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I-66 HO/T Lanes

Started by froggie, January 23, 2015, 02:46:25 PM

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oscar

Quote from: bluecountry on April 02, 2024, 03:15:24 PMDoes anybody know inside the beltway what is going on with 66 construction just east of Glebe Street and the Rossyln tunnel?  I do not get why 66 is not 6 lanes just east of Glebe Road as the underpass of the NSF has ample space, I hope this is being fixed.

I went to one of VDOT's public forums about three proposals to add auxiliary lanes to I-66 between VA 267, and Lee Highway (now Langston Blvd.) east of Glebe Rd. The widening east of Glebe Rd. was portrayed as the easiest and least costly but also least useful of the proposals (the other two, west of Glebe Rd., have been completed). My impression is that the completed widenings left no money for the low-priority phase 3. Given fierce local opposition, two out of three ain't bad.

BTW, the "underpass of the NSF" you mention is actually under a parking garage for what is now Washington-Liberty High School, to offset school parking lost to I-66 construction. NSF is several blocks south of I-66.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html


bluecountry

Quote from: oscar on June 19, 2024, 07:12:53 PM
Quote from: bluecountry on April 02, 2024, 03:15:24 PMDoes anybody know inside the beltway what is going on with 66 construction just east of Glebe Street and the Rossyln tunnel?  I do not get why 66 is not 6 lanes just east of Glebe Road as the underpass of the NSF has ample space, I hope this is being fixed.

I went to one of VDOT's public forums about three proposals to add auxiliary lanes to I-66 between VA 267, and Lee Highway (now Langston Blvd.) east of Glebe Rd. The widening east of Glebe Rd. was portrayed as the easiest and least costly but also least useful of the proposals (the other two, west of Glebe Rd., have been completed). My impression is that the completed widenings left no money for the low-priority phase 3. Given fierce local opposition, two out of three ain't bad.

BTW, the "underpass of the NSF" you mention is actually under a parking garage for what is now Washington-Liberty High School, to offset school parking lost to I-66 construction. NSF is several blocks south of I-66.
And it has the space already, it just needs re-stirpping. SO frustrating.

froggie

Quote from: bluecountry on June 21, 2024, 01:57:48 PM
Quote from: oscar on June 19, 2024, 07:12:53 PMBTW, the "underpass of the NSF" you mention is actually under a parking garage for what is now Washington-Liberty High School, to offset school parking lost to I-66 construction. NSF is several blocks south of I-66.
And it has the space already, it just needs re-stirpping. SO frustrating.

Only if they get a design exemption from FHWA for a substandard shoulder.  While it appears wide under the parking garage, it is not wide enough for an extra lane plus standard-width shoulder.

oscar

#703
Quote from: bluecountry on June 21, 2024, 01:57:48 PMDoes anybody know inside the beltway what is going on with 66 construction just east of Glebe Street and the Rossyln tunnel?  I do not get why 66 is not 6 lanes just east of Glebe Road as the underpass of the NSF has ample space, I hope this is being fixed.

QuoteAnd it has the space already, it just needs re-stirpping. SO frustrating.

VDOT estimated the cost of adding a westbound auxiliary lane between Langston Blvd. and Glebe Rd. would be $5 million. This might include fencing or other protections between the freeway and the adjacent bike trail, since I-66 traffic with the additional lane would be closer to the trail.

Even with an additional WB lane east of Glebe Rd., traffic would have to immediately exit at Glebe Rd., or squeeze back to two westbound lanes hemmed in by the bike trail, Metrorail, and several bridges over I-66, to get to the planned (and now existing) three-lane segment west of the Fairfax Dr. ramps. This is probably what VDOT had in mind, when it said the widening you propose would be cheap but also kind of pointless.

Widening I-66 east to the Rosslyn tunnel was also a non-starter, with lots of ROW constraints, and the tunnel itself a chokepoint (my hunch is that was intentional) for traffic to and from D.C. and the Pentagon.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html



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