Northern Virginia HOT Lanes

[1995hoo]

Good pictures. We had no delays at all at the southern end, but it was early morning.

Main thing that stuck in my mind was how the road felt like a very different place due to the loss of the trees in the median.

[NJRoadfan]

Main thing that stuck in my mind was how the road felt like a very different place due to the loss of the trees in the median.

Same story in NJ on the GSP.

The "decision points" on the lanes don't appear to be well signed. Were there other signs that listed toll rates on the mainline?

[mtantillo]

Yesterday CPZ and I took a ride down the new lanes. The intent was to drive south, have late lunch in Fredericksburg and take our time, and then take the lanes back north after 4. Our plan was thwarted because they never did a midday reversal, the lanes were open southbound all day.

I'm hoping that Transurban follows a Saturday schedule on Christmas Day so I can do what you tried to do.  Since the lanes will need to be open southbound for the Christmas Eve evening rush, and probably northbound for the Boxing Day morning rush (for those commuting that day, rather than making returns at the malls -- but most Federal workers will have the day off), I expect Transurban will need to reverse the lanes at some point, and hope it'll do it midday on Christmas.

But I'm not betting the ranch on that.  Hopefully Transurban will stick better to its schedules once it starts charging tolls.

To me it seems that the most important thing is to keep a schedule in place that can be easily found.  I would expect that any week with a major holiday should have some type of shift that is different from the norm.

The norm:

SUN All day north
MON Northbound until 11 a.m., closed 11-1, southbound 1 - 12 MID
TUE WED THURS FRI Closed 12 Mid - 2 am, Northbound 2 am - 11 am, closed 11-1, southbound 1pm -12 MID
SAT Southbound 12 MID - 2pm, Closed 2pm-4pm, Northbound 4pm-MID.

The question then comes up regarding major holidays, minor holidays, and days that aren't officially holidays but have a lot of people not working (like Boxing Day or the day after Thanksgiving, etc.)

I'm not sure what is actually done, but I would impose the following:

Minor holidays: Columbus, Vets, MLK, Pres Day - weekday reversion schedule with no HOV restictions.

If a major holiday (exc. July 4) is on a Monday - all day northbound.
If Xmas/NY is on Tuesday - Mon and Tuesday should be all day northbound.
If Xmas/NY is on Wed. -Wed. all day northbound.
If Xmas/NY/Thanksgiving is on Thursday - Thursday and Friday should be all day southbound.
If Xmas/NY is on Friday- Friday should be all day southbound.

July 4 should be reversible for fireworks.

Yes, some people may work on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day, but by and large the vacationers hold more of the traffic and the lanes should be adjusted for them.

But again, clear schedule on the website for the changes.

Due to Federal regulations, I'm pretty sure that any workday, they must have the lanes pointed north in the AM and south in the PM, with HOV rules in effect. Christmas Eve and Boxing Day are technically not holidays, and if people have to work, the lanes have to accommodate commuters first. For "soft holidays" like Columbus Day, President's Day, etc., they can reverse the lanes but without HOV restrictions. Only on actual holidays do you not do any reversals.

The 4th of July, the lanes always go inbound to the fireworks all day, and reverse during the show to provide extra outbound lanes after the fireworks. This can lead to an epic disaster heading SB if 4th of July falls on a Friday, and people are trying to leave town at the same time the fireworks people are trying to get to the mall. I had it take me 2.5 hours to get from Springfield to Fredericksburg on one such 4th of July.

[Mapmikey]

As a result of no realistic way to control congestion, there was a 25 minute backup to exit the lanes at the southern end (and barely any delay on the mainline). Then because the lanes never opened  northbound, that direction was gridlock most of the way to the Beltway. So not exactly the best experience.

Looking at the pics I see the Express Lanes were backed up way further than any of the 5 workdays I've driven the mainline through there in afternoon rush since they opened.

In my experience, the old HOV used to have that same phenomenon - mainline moves faster at the end of the HOV lanes than the HOV lanes move - when there was a backup on 95 that started further south than the end of the HOV lanes.  I'm leaning towards exiting the toll lanes at Dumfries or Triangle when I start using them next week.  But it will probably be well into next year before enough experience in "normal" rush hour conditions is gained to know where the best place to get back on the mainline is.

Mapmikey

[cpzilliacus]

I'm leaning towards exiting the toll lanes at Dumfries or Triangle when I start using them next week.  But it will probably be well into next year before enough experience in "normal" rush hour conditions is gained to know where the best place to get back on the mainline is.

I assume that Transurban is contractually obligated to keep everything running at free-flow conditions (free-flow quite possibly being 45 MPH in this context, because it is used in both federal regulations and statute in discussion about what meets the definition of a degraded HOV facility), which may result in some remarkably high toll rates in the southern segment, perhaps especially outside of traditional commute times.

[cpzilliacus]

The 4th of July, the lanes always go inbound to the fireworks all day, and reverse during the show to provide extra outbound lanes after the fireworks. This can lead to an epic disaster heading SB if 4th of July falls on a Friday, and people are trying to leave town at the same time the fireworks people are trying to get to the mall. I had it take me 2.5 hours to get from Springfield to Fredericksburg on one such 4th of July.

That is pretty horrible.  Only time I am aware of that sort of a melt-down was during winter weather when there was a crash of many vehicles somewhere in Stafford County (might have been south of Exit 148). 

If I knew it was going to be that bad ahead of time, I would definitely bail out to the west, or to the east on U.S. 301 from Maryland (but never U.S. 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway)).

[Mapmikey]

The 4th of July, the lanes always go inbound to the fireworks all day, and reverse during the show to provide extra outbound lanes after the fireworks. This can lead to an epic disaster heading SB if 4th of July falls on a Friday, and people are trying to leave town at the same time the fireworks people are trying to get to the mall. I had it take me 2.5 hours to get from Springfield to Fredericksburg on one such 4th of July.

That is pretty horrible.  Only time I am aware of that sort of a melt-down was during winter weather when there was a crash of many vehicles somewhere in Stafford County (might have been south of Exit 148). 

If I knew it was going to be that bad ahead of time, I would definitely bail out to the west, or to the east on U.S. 301 from Maryland (but never U.S. 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway)).

That was a 100+ car wreck spread out over a mile in Stafford County.  The wreck field was so large that there were pockets of cars within that managed to come to a stop without hitting anything.  That caused my commute to be 6.5 hrs.

Springfield to Fredericksburg in 2.5 hrs or worse happens several times a year regardless of which way the HOV is pointing...

Something weird is happening today.  Already at 2:45 the express lanes are backed up to SR 619 and the mainline is also backed up that far from US 17 Falmouth (17 miles).  Probably a wreck at the Rappahannock River - it is wide open south of the river.  I expect it will take 3+ hours to get home this evening.

Don't see how 45 mph will be able to maintained at the very south end because 1) There is a 30 mph S curve at the end and 2) Once tolls begin there will be more cars than now.  Only once in the now 6 days I've seen was it free flowing at the south end.

Mapmikey
16+ years of commuting in this...

[jeffandnicole]

The 4th of July, the lanes always go inbound to the fireworks all day, and reverse during the show to provide extra outbound lanes after the fireworks. This can lead to an epic disaster heading SB if 4th of July falls on a Friday, and people are trying to leave town at the same time the fireworks people are trying to get to the mall. I had it take me 2.5 hours to get from Springfield to Fredericksburg on one such 4th of July.

That is pretty horrible.  Only time I am aware of that sort of a melt-down was during winter weather when there was a crash of many vehicles somewhere in Stafford County (might have been south of Exit 148). 

If I knew it was going to be that bad ahead of time, I would definitely bail out to the west, or to the east on U.S. 301 from Maryland (but never U.S. 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway)).

That was a 100+ car wreck spread out over a mile in Stafford County.  The wreck field was so large that there were pockets of cars within that managed to come to a stop without hitting anything.  That caused my commute to be 6.5 hrs.

Springfield to Fredericksburg in 2.5 hrs or worse happens several times a year regardless of which way the HOV is pointing...

Something weird is happening today.  Already at 2:45 the express lanes are backed up to SR 619 and the mainline is also backed up that far from US 17 Falmouth (17 miles).  Probably a wreck at the Rappahannock River - it is wide open south of the river.  I expect it will take 3+ hours to get home this evening.

Don't see how 45 mph will be able to maintained at the very south end because 1) There is a 30 mph S curve at the end and 2) Once tolls begin there will be more cars than now.  Only once in the now 6 days I've seen was it free flowing at the south end.

Mapmikey
16+ years of commuting in this...

It's also free right now too, so many more people are taking the HO/T lanes compared to when they'll be paying for them.

[NJRoadfan]

It's also free right now too, so many more people are taking the HO/T lanes compared to when they'll be paying for them.

If he was traveling during rush hour, the backups were happening strictly with HOV traffic. This merge could replace the one that was on the NJTP south of 8A for "most notorious". It also may cost Trans-Urban some toll dollars, particularly if its impossible to eliminate that backup with higher tolls. Why bother paying any toll if the end of the lanes is always going to be backed up anyway?

[mtantillo]

During rush hours, there will be plenty of non-HOV traffic. Anecdotal evidence suggests that drivers stopped obeying HOV rules to the letter when the express lanes opened last weekend.

As others have said, the lanes are new, and there are large numbers of people checking out the lanes that won't use them when tolls go into effect. Even some HOV traffic will get pushed out because not all HOV traffic (especially on "Getaway Days" (TM) ) will have a Flex transponder and won't use the lanes anymore when tolls go into effect.

I presume that the 45 MPH "guarantee" won't apply to the lanes after they narrow from 2 lanes into 1 because at that point you are basically on a ramp and not on a mainline roadway anymore. If they operate it like they do on 495 at the north end, they will jack the price up high enough so that traffic moves at free flow up to the point where it narrows to one lane, and you hit the tail of the backup there. In otherwords, price accordingly so some traffic bails early at the Quantico flyover, and others exit at Garrisonville. Since the last entrance points to the southern segment only has the ability to exit in 3 places (234, Quantico, Garrisonville), the price to each of those points will be listed. You might see, for the last segment, $1.00 to 234, $2.00 to 619, and $12 to Garrisonville. That would certainly encourage me to exit early!

[mrsman]

During rush hours, there will be plenty of non-HOV traffic. Anecdotal evidence suggests that drivers stopped obeying HOV rules to the letter when the express lanes opened last weekend.

As others have said, the lanes are new, and there are large numbers of people checking out the lanes that won't use them when tolls go into effect. Even some HOV traffic will get pushed out because not all HOV traffic (especially on "Getaway Days" (TM) ) will have a Flex transponder and won't use the lanes anymore when tolls go into effect.

I presume that the 45 MPH "guarantee" won't apply to the lanes after they narrow from 2 lanes into 1 because at that point you are basically on a ramp and not on a mainline roadway anymore. If they operate it like they do on 495 at the north end, they will jack the price up high enough so that traffic moves at free flow up to the point where it narrows to one lane, and you hit the tail of the backup there. In otherwords, price accordingly so some traffic bails early at the Quantico flyover, and others exit at Garrisonville. Since the last entrance points to the southern segment only has the ability to exit in 3 places (234, Quantico, Garrisonville), the price to each of those points will be listed. You might see, for the last segment, $1.00 to 234, $2.00 to 619, and $12 to Garrisonville. That would certainly encourage me to exit early!

Does anyone know if the price is determined based on the traffic in the main lanes or based on the traffic in the express lanes?  To me, it would be self defeating to see a $12 toll like that, when the problem is in the design of the end of the express lanes.

[jeffandnicole]

During rush hours, there will be plenty of non-HOV traffic. Anecdotal evidence suggests that drivers stopped obeying HOV rules to the letter when the express lanes opened last weekend.

As others have said, the lanes are new, and there are large numbers of people checking out the lanes that won't use them when tolls go into effect. Even some HOV traffic will get pushed out because not all HOV traffic (especially on "Getaway Days" (TM) ) will have a Flex transponder and won't use the lanes anymore when tolls go into effect.

I presume that the 45 MPH "guarantee" won't apply to the lanes after they narrow from 2 lanes into 1 because at that point you are basically on a ramp and not on a mainline roadway anymore. If they operate it like they do on 495 at the north end, they will jack the price up high enough so that traffic moves at free flow up to the point where it narrows to one lane, and you hit the tail of the backup there. In otherwords, price accordingly so some traffic bails early at the Quantico flyover, and others exit at Garrisonville. Since the last entrance points to the southern segment only has the ability to exit in 3 places (234, Quantico, Garrisonville), the price to each of those points will be listed. You might see, for the last segment, $1.00 to 234, $2.00 to 619, and $12 to Garrisonville. That would certainly encourage me to exit early!

Does anyone know if the price is determined based on the traffic in the main lanes or based on the traffic in the express lanes?  To me, it would be self defeating to see a $12 toll like that, when the problem is in the design of the end of the express lanes.

Depends on who's viewing it.  For Transurban, that's a nice windfall! 

But if congestion is problematic, chances are there's going to be a quick demand for some sort of reconstruction improvement at the end there, if it's determined a longer acceleration lane can resolve the problem.

[1995hoo]

A potential issue is there's an interchange (Exit 143) not terribly far to the south of the lanes' southern end that may (I emphasize may) affect design there. Until I get home Sunday and download dashcam videos I won't have the best sense for how far away the interchange is because when I went through there I was more focused on dealing with the other traffic, including a guy doing about 40 mph in the right lane.

[Mapmikey]

It is 1/2 mile from the end ramp of the express lanes until the exit to SR 610 west. 

Two potential designs would've been better IMO (one of which is probably not doable after the fact):
1. Have I-95's exit ramp to SR 610 WEST start before the end of the HOoT lanes and go around to the right of the lanes so that there would've been no weave.
2. This should still be done:  Extend the lanes a little past SR 610 to a merge onto mainline 95.   This would be better than the same situation in Dumfries was because a sizable portion of people would still use the flyover to access SR 610.  The way it is now, hardly anyone has to use the SR 619 flyover because not many people need Exits 148 or 150 in the afternoon rush, so the same amount of traffic that piled into 95 at Dumfries is doing so at the weave at Exit 143.

BTW, by the time I got down to the lanes end yesterday afternoon (about 3 hrs after my post above), the backup in both the mainline and the express lanes had dropped in half.  It only took me 2 hr 5 minutes to do the whole 62 mile commute from Bethesda, which has been a typical wintertime commute the last few years.

Mapmikey

[1995hoo]

There is indeed a very busy slug lot at Route 610 that would keep the flyover busy if the lanes were extended.

[froggie]

As I recall, they had to dig into a hill in order to build that flyover, and there are townhouses on top of the hill.  So Mike's #1, while still possibly doable, would be very expensive due to the volume of retaining wall required.

#2 is certainly doable and I agree that it should've been done and still should be done.

[cpzilliacus]

Extend the lanes a little past SR 610 to a merge onto mainline 95.

I have a modest proposal - extend the Transurban lanes south to Massaponax U.S. 1/U.S. 17 South (Exit 126), though that may be a tough place for them to end - or - even better, to Thornburg Va. 606 (Exit 118) near the Spotsylvania County/Caroline County line.

[1995hoo]

As I recall, they had to dig into a hill in order to build that flyover, and there are townhouses on top of the hill.  So Mike's #1, while still possibly doable, would be very expensive due to the volume of retaining wall required.

#2 is certainly doable and I agree that it should've been done and still should be done.

There are definitely townhouses there. A new sound wall was built for them as part of the project.

[Mapmikey]

Extend the lanes a little past SR 610 to a merge onto mainline 95.

I have a modest proposal - extend the Transurban lanes south to Massaponax U.S. 1/U.S. 17 South (Exit 126), though that may be a tough place for them to end - or - even better, to Thornburg Va. 606 (Exit 118) near the Spotsylvania County/Caroline County line.

This is still apparently desired by VDOT - they are getting ready to rebuild the Fall Hill Ave (old SR 639) overpass in Fredericksburg and it will be done such that it can accommodate extension of the Express lanes.

Extending the lanes a little past the 610 overpass wouldn't be that hard.  They already cleared 95% of the median down to the overpass and the overpass needs no modification at all.

Separately, VDOT wants to add a 4th general purpose lane from SR 610 south to Centreport Pkwy.  This project is listed on VDOT's website as "in design" but it notes that funding was deallocated in the draft revision to the 2015-2020 SYIP.  Can't say I understand adding a 4th lane there and not also in parts north of there unless the express lanes will NEVER be extended to Fredericksburg.  Then it would make sense to have the express lane become the 4th lane.

Mapmikey

[froggie]

Extending down to Massaponax wouldn't be a "modest" project.  That's another 17 miles with a major river crossing.  easily a 9-digit project.  No need to go to Thornburg, either....there's a noticeable (statistically, 18%) traffic drop at the Massaponax interchange.

[Mapmikey]

On VDOT's website there is no mention whether or not the proposed projects to add C/D lanes and new additional bridges at the Rappahannock River and the project to rebuild Exit 140 into a monster interchange will be done with Express lane extension in mind.

Public meetings are coming in early 2015 on the Rappahannock project so maybe more info will come out from that...

I also agree taking express lanes to Thornburg is not needed, but I would be ok with adding a 4th general purpose lane down to I-295 north of Richmond.  95 is frequently very crowded on this stretch.

Mapmikey

[froggie]

in my experience, it's not that bad between Massaponax and Ashland.  I can agree with the need for a 4th lane south of Ashland, but I'd categorize north of there as a "nice-to-have-but-not-necessary"...

[cpzilliacus]

I also agree taking express lanes to Thornburg is not needed, but I would be ok with adding a 4th general purpose lane down to I-295 north of Richmond.  95 is frequently very crowded on this stretch.

I agree with you that the current traffic volumes do not justify it - on weekdays.

But more to the point, I think Exit 126 (or north of Exit 126) may be a very tough place to end the managed lanes for operational reasons, assuming that they were to be extended south of Va. 610 (Garrisonville Road) at all.

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Carpoolers offered new deal on 95 Express Lanes

The key for carpoolers who want to continue using the 95 Express Lanes is having a specialized type of E-ZPass called the Flex. But many carpoolers are like Christmas shoppers who wait till the eve to buy something for a spouse. They know it's important, yet they haven't made the season's critical acquisition.

Monday is the day when the express lanes, free to all for their first two weeks, become high-occupancy toll lanes. Commuters will either ride for free as carpoolers or pay a toll. The toll will vary with the level of traffic, but the lane operator's estimate is 20 cents to 80 cents per mile.

Drivers will pay the toll via a standard E-ZPass. They will claim the free ride as carpoolers by switching the E-ZPass Flex transponder to the "HOV on"  setting. A driver without either is going to get a bill, because the tolling equipment will record an image of the driver's license plate.

[oscar]

Yesterday CPZ and I took a ride down the new lanes. The intent was to drive south, have late lunch in Fredericksburg and take our time, and then take the lanes back north after 4. Our plan was thwarted because they never did a midday reversal, the lanes were open southbound all day.

I'm hoping that Transurban follows a Saturday schedule on Christmas Day so I can do what you tried to do.  Since the lanes will need to be open southbound for the Christmas Eve evening rush, and probably northbound for the Boxing Day morning rush (for those commuting that day, rather than making returns at the malls -- but most Federal workers will have the day off), I expect Transurban will need to reverse the lanes at some point, and hope it'll do it midday on Christmas.

But I'm not betting the ranch on that.

I got half my wish.  The reversible lanes were pointed southbound Christmas morning, but were not reversed that afternoon, and traffic was continuing to flow south in those lanes until at least 5pm.  So I had to use the main northbound lanes to get home.

But I did pop back south to Garrisonville this morning.  The reversible lanes were pointed northbound by then, and so remained when I got on them around 10am for the return trip. 

Traffic in the southbound lanes was moderate when I went south this morning, except a short delay due to a pedestrian on the right side of the road in a spot where the shoulder was barricaded off.  But it was jammed much of the way later in the morning as I blew past it going northbound in the uncongested reversible lanes.