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I–95’s problems won’t go away

December 13, 2004 12:00 am

Interstate 95 will never again be the free-flowing highway it was in 1964.

Massive projects, like the $676-million overhaul of the Springfield Interchange, will probably improve sections of the road.

But the good old days, when congestion was unheard of, are gone forever.

Web extras • Interactive time line. • Photo slide show • Discuss this series Interstate 95 in the Fredericksburg area opened Dec. 18, 1964. Today begins a three-day series about the highway and the changes it brought to the region. SUNDAY: Those who were there at the beginning recall the building and opening of the interstate and the impact it had on them. MONDAY: The new highway produced new business growth but doomed many stores along the road. Also, find out about life at the exits. TUESDAY: I–95 is now clogged much of the time. Are there solutions to this?

Forty years after the highway opened its on-ramps to Fredericksburg residents, the goal of most of the projects along I–95 is to “slow the rate of pain,” as Transportation Commissioner Philip Shucet put it.

“I–95 is going to continue to be stressed as a transportation facility. I think there are a variety of things we can do to help,” he said. “What I don’t believe is we’re going to magically wave a wand and return the level of service on 95 to what it was 40 years ago.”

For one thing, treating the highway’s ills has become more complicated over the years.

When I–95 became overcrowded in the late ’70s, the state widened it to six lanes.

But talk of widening the road to eight lanes has pretty much died down owing to excessive development—and the outrageous cost of right of way—along the highway’s edges.

Nowadays, work along I–95 tends to be more palliative in nature—less about curing the interstate than just making it more comfortable.

So what does the future hold for I–95?

The prescription over the next few years includes a dose of each of the following:

A wider Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

This $2.4 billion construction project, shared by Virginia and Maryland, will widen the existing 43-year-old bridge from six lanes to 12.

Looking back on I–95 William F. Richards, Monterey “Fredericksburg was one of the sweetest towns in America before I–95 opened. The highway has brought an influx of unwanted big city problems to the area. The crime rates are high, and the population has exploded. Real estate values have soared like those of northern counties, and taxes have doubled. Vehicle traffic has almost come to gridlock. ... People had time to talk to one another on the street. Now one finds it difficult to identify someone you recognize.” Pat Penninger, Stafford “As a young child, my parents and I would leave Concord, N.C., on Christmas Eve and travel to Wilkes Barre, Pa., in time for Christmas Day. We always took U.S. 1 and stopped at every stop light between North Carolina and Pennsylvania. I remember going past the Iwo Jima monument that is located at the front gate of Quantico. I always wanted to know what was beyond those gates, and my dad would smile and say, ‘You don’t need to know.’ Lo and behold, when I grew up, I married a Marine and lived at Quantico for 13 years on the base. During trips back home, we drove down Interstate 95 a million times. I truly appreciate not having to stop at every little town, slow down and hope there is a service station close by.” Regina Taylor, Strasburg “I moved in 1959 to the D.C. area. I lived in Alexandria, Arlington, Manassas and then Fredericksburg. I remember the only way to travel was down and up Route 1. A slow tiresome adventure! Especially when it snowed and was icy. The road was very, very narrow. I am grateful for 95, but there are way too many fender-benders and accidents on it. I have had a couple of them myself and mirrors cracking from the big old construction trucks that throw off gravel.” Lloyd E. Payne, Spotsylvania “I have lived in Falmouth all my life. My grandparents had some land on Route 17 above Falmouth. Back then, Route 17 was a two-lane road. I remember we were in the strawberry patch and this black car pulled up and one of the local realtors came up. He asked my grandmother if she wanted to sell her land, and she asked him why in the world he was interested in old farm land. She told him it wasn’t for sale and when she was ready to sell, she would let him know. The next week, the route for 95 was announced in the Free Lance-Star. She waited until she got the amount she wanted for the land.” Carolyn Dinkle, Spotsylvania “In many ways, this has been a tremendous improvement in travel, shortening time required to travel from one place to another. It has also created a new type of traveler: the commuter. I am one of those that travel by charter bus to Washington, and there appears to be no good time to be on 95 going north. ... Years before 95 was opened, we would travel to Springfield Mall, Landmark or Tysons Corner. Now there are so many major department stores located within our reach, that rarely is necessary. While the convenience of having so many choices of places to shop (and eat) is great, it seems we spend a lot of time in traffic just getting around. Although I love most of the changes 95 has brought, I do miss being able to drive somewhere locally without having to allow so much extra time to get there.”

Nearly 200,000 motorists plod across the bridge daily, almost three times the amount it was designed to handle. The bridgework should be finished in 2008, with the rest of the project following in 2011.

Expansion of the Springfield Interchange.

Each day, some 430,000 motorists grip the steering wheel and pray as they pass through the Northern Virginia interchange, making it the largest place of worship in the commonwealth.

Known as the “Mixing Bowl,” where Interstates 95, 395 and 495 converge, it’s also the most accident-prone spot on the Capital Beltway.

Simply put, the complex construction project will separate much of that traffic so that motorists merging from one highway onto another aren’t crossing paths with each other as they do now.

The eight-year project is slated to be finished in late 2007. Passing through Springfield should be safer then, but the rest of the highway is still likely to remain crowded.

“Now that we’ve got them through Springfield on their way home,” said project spokesman Steve Titunik, “they’ll get to the next [tie-up] that much quicker.”

Possible construction of high-occupancy toll lanes, or HOT lanes.

These would look remarkably like the existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, which are open during rush hours to cars with three or more occupants.

HOT lanes would still be free to those folks, but lonesome commuters could also use them—for a fee.

That fee would rise during times of high demand, meaning the single driver heading north at 7 a.m. would shell out more money to use the toll lanes than someone doing it at 10 a.m.

Two consortiums of private firms have offered to build HOT lanes by adding one lane to the existing two-lane HOV facilities in Northern Virginia and then extending those lanes down to the Fredericksburg region.

The state is mulling over those proposals, which would require some combination of public and private funds.

Expansion of the Virginia Railway Express.

The commuter train service runs 31 trains each day, ferrying people from Fredericksburg and Manassas up to D.C. and back again.

The trains are at capacity now, carrying 16,000 people a day.

But over the next two decades, after making improvements to the CSX rail line, VRE intends to bump up the number of daily trains to at least 64.

That would enable the service to carry 30,000 to 32,000 people each day, keeping all of them, thankfully, off I–95.

Addition of safety service patrols and Smart Traffic Centers.

Half of the slow-downs on any given highway are caused by something other than excessive traffic, according to Connie Sorrell, chief of systems operations for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Bad weather, car accidents, breakdowns and construction zones all contribute to congestion.

“If we can focus on the things that cause those 50 percent ... and better manage them and reduce them—or the amount of time they take—that’s going to benefit people,” Sorrell said.

To that end, VDOT is beefing up its safety service patrols, teams of mechanics who drive up and down the state’s busiest roads, looking for hapless drivers with flat tires, engine failure or any other manner of car trouble.

Patrol hours were reduced nearly two years ago in the wake of statewide budget cuts, but Virginia plans to restore the program by July, Sorrell said.

A seemingly short delay—caused by a broken-down car or just the rubberneckers staring at the broken-down car—can cause miles of backups.

The patrols, who handle about 100,000 emergencies a year, can help clear a scene a lot faster.

“Every minute is very precious in terms of managing congestion,” she said.

At large Smart Traffic Centers in Richmond, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, VDOT employees watch banks of TV screens, looking for traffic tie-ups and accidents on the state’s highways.

If they see something, they call the state police, and they warn other motorists using message boards posted over the roads.

Studies have shown that while drivers get frustrated sitting in traffic, they get really ticked off when they don’t know why they’re sitting in traffic.

The state plans to add more traffic centers and communicate with more motorists about road conditions, including whether it would be better for them to find an alternate route.

A Smart Traffic Center is already underway in Thornburg.

What about flying cars.

And why not? If we’ve got the kind of ingenuity needed to create such life-changing technology as the Salad Shooter and The Clapper, hovercraft can’t be far off.

California-based Moller Intenational is accepting deposits from folks who’d like to buy its M400 Skycar, a four-passenger vehicle with a maximum speed of 350 mph.

For a cool half million, you could be in D.C. in 8 minutes.

Money well-spent.

To reach EDIE GROSS: 540/374-5428 egross@freelancestar.com