Live Q&As

55 mph is the standard speed limit for divided highways in Maryland. 65 mph is the exception, applied to sections of several Interstates.

I don't see any problem with Maryland setting the speed limit for a new highway at the standard 55 mph. Drivers have to adjust to changing speed limits all the time as they go from road to road, or even from one section of a road to another.

Maybe later, as the state gets more experience with the highway, the speed limit could go up to 65. But to set the speed limit for a new, untested highway at the maximum possible for anywhere in the state doesn't make sense to me.

I think the work on the westbound side between the Beltway and Route 50 is pretty much done now, but the eastbound work is going to continue into the spring time. It's tough for any highway department to continue paving through the winter.

Would that car arrive on time?

This must be related to the HOT lanes project's rebuilding of the I-66/Beltway interchange and the widening of the Beltway to create the four HOT lanes, but I'm not familiar with a narrowing of the Beltway to three lanes, other than for temporary lane closings.

The interchanges at I-66 and at the Dulles Toll Road are the most complicated and problematic parts of the construction project, and the work at them will continue well into this year, before the HOT lanes open at the end of 2012.

However, the project is opening new things as they get done. An example of that was the new flyover ramp from eastbound 66 to the right side of the inner loop.

Yes, I've certainly noticed that. Also, that on a trailing driver will honk if you stop for a pedestrian already in a crosswalk straight ahead.

I hope drivers won't feel pressured to endanger pedestrians just for the sake of some knuckleheads who can't wait.

I was thinking about the tailgating letters in responding to the previous comment.

Drivers who obey the traffic laws -- including the speed limits -- are almost certain to be tailgated. I worry that the drivers being tailgated worry too much about the tailgaters, to the point where they lose track of what's ahead of them.

The responsibility for tailgating rests entirely with the tailgaters.

Yes. That ramp should open in the spring. The District Department of Transportation has opened the inbound and outbound spans. But that was done before all the goodness of these new spans could be realized.

The reason the spans were opened in advance was to clear room so the new ramps could be completed.

A commuter from Beltsville pointed out to me -- and now I've seen for myself -- that the southbound drivers have a new, but temporary difficulty: Because the traffic pattern on 295 changed when the inbound span opened last month, it's very difficult to perform the standard maneuver of making a U-turn at Howard Road or Suitland Parkway to get on the northbound side and reach the inbound bridge.

It's really, really difficult for drivers making the loop at Howard Road, and slightly less difficult for drivers who go farther south to Suitland parkway and them come back north.

Very good point. Drivers can get off at Howard Road to reach the inbound Douglass Bridge, taking them up South Capitol Street toward downtown DC.

And I agree with you that it's a fact of life in urban areas that we have to put up with temporary disruptions for the sake of something that should improve travel in the long run.

By the way, I find travelers more tolerant of that on the roads than on Metrorail. Why is that?

There's no plan to decrease the number of general purpose lanes on any highway as part of the HOT lanes project.

In terms of the traffic patterns, take a look at the new Web site that Transurban made live today. Look at this page, click on the links and see if it addresses your question about the traffic pattern:

http://www.495expresslanes.com/using-the-lanes

With the HOT lanes project, the thing I'm looking forward to next is the opening of new flyover ramps that will take traffic from the Airport Access Highway to the Beltway.

I hope that will cut down a bit on the lane weaving necessary now to reach the Beltway. That would benefit everyone.

But I really doubt that when the entire project is done at the end of the year, Toll Road drivers will say, Oh, boy, problem solved at the Beltway interchange.

The HOT lanes project won't do absolutely everything it would take to relieve congestion at that interchange.

Meanwhile: There's no scheduled toll increase beyond the one that occurred Jan. 1. Doesn't mean it won't happen, of course, but public hearings would need to be scheduled.

Also, there's a bit of a jurisdictional issue to keep in mind. The airports authority operates the Dulles Toll Road. The airports authority has nothing to do with the HOT lanes project along the Beltway.

It's certainly my hope that once the ramp from the outbound span to northbound 295 opens this summer that many drivers will avoid making that horrible left turn from the outbound Sousa Bridge (Pennsylvania Avenue) onto northbound 295.

A key goal of the bridge project was to eliminate the missing links for through traffic and keep commuters on the highways, rather than making them get off onto local roads.

Hybrids won't get a break in the HOT lanes. They'll be treated like any other vehicle. To ride free, drivers will have to meet the carpool rules.

I'd the Beltway for that trip. On a typical morning, the worst of the outer loop traffic is between College Park and Georgia Avenue. After that, it eases up a bit. Stay left to avoid the next slowdown, as drivers stay right to reach I-270.

I'm not saying that any route is easy during the morning rush, but even though the mileage is less, I'd avoid the stop and go and stop and stop traffic through the middle of DC.

Actually, I think he has a pretty tough skin. And this certainly isn't the first job he's had that involves discussions with transit users upset about travel conditions.

I find he handles himself very well under those conditions.

Last year, I compared him to a baseball manager who's with the team for the "rebuilding years," then retires for the next manager, who comes in and gets all the glory by taking the team to the world series.

Sarles said he was okay with being the manager for the rebuilding years. He said that during four decades in the transit business he's been both types of managers.

I think it's way too early for anyone -- including the Maryland Transportation Authority -- to assess the results of the ICC. Drivers are just beginning to learn whether it's useful on their commutes.

I'm gradually working through some suggestions you all have made for test drives along various routes that include the ICC so I can do a Commuter page feature that says, This seems to work, This doesn't seem to work.

My guess is that most drivers won't do the entire route and pay $4 at rush hour, but they'll break off parts of the route -- and pay less -- when they calculate their time is worth the money.

If the revenue turns out to be very low, that's probably bad for all of us. The state still must pay off the highway.

Thanks for digging that out in response to the reader's question about the upcoming traffic pattern.

The plan is to open all at once. Drivers will notice this year that some sections of the Beltway look done, but it's the interchanges -- particularly at the DTR and I-66 that will be the most difficult sections to wrap up, and that work will continue well into this year.