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BY KELLY HANNON
There's a plan to loosen the afternoon bottleneck on southbound Interstate 95 at Dumfries by 2010.
Two companies building toll lanes in the median of I-95 plan to accelerate construction of one lane south of Quantico Creek, where high-occupancy vehicle lanes end.
A nine-mile, single toll lane, or high-occupancy toll lane, would be built from just south of State Route 234 to north of Exit 143 at Garrisonville Road, said Tim Young, development manager for Transurban (USA) Development Inc. Tolls would be paid by motorists with fewer than three occupants in their vehicles.
The HOT lane would improve traffic flow until Transurban and Fluor Virginia Inc. can finish building two reversible toll lanes to Massaponax by 2014.
The project offers some relief to Stafford commuters as well as those who live in localities to the south.
Last fall, several Stafford County supervisors voiced concern when Fluor-Transurban revealed that its 56-mile toll-lane project from Washington to Spotsylvania was divided in two: a "northern project" that ends at Dumfries in 2010 and a "southern project" to Spotsylvania that would not be completed until 2014.
This was not good news, since a traffic jam occurs most weekday afternoons at Dumfries near where two HOV lanes merge into regular I-95 lanes. Stafford supervisors feared the situation would worsen when Fluor-Transurban opened three HOT lanes.
Young said Fluor-Transurban changed its plan in response to those comments. The new plan was unveiled Monday night at a meeting of the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
In addition to the new lane, Stafford supervisor Mark Dudenhefer, a FAMPO board member, asked Fluor-Transurban to consider building a flyover merge at State Route 610/Garrisonville Road.
The design calls for a flyover ramp at Joplin/Fuller roads in Prince William County. The ramp will carry toll-lane traffic over I-95, connecting with the slow-moving right lane.
Just north of Route 610, the toll lane will empty into the left lane of I-95.
"You're putting a flyover near Quantico Creek, which to me is a better merge option than what you're putting up at 610. I'm hoping you're going to give people more than a quarter-mile to get over three lanes," Dudenhefer said.
Company officials agreed to look at the design. They pointed out that Route 610 motorists may exit at Joplin Road, while through traffic could use the Route 610 exit to avoid a backup.
"You've raised some good issues, and the impetus is on us to solve them," Young said.
Fluor-Transurban said it will try to do as much grading and clearing for the second toll lane during construction of the first lane.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436