, marked for traffic to westbound Route 644, while meanwhile
–Another single-lane ramp from the Outer Loop joins on the left, marked for traffic to eastbound Route 644.

While there could be lane drops prior to the super-wide area, I suspect one reason there are not is a desire not to have lane drops in the middle of what is a rather sharp curve.

Why two ramps from the Outer Loop to Route 644? The goal was to eliminate lane-changing and weaving. It didn't entirely work because a lot of drivers use the "westbound" ramp to access eastbound 644 because there is nothing stopping them from doing so.

This particular carriageway does indeed feel a bit overbuilt every time I drive on it, though it's also in terrible condition (for a fairly new road, it has tons of potholes and a lot of the lane striping is badly faded and in need of repair). I have no doubt part of the motivation behind a slight overbuilding there may well be that this particular interchange has proven to be a problem so many times so far that they just built it a bit bigger than needed, plus the pavement and the right-of-way were already in place right there anyway so there was probably little benefit to tearing up pavement that already existed.

I don't think traffic heading from either I-395 or I-95 to the Inner Loop towards Tysons has to change lanes excessively. It's certainly a huge improvement over what it used to be. Yes, the flyover from I-95 to the Inner Loop does carry three lanes and all of them eventually end, making people merge left, but at least there's room to merge.

(3) The secret bypass lane.  Correct me if I am wrong, but are there secret ramps that allow one to connect from the Beltway and then resume driving on the Beltway in the same direction.  But to get there, you have to take a ramp towards the 95/395 express lanes and then continue onto another ramp going back to the Beltway.  Are these ramps at all restricted to HOT traffic, or can someone drive them and then merge out before the 495 lanes start at Braddock Road??

You are correct in both directions. We've discussed those in the thread about the HO/T lanes. Neither of those "secret ramps" is restricted in any way. Anyone can use them, but there's seldom much reason to do so. Funny thing, though–yesterday afternoon I was entering the I-95 HO/T lanes from the Inner Loop en route to Verizon Center and I saw a cop apparently running radar in the Outer Loop "secret lane." I half-wondered if he might turn around and come after me since I was going 65 mph up the ramp the other way (speed limit would be no more than 55 if it were posted), but he didn't bother.

There are toll gantries associated with those "secret ramps," but I can confirm they do not charge you anything when you use them. I think the general consensus seems to be the ramps are there as a provision for a possible future eastward extension of the managed-lane system if the Beltway is ever rebuilt in that area.



Edited to add: From searching online, I've concluded the Post's map ran on January 3, 1999. I can find that day's stories about the project but not the huge map itself. If you're interested, next time I go get a haircut in the next few weeks I can stop at the public library, which has old copies of the Post on microfilm, and I can print out a copy of that map and scan it. Let me know if that would interest you. It won't be today but would probably be sometime between now and the end of February.

[froggie]

(1) Is there a diagram somewhere that delineates where each ramp goes?  I've seen some construction related documents related to the interchange project, but most of the ramps to/from the 395/95 express lanes were built after the Interchange project was completed, as part of the 495 express lanes project?

A couple notes on this:

- I used to have a pamphlet from VDOT that highlighted all the ramps constructed as part of the Springfield Interchange project, sorted by phase, from the early 2000s.  Not sure if it was ever online, and I'm not sure if I still have the pamphlet.

- While construction of the ramps to/from the 95/395 HOV lanes coincided with the 495 HO/T construction, those ramps were always considered part of the Springfield Interchange project (i.e. the final, Phase 8).  They were deferred from the interchange project proper due to funding, but got picked up with the HO/T lanes.

[mrsman]

Edited to add: From searching online, I've concluded the Post's map ran on January 3, 1999. I can find that day's stories about the project but not the huge map itself. If you're interested, next time I go get a haircut in the next few weeks I can stop at the public library, which has old copies of the Post on microfilm, and I can print out a copy of that map and scan it. Let me know if that would interest you. It won't be today but would probably be sometime between now and the end of February.

I'm interested.  Thank you for making the effort.

[1995hoo]

I'll see what I can do. The Post is a full broadsheet-sized newspaper, so I don't know how well it'll print out from the microfilm, how well it'll scan, or how it will do as an upload, but I'll do my best.

[1995hoo]

OK, I have printouts, but I'm not sure the scans will be very clear because the printouts themselves are hard to read. Microfilm can be a pain, very easy to wind up with areas on the same page being too dark and too light. I'll attempt to upload a scan sometime in the next 24 hours, but I cannot make any promises as to legibility. One notable aspect is that they used different shades of black and grey to denote the local lanes and the HOV lanes, but both colors just look black in the printout. Oh well.

I do kind of like the way they described the reconstruction at the Beltway as turning the old Springfield Interchange into three new interchanges–one for local traffic, one for long-distance traffic, and one for HOV traffic (the latter constructed later).


Edited to add: I just scanned it. This isn't going to work for uploading an image. I'm not going to be able to turn it into a legible image. If you PM me your e-mail address, I'll e-mail you the .PDF scan.

[GCrites]

I think I might still have some maps and whatnot that I picked up from the project propaganda zone in the Springfield Mall in 2004. I won't be able to scan them though.

[NE2]

Playing around with OSM data: