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VDOT unveils another new design for Stafford's Falmouth interchange Date published: 8/5/2009
By KELLY HANNON Over the past two decades, plans to fix the Falmouth intersection have been big. Bypasses. Cloverleafs. Flyovers. Tunnels. Now, the talk is turn lanes. Last night, the Virginia Department of Transportation presented two designs for the Stafford intersection where U.S. 1 and Butler and Warrenton roads meet, immediately north of the Falmouth Bridge. For an estimated $24.9 million, VDOT would dramatically widen the intersection at street level. The intersection would still be controlled by a four-way traffic signal, but new turn lanes and more straight-ahead lanes would cycle cars and trucks through the signal faster. Also, the land required to improve the intersection is smaller than in previous plans. A previously discussed design option remains: A $54.9 million flyover for traffic traveling east and west on Butler and Warrenton roads, with a traffic signal underneath controlling traffic on U.S. 1. The flyover design would take property from Falmouth Baptist Church and a neighboring cemetery. Virginia has budgeted $24.9 million for the Falmouth intersection in the latest six-year transportation budget, passed in June by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Federal money would pay for 80 percent of the project, with state funds paying the remaining 20 percent. For an additional $30 million, the flyover would shave about 30 seconds off a driver's wait time at the intersection in 2016. Cord Sterling, a Stafford supervisor and a state transportation board member, favors the street-level design over the flyover. "The financial cost and opposition in the community would not be worth the tradeoff in traffic improvement. Portions of a church and cemetery would have to be taken," Sterling said. Stafford Supervisor George Schwartz, who represents the Falmouth District, made the reconstruction of the intersection a campaign issue. Schwartz said the street-level design is practical and can be completed in five to six years. "They've done the traffic research and it will reduce the waiting times," Schwartz said. Currently, drivers wait an average of 2.88 minutes at the Falmouth intersection traffic signal during peak weekday hours, according to VDOT. The wait is much longer for some drivers, especially on weekend afternoons and whenever motorists use U.S. 1 to avoid a crash on Interstate 95.
with no traffic in the opposing lanes.. you do not have to sit
at a "dumb" red iight.
People hate roundabouts at frist but after awhile they get
used to them and actually like them for their eloquence
and functionality.
people have trouble with them - yes.. but no more than a
good number of folks who seem to have trouble with 4-way
stops.
over time.. there are no more accidents... at roundabouts
and the ones they have are a lot less serious fender-bender
type accidents rather than the higher-speed "T-bones" you
see at traffic signals.
Roundabouts do not use electricity.. do not "break" when
bulbs burn out.. or the sequencer gets dorked or we have a
power outage... they just keep on "working".
Give me an engineer and 2 hard working guys with equipment and I'll get it done under 10 million. I'll take 10% of what I save the taxpayers.
I have seen a DOT pothole crew ostensibly on the job.
1 supervisor, 2 flagwomen, 5 pickup trucks with tools, supplies and cones, 6 holefillers of which 1 was spreading some black stuff while the other 5 watched him carefully to make sure he does it right.
Did you know it costs us 1 million dollars to put up 1 traffic light? That includes the poles, the cables etc
The average Virginian driver couldn't on their best days make it through a round a bout. I've lived in Europe and England. They know how to use them, but here they are a novelty. The number of accidents would be extreme.
it is about 40 or 50K daily traffic.. they don't work well.
I actually give VDOT credit on two counts:
1. - trying to think out of the box... on Falmouth which has
no easy solution... much less cheap
2. - bringing the discussion to the public....
which surely brings the brickbats..
there is no easy fix.. and yes.. a new bridge over the Rapp
might be worth thinking about...
the time delay was an interesting metric... I wonder what a
graph showing cost verses time saved would look like?
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