Virginia

[74/171FAN]

We are in Keysville on our way southwest. Noted some new signs on I-95 warning that "OVER 80 MPH IS RECKLESS DRIVING–PENALTIES HIGHER." Didn't see any cops on there. 

FYI, we had discussed it in this thread.  I do not remember if I saw one on I-81 SB just south of the WV/VA line yesterday.

Also VA is installing signs on I-81 and I-95 to remind drivers that 80 is reckless driving even in the 70 zones for some reason.

[1995hoo]

Heh. Obviously I saw that and responded, but I didn't remember it!

Earlier in the thread I asked about the roads to Primland. That's where we are. No issues at all. Our car is parked at the lodge some ten minutes from our lodging. My car can't handle the gravel road (more like a path) up to here, so the resort provides a 4WD Ford Escape. I'll have pictures sometime next week after we get home.

[plain]

That pic Thing 342 took on the MLK Extention at the High Street interchange, the covered up BGS says US 58 Toll, with pull through arrows over both through lanes. I'm thinking the sign is covered up because they plan on replacing (and correcting) it with both US 58 and VA 164, at least that's what I hope. Also, a part of the extention has created America's newest wrong-way concurrency (US 58 EB with VA 164 WB and vice versa).

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Non-compete agreement in one Virginia tunnel project haunts another

Virginia's top transportation oversight body voted earlier this month to move ahead with a major tunnel expansion. If everything goes as planned, the multi-billion-dollar project could be good news for the traffic-snarled Hampton Roads region when it opens in 2024.

But the Commonwealth may also be setting itself up for a major financial body blow — and demonstrating the long-term consequences of mismanaging public-private partnerships.

At issue are the highly-generous terms of a tunnel deal state officials agreed to in 2011 — and locked in for 58 years – with a Swedish construction company and a finance group. That agreement to build a new tube and rehabilitate existing tunnels between the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and collect billions of dollars in tolls over the coming decades, includes a non-compete clause.

The state agreed that if it built bridges or tunnels near the Downtown/Midtown tunnels sometime in the next half century, it would be on the hook to pay lost tolls that could be attributed to the projects.

[74/171FAN]

I took a trip down to Norfolk last weekend in order to check out the new MLK extension, as well as the new Dominion Blvd expressway. I managed to get some photos:

Were you able to see what happened with VA 337 ALT?

I was planning to see all this Christmas morning and was not planning to look into VA 337 ALT for time purposes.  I'll think about it.

I also saw on the Dominion Blvd project website that tolling is tentatively scheduled to start in early January. (hence another reason to do it now)

So most of VA 337 ALT is currently closed (detour is Rodman Ave to US 58 to High St to Constitution Ave to the Turnpike Rd/County St intersection), this basically means that I guess we will not truly know the answer on this situation for awhile.  I did not follow County St east of that intersection.

I did get to see everything else despite the terrible fog this morning. 

[plain]

I took a trip down to Norfolk last weekend in order to check out the new MLK extension, as well as the new Dominion Blvd expressway. I managed to get some photos:

Were you able to see what happened with VA 337 ALT?

I was planning to see all this Christmas morning and was not planning to look into VA 337 ALT for time purposes.  I'll think about it.

I also saw on the Dominion Blvd project website that tolling is tentatively scheduled to start in early January. (hence another reason to do it now)

So most of VA 337 ALT is currently closed (detour is Rodman Ave to US 58 to High St to Constitution Ave to the Turnpike Rd/County St intersection), this basically means that I guess we will not truly know the answer on this situation for awhile.  I did not follow County St east of that intersection.

I did get to see everything else despite the terrible fog this morning.

At this point the most logical thing to do is to have VA 337 ALT run concurrently with US 58 from Portsmouth Blvd all the way to Hampton Blvd, either that or just decommission it altogether. It'll be even better if this was actually made the mainline VA 337 but that'll probably never happen

[74/171FAN]

I got a photo of the overhead on US 29 NB at the new SR 631 (Rio Rd) Grade-separated interchange yesterday.  I think I am fine considering the US 29 local lanes as "LOCAL AND BUSINESS".   There also advanced-blue signs for places along the local lanes.

The interchange (technically grade-separated intersection) on US 29 at SR 631/Rio Road could open as early as Monday.

I drove through this and the six-lane widening north of SR 643 (Polo Grounds Road) to SR 1719 (Towncenter Drive) Sunday when taking an alternate route back to PA.

(The link to the Route 29 Solutions website as I am unsure via the search bar that we have really talked about these projects on here.)

Update:  The grade-separated intersection opens tonight. (July 18th)

We drove through the Rio Road interchange today on northbound Route 29. Should be a nice change once people get used to it. But it was somewhat frustrating today because there weren't enough advance overhead signs telling people which lanes to use, just one set of signs right at the interchange. Led to a lot of extremely slow driving and last-minute lane-changing. Charlottesville drivers have never seemed to deal very well with new traffic patterns anyway, and this is a big change. It was apparent to me from a portable VMS that if you "exit" up the ramp to Rio Road, you can continue on 29, seeing as how the ramp is marked as "LOCAL." The portable VMS said to use the "LOCAL" route to go to Albemarle Square. But people naturally panicked when they saw the new underpass to the left.

Be interesting to hear how it is on football Saturdays this fall!

I agree the lack of advance-signage is a problem.  I think the last minute lane changing will hopefully reduce somewhat once the locals realize that they can stay on US 29 easily via the ramp (and really only have to deal with one more traffic light around a whole bunch of them that have been around for years).  Obviously long-distance travelers will probably continue to do last-minute lane changing due to the lack of knowledge of the area and the odd configuration.

I actually had a car do this right in front of me heading under the overpass.  I cannot necessarily say that it was a local Charlottesville resident though as many (including myself) traveled yesterday.  There is advance signage for SR 631 but none stating which lanes cars should be in minus the above overhead.

[Pink Jazz]

When was that sign installed?  Interesting that sign is in Clearview, considering we have been seeing several new all-FHWA signs in Virginia this year after the interim approval was revoked.

[74/171FAN]

When was that sign installed?  Interesting that sign is in Clearview, considering we have been seeing several new all-FHWA signs in Virginia this year after the interim approval was revoked.

The sign was installed earlier this year.  This project was a design-build that began construction in 2015 so the interim approval still applied.  (it was all based on let date ultimately)
Post Merge: December 28, 2016, 09:04:24 PM

Heading NB, the new third lane starts as an added lane from VA-134. It's mostly complete between here and SR-620 (Oriana Rd), but is blocked off for some reason.

The new third lanes on US 17 up to the bowling alley (before SR 620) are open now in both directions.

The rest of the widening project is now complete. (from VA 134 to SR 630/Wolf Trap Rd)

[Mapmikey]

So most of VA 337 ALT is currently closed (detour is Rodman Ave to US 58 to High St to Constitution Ave to the Turnpike Rd/County St intersection), this basically means that I guess we will not truly know the answer on this situation for awhile.  I did not follow County St east of that intersection.

I did get to see everything else despite the terrible fog this morning. 

Thanks for taking a look.  I am tentatively scheduled to head down there in April so I will check it out to see if anything has changed...

[AsphaltPlanet]

Video of I-66 coming into the Beltway from the Suburbs:

[Thing 342]

The rest of the widening project is now complete. (from VA 134 to SR 630/Wolf Trap Rd)

Drove it today. Didn't get any photos, but it seemed like traffic moved well enough when I was there at ~3:45 PM. They kept the 35 MPH speed limit  , which remains obnoxiously slow, especially with construction now finished. Next step seems to be extending the widened section from VA-134 south to VA-171 or potentially I-64, as well as north to about VA-105.

[74/171FAN]

The signs must not have been taken down yet.  The VDOT news release stated that it was supposed to be back at 45 mph...

[1995hoo]

The Haymarket DDI opening has been pushed back to January 14 due to the forecast for snow this weekend.

[Takumi]

The signs must not have been taken down yet.  The VDOT news release stated that it was supposed to be back at 45 mph...

They sort of did the same thing with the Chester project. On northbound 1/301, the work zone signs and 35 speed limit signs are still there, despite work not going on for weeks. The 45 MPH sign north of the signal is turned to the side. Southbound, the 35 zone is only between the signal and the car dealership, with 45 posted after that.

[AlexandriaVA]

DC-area transportation reporter indicates that Bi-County Parkway (which would link PW and Loudoun Counties) remains idle.

https://twitter.com/MartinDiCaro/status/817035922508234753

[Thing 342]

So I drove down to Knott's Island today and noticed this near Creeds along Princess Anne Rd: (so much that I had to double back to get a good photo of it)


Most VA-based readers will know that SR-615 hasn't actually existed for awhile, but here it is. Virginia Beach signage has always been fairly incompetent (and not afraid to post routes that don't exist and go nowhere), but I didn't think they'd be as bad as posting a route that hasn't existed in 30+ years, in the wrong class shield, using an incorrectly-drawn version of that shield. At least they used the correct font.

[74/171FAN]

Most VA-based readers will know that SR-615 hasn't actually existed for awhile, but here it is. Virginia Beach signage has always been fairly incompetent (and not afraid to post routes that don't exist and go nowhere), but I didn't think they'd be as bad as posting a route that hasn't existed in 30+ years, in the wrong class shield, using an incorrectly-drawn version of that shield. At least they used the correct font.

Well VDOT does it along I-664 in Chesapeake so it is hard to complain to Va Beach this time. 

[froggie]

but I didn't think they'd be as bad as posting a route that hasn't existed in 530+ years

FTFY...

[Takumi]

That shield dates back to at least 2012, although there are a few other VA 615 shields scattered around too.

[NJRoadfan]

Maybe they want to sign a thru route to NC-615? Its the only main route to Knott's Island, NC, makes sense.

[1995hoo]

Regarding that sign having the wrong class of shield, I'm seeing a fair amount of that recently on what I guess I'd call blue "attractions" signs–for example, on eastbound VA-55 in Linden there's a sign for Fox Meadow Winery (which is located on Freezeland Road) that uses a primary shield for the route number. I've seen a fair number of that sort of error sign in the past few months, although I don't have any clear photos to post.

[cpzilliacus]

Regarding that sign having the wrong class of shield, I'm seeing a fair amount of that recently on what I guess I'd call blue "attractions" signs–for example, on eastbound VA-55 in Linden there's a sign for Fox Meadow Winery (which is located on Freezeland Road) that uses a primary shield for the route number. I've seen a fair number of that sort of error sign in the past few months, although I don't have any clear photos to post.

Route 606 through the Town of Herndon used to be signed with primary system shields, though that  was corrected some years ago (and this is one of the rare places where a secondary route is signed at all inside a Virginia municipality).

[74/171FAN]

Fall Hill Ave widening completion date pushed back to April 20th.

There will be a public meeting January 25th on the I-95 project that will construct a C/D Road SB between US 17 and VA 3.  This includes a new bridge over the Rappahannock River.

[1995hoo]

VDOT postponed the Haymarket DDI opening again due to the forecast for sleet and freezing rain this Saturday.