Virginia

[sprjus4]

^ I feel like 6 lanes will be adequate in the rural areas for a while, though the recently expanded segments, at least south of VA-199 (segments 1-2) do still get quite heavy (albeit moving 75+ mph) and could eventually use 8 lane widening in the future - certainly not a priority now. The rural segment is and should be the top priority for any widening, that stretch is far worse.

[bluecountry]

You know what pisses me off about the I-64 widening from 205 to Williamsburg?
That I-64 will now be 3 lanes each way, the same as I-95 from I-295 to Lorton!
This is insane!!!!!

Is there an issue with that?

I-95 is overcapacity with 6 lanes and has the warrants for 8 lanes.

I-64 is overcapacity with 4 lanes and has the warrants for 6 lanes.

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

[dfnva]

I've recently noticed some newer street signs in Prince William and Chesterfield Counties that include the secondary route number (like you see in North Carolina) and -- consequently -- eliminate the need for a separate white blade sign. Anyone know if this a pilot project or a type of new partnership between the counties and VDOT? While I think the white blade signs have some navigational benefit for major secondary routes, as well as in rural areas, I think they're a waste of money in suburban neighborhoods and along minor residential streets. Affixing the route number to the street sign in these areas makes more sense.

This has been going on in Prince William County for at least 15 years...

I'm probably a bit late in responding but -- Prince William County has actually been including the SR numbers on green street name blades for about 30 years. When Hoadly Rd was widened in the mid-1990s, the little white SR signs were not installed at intersections. It wasn't until 15-20 years ago, though, that it became more common for them not to be regularly installed when stop signs or other sign posts get replaced, or upon completion of road construction. That being said, a lot of the SR white signs remain at numerous intersections around the county and new ones get posted every so often -- most recently a new SR-782 sign was installed on VA-28 at Residency Rd, just south of Manassas, as part of the VA-28 widening. While I get the point it saves money and that most people know roads by their names and not the route number, the numbers aren't quite as visible and the practice has also resulted in many signalized intersections having no posting whatsoever of route numbers.

Even more recently, SR signs are being removed to post new street name signs above stop signs.

Chesterfield, Powhatan, and York Counties are similar to Prince William, but most of the other counties mentioned still have white rectangular route signs posted at most/all intersections. I like how Albemarle county has a white background for the SR route on their street sign blades.

[sprjus4]

You know what pisses me off about the I-64 widening from 205 to Williamsburg?
That I-64 will now be 3 lanes each way, the same as I-95 from I-295 to Lorton!
This is insane!!!!!

Is there an issue with that?

I-95 is overcapacity with 6 lanes and has the warrants for 8 lanes.

I-64 is overcapacity with 4 lanes and has the warrants for 6 lanes.

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

By the time I-64 is done, I-64 will be adequately built out to handle its traffic. I-95 won't be.

I would still like to see an interstate highway or controlled access facility constructed along the US-301 corridor to supplement I-95, however, that's a pipe dream. Then again, so is widening I-95 it seems. The Express Lanes extension to Fredericksburg should fix some of the issues. However, arguably I-95 still needs dual HO/T lanes alongside 8 general purpose lanes from at least VA-234 north, ideally all the way to Fredericksburg.

[bluecountry]

You know what pisses me off about the I-64 widening from 205 to Williamsburg?
That I-64 will now be 3 lanes each way, the same as I-95 from I-295 to Lorton!
This is insane!!!!!

Is there an issue with that?

I-95 is overcapacity with 6 lanes and has the warrants for 8 lanes.

I-64 is overcapacity with 4 lanes and has the warrants for 6 lanes.

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

By the time I-64 is done, I-64 will be adequately built out to handle its traffic. I-95 won't be.

I would still like to see an interstate highway or controlled access facility constructed along the US-301 corridor to supplement I-95, however, that's a pipe dream. Then again, so is widening I-95 it seems. The Express Lanes extension to Fredericksburg should fix some of the issues. However, arguably I-95 still needs dual HO/T lanes alongside 8 general purpose lanes from at least VA-234 north, ideally all the way to Fredericksburg.

This is what infuriates me, I-64 will be 6 lanes wide but so will I-95, why the hell isn't 95 a top priority?
It needs to be:

1.  4GP from the Beltway to PWC PKWY with 3 HOT in each direction
2.  3 GP and 3 HOT from PWC PKWY to Garrisonville
3.  3 GP and 2 HOT from Garrisonville to Rt17
4.  And then from Rt 3 to exit 126 4 GP and 2 local lanes with a new RT 17 only exit
5.  And really....4 GP lanes from 126 to 295

[Mapmikey]

You know what pisses me off about the I-64 widening from 205 to Williamsburg?
That I-64 will now be 3 lanes each way, the same as I-95 from I-295 to Lorton!
This is insane!!!!!

Is there an issue with that?

I-95 is overcapacity with 6 lanes and has the warrants for 8 lanes.

I-64 is overcapacity with 4 lanes and has the warrants for 6 lanes.

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

By the time I-64 is done, I-64 will be adequately built out to handle its traffic. I-95 won't be.

I would still like to see an interstate highway or controlled access facility constructed along the US-301 corridor to supplement I-95, however, that's a pipe dream. Then again, so is widening I-95 it seems. The Express Lanes extension to Fredericksburg should fix some of the issues. However, arguably I-95 still needs dual HO/T lanes alongside 8 general purpose lanes from at least VA-234 north, ideally all the way to Fredericksburg.

This is what infuriates me, I-64 will be 6 lanes wide but so will I-95, why the hell isn't 95 a top priority?
It needs to be:

1.  4GP from the Beltway to PWC PKWY with 3 HOT in each direction
2.  3 GP and 3 HOT from PWC PKWY to Garrisonville
3.  3 GP and 2 HOT from Garrisonville to Rt17
4.  And then from Rt 3 to exit 126 4 GP and 2 local lanes with a new RT 17 only exit
5.  And really....4 GP lanes from 126 to 295

The answers to some of your questions are found here:  http://www.ctb.virginia.gov/resources/projects/cip/i-95_cip_final_report_092021.pdf

They estimated adding 1 GP lane in each direction from Thornburg to the DC Beltway is $12.5B and that doing so wouldn't actually improve things that much.  They appear to be focusing on intermodal improvements to get vehicles off the road.

[sprjus4]

^ I-495 to the Occoquan River has already been widened to 8 lanes, there's no need to widen that section again with general purpose lanes.

As for the rest, start with extending the 4th southbound lane at least a few exits, to hopefully relieve that bottleneck that often backs miles up each day because of a lane drop.

Complete a full environmental impact statement on widening this segment, and go beyond a simple "improvement plan" .

[D-Dey65]

Wow. Seems like the kind of issues that could've been resolved if they bring back some of the road proposals that were cancelled in '77.

[VTGoose]

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

Seek help.

By your "logic" about "rural" Virginia, those of us who live and use I-81 are SOL when it comes to improvements and we should just live with our "free flowing" (most of the time, except on weekends, holidays, college breaks, daily truck wrecks . . .) two lanes so the money is better spent in Northern Virginia.

Sorry, no.

Bruce in Blacksburg

[sprjus4]

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

Seek help.

By your "logic" about "rural" Virginia, those of us who live and use I-81 are SOL when it comes to improvements and we should just live with our "free flowing" (most of the time, except on weekends, holidays, college breaks, daily truck wrecks . . .) two lanes so the money is better spent in Northern Virginia.

Sorry, no.

Bruce in Blacksburg

Agreed.

That stretch of I-64 should be a top priority, IMO, then I-81. That segment of I-64 is worse than any part of I-81.

Granted, I do agree some improvements to I-95, such as extending the 4th lane a few more miles south would be good candidate projects, but my point still stands.

But a full overhaul to I-95 is questionable given the needs of other corridors, priority wise. Express lanes being bi-directional would be a significant relief to always allow reliable travel in either direction, and could be funded by a P3, as the existing HO/T lanes are.

[plain]

I think any future widening on both I-64 and I-95 should begin from the Richmond area going outward.

Start with I-64 from Bottoms Bridge going eastward to at least Exit 220 (VA 33 East). After the segment around Williamsburg was completed, this section is actually the one that still sees the most backups.

For 95, after the Fredericksburg C/D lanes are finished, there's no doubt in my mind that the section between I-295 and Exit 104 (VA 207) will be the most congestion prone.

This is mostly based on my driving experience on both interstates over the years, plus collecting traffic data.

The segments of I-64 between VA 33 and VA 199 (Lightfoot) and I-95 between VA 207 and US1/17 (Massapponax) sees the least amount of congestion, based on my experience.

[bluecountry]

I think any future widening on both I-64 and I-95 should begin from the Richmond area going outward.

Start with I-64 from Bottoms Bridge going eastward to at least Exit 220 (VA 33 East). After the segment around Williamsburg was completed, this section is actually the one that still sees the most backups.

For 95, after the Fredericksburg C/D lanes are finished, there's no doubt in my mind that the section between I-295 and Exit 104 (VA 207) will be the most congestion prone.

This is mostly based on my driving experience on both interstates over the years, plus collecting traffic data.

The segments of I-64 between VA 33 and VA 199 (Lightfoot) and I-95 between VA 207 and US1/17 (Massapponax) sees the least amount of congestion, based on my experience.

Agreed.  95 needs to be high priority.

I also have noticed that for some reason 95 between 17 and 207 is the least congested; why is it that at 207 it picks up given it is very rural?
My guess has been people from Rte 301 who bypassed 95 through MD coming back.

[bluecountry]

YES.
I-95 needs to be widened IMMEDIATELY!

How can rural Virginia Peninsula have the same # of lanes on their regional interstate as NOVA on their massive east coast interstate?!

Seek help.

By your "logic" about "rural" Virginia, those of us who live and use I-81 are SOL when it comes to improvements and we should just live with our "free flowing" (most of the time, except on weekends, holidays, college breaks, daily truck wrecks . . .) two lanes so the money is better spent in Northern Virginia.

Sorry, no.

Bruce in Blacksburg

Seek help yourself.
I never said that, but I-95 is a major east coast route which serves not only by far the most populous region on VA, NoVA, but as well as the entire eastern seaboard with long distance traffic compared to I-64 which between Richmond and Hampton Roads is very rural and a more regional route.
It is absolutely insane that I-95 would be allowed in a populous region like NoVA for a long distance route be as wide as I-64 or I-81.

Sorry but 95/Northern VA rightfully justify getting to be improved to be like the NJTP with 12 lanes.

[kernals12]

Let's imagine that Maryland's next governor decided to cancel the 495/270 widening. How do you think Richmond would retaliate for breaking a promise which Virginia has upheld?

[bluecountry]

Let's imagine that Maryland's next governor decided to cancel the 495/270 widening. How do you think Richmond would retaliate for breaking a promise which Virginia has upheld?

Not gonna happen, the business community will not let it go down.

[kernals12]

Let's imagine that Maryland's next governor decided to cancel the 495/270 widening. How do you think Richmond would retaliate for breaking a promise which Virginia has upheld?

Not gonna happen, the business community will not let it go down.

What do you mean not gonna happen? You mean Maryland won't cancel the project or Virginia won't retaliate?

[plain]

I think any future widening on both I-64 and I-95 should begin from the Richmond area going outward.

Start with I-64 from Bottoms Bridge going eastward to at least Exit 220 (VA 33 East). After the segment around Williamsburg was completed, this section is actually the one that still sees the most backups.

For 95, after the Fredericksburg C/D lanes are finished, there's no doubt in my mind that the section between I-295 and Exit 104 (VA 207) will be the most congestion prone.

This is mostly based on my driving experience on both interstates over the years, plus collecting traffic data.

The segments of I-64 between VA 33 and VA 199 (Lightfoot) and I-95 between VA 207 and US1/17 (Massapponax) sees the least amount of congestion, based on my experience.

Agreed.  95 needs to be high priority.

I also have noticed that for some reason 95 between 17 and 207 is the least congested; why is it that at 207 it picks up given it is very rural?
My guess has been people from Rte 301 who bypassed 95 through MD coming back.

That very well might be some of it, but there's also the fact that King's Dominion is situated along the interchange with VA 30 (Exit 98), which further messes that stretch of I-95 up especially during the summer.

Also, Caroline County has been increasing in population, much of the growth is in the southern part of the county (which is where Exit 104 is located), and the entire county is a part of the Richmond Metro, not NOVA.

Most of the segment of I-64 in question is in New Kent County, and New Kent is also growing, and that growth is in the western part of the county.

What I'm trying to say is while these segments may be rural, it's not as rural nowadays as you think.


But here's the main difference between the NJTP and trying to 12-lane I-95 through most of NOVA: there's no room, which is where a lot of money needed for such a project will come into play. There is a lot of development abutting the highway in NOVA, especially north of Dumfries... Maybe if it would've been widened a long time ago like the Turnpike was then we wouldn't be having this discussion, but alas.


As for I-81, yes much of it is rural, but much of it is also a complete clusterfuck. I-81 is and should be a priority.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Raytheon is moving its corporate HQ down I-95 to Arlington.

[bluecountry]

I think any future widening on both I-64 and I-95 should begin from the Richmond area going outward.

Start with I-64 from Bottoms Bridge going eastward to at least Exit 220 (VA 33 East). After the segment around Williamsburg was completed, this section is actually the one that still sees the most backups.

For 95, after the Fredericksburg C/D lanes are finished, there's no doubt in my mind that the section between I-295 and Exit 104 (VA 207) will be the most congestion prone.

This is mostly based on my driving experience on both interstates over the years, plus collecting traffic data.

The segments of I-64 between VA 33 and VA 199 (Lightfoot) and I-95 between VA 207 and US1/17 (Massapponax) sees the least amount of congestion, based on my experience.

Agreed.  95 needs to be high priority.

I also have noticed that for some reason 95 between 17 and 207 is the least congested; why is it that at 207 it picks up given it is very rural?
My guess has been people from Rte 301 who bypassed 95 through MD coming back.

That very well might be some of it, but there's also the fact that King's Dominion is situated along the interchange with VA 30 (Exit 98), which further messes that stretch of I-95 up especially during the summer.

Also, Caroline County has been increasing in population, much of the growth is in the southern part of the county (which is where Exit 104 is located), and the entire county is a part of the Richmond Metro, not NOVA.

Most of the segment of I-64 in question is in New Kent County, and New Kent is also growing, and that growth is in the western part of the county.

What I'm trying to say is while these segments may be rural, it's not as rural nowadays as you think.


But here's the main difference between the NJTP and trying to 12-lane I-95 through most of NOVA: there's no room, which is where a lot of money needed for such a project will come into play. There is a lot of development abutting the highway in NOVA, especially north of Dumfries... Maybe if it would've been widened a long time ago like the Turnpike was then we wouldn't be having this discussion, but alas.


As for I-81, yes much of it is rural, but much of it is also a complete clusterfuck. I-81 is and should be a priority.

I-81 should be a priority, but not as much as I-95.
It is just insane it's a six lane wide highway.

It NEEDS to be:
-8 GP lanes to Dumfries, 3HOT lanes each way
-6 GP lanes to G'ville, 3 HOT lanes each way
-6 GP lanes to 16, 2 HOT lanes each way
-Local/Thru from Rte 3 to exit 126 with a new exit 126C for Rt 17

[kernals12]

Raytheon is moving its corporate HQ down I-95 to Arlington.

But they said this won't result in any employees leaving Massachusetts for Virginia.

[VTGoose]

Seek help yourself.
I never said that, but I-95 is a major east coast route which serves not only by far the most populous region on VA, NoVA, but as well as the entire eastern seaboard with long distance traffic compared to I-64 which between Richmond and Hampton Roads is very rural and a more regional route.
It is absolutely insane that I-95 would be allowed in a populous region like NoVA for a long distance route be as wide as I-64 or I-81.

Sorry but 95/Northern VA rightfully justify getting to be improved to be like the NJTP with 12 lanes.

Based on what I emphasized above, perhaps you should have a chat with South Carolina about I-95 being only two lanes. It carries that same long-distance traffic and most of the time it does it poorly.

As to I-81, it carries long-distance traffic (lots and lots of trucks) between the south and the northeast. Adding more lanes to it should have more priority than adding still more lanes to I-95.

[sprjus4]

^ I could be wrong, but doesn't I-81 have more truck traffic than I-95?

[bluecountry]

Seek help yourself.
I never said that, but I-95 is a major east coast route which serves not only by far the most populous region on VA, NoVA, but as well as the entire eastern seaboard with long distance traffic compared to I-64 which between Richmond and Hampton Roads is very rural and a more regional route.
It is absolutely insane that I-95 would be allowed in a populous region like NoVA for a long distance route be as wide as I-64 or I-81.

Sorry but 95/Northern VA rightfully justify getting to be improved to be like the NJTP with 12 lanes.

Based on what I emphasized above, perhaps you should have a chat with South Carolina about I-95 being only two lanes. It carries that same long-distance traffic and most of the time it does it poorly.

As to I-81, it carries long-distance traffic (lots and lots of trucks) between the south and the northeast. Adding more lanes to it should have more priority than adding still more lanes to I-95.

Wrong again, you seem to have that ROVA inferiority complex, even though NOVA is the reason VA is VA and not Kentucky.

I-95 in SC is much more acceptable being 2 lanes because I-95 south of Richmond sees a tremendous drop in volume that doesn't really pick up til Florida.  I-95 in SC is mainly for long-distance only, whereas 95 north of Richmond is for metro Richmond, metro DC, long distance FL traffic, AND Phil/NYC/NE.  Comparing those two is apples and oranges.

Moreover, IF I-95 were actually built to the standards it needs to be, 12 lanes, in Northern VA, then fewer people would seek the I-81 route.

Sorry but a top 8 US market, and the Acela corridor has priority over rural SW VA, as it should.

[1995hoo]

Where are you from, bluecountry?

[bluecountry]

FFX/NY