SPRINGFIELD--A party to celebrate the just-completed Springfield Interchange ended yesterday with news that, despite the $676 million improvements, there is still gridlock on Interstate 95.
Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer approached the microphone after the U.S. Army band finished playing an upbeat tune.
"On southbound Interstate 95, at Exit 140, all lanes are closed," Homer said, standing in the shadow of 50 new swirling and looping ramps and bridges at Springfield, where I--95 meets the Capital Beltway. "So if you're traveling southbound, you may want to wait a little bit for that traffic to clear."
Unfortunately, Homer was heading southbound, along with a bus carrying members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
To reach their planned meeting in Fredericksburg, the bus had to detour around the hazardous materials incident that closed all I-95 southbound lanes in Stafford County for four hours.
To avoid the mess, CTB members and senior Virginia Department of Transportation officials took the Fairfax County Parkway to Interstate 66 to U.S. 29 to U.S. 17 and back to the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center.
Total time on the road: An hour and 45 minutes. On a good day, the trip from Springfield to Fredericksburg takes about 45 minutes.
The trip demonstrated the last-minute scramble endured that is familiar to Fredericksburg area residents and commuters. Mary Lee Carter, the Fredericksburg District representative on CTB and former Spotsylvania County supervisor, said the incident shows "95 will just not take care of all our needs in the area."
Northern Virginia District representative Douglas Koelemay said the gridlock caused by the tractor-trailer leaking nitric acid shows how few alternatives drivers have when the East Coast's main street shuts down and U.S. 1 slows to a crawl.
"That's our challenge to build redundancy into the system, because life is going to happen and accidents are going to happen," Koelemay said.
CTB members took the stress of their roundabout commute in stride. They viewed a different set of projects in Northern Virginia and had a chance to see where U.S. 17 will be widened in Stafford.
Members had planned to get an update on the addition of High Occupancy Toll lanes from Washington to Spotsylvania as they traveled I-95 south. The HOT lane proposal is the only planned expansion for the interstate in the Fredericksburg area. Work will begin soon to expand I-95 to four lanes, in each direction, from Newington to the Occoquan River.
Traffic was flowing smoothly yesterday at the Springfield Interchange, which was finished on schedule and slightly under budget.
Gov. Tim Kaine said the project is proof that massive projects can be undertaken and completed.
"We owe it to Northern Virginians to invest in key projects to improve their quality of life," Kaine said.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436