Dr. Gridlock

There has been a lot of discussion about the jurisdiction allocation of the I-395/I-95 Transit Subsidy. The main concern of the project is are we going to have a repeat of the Stafford county merge at Eads St. near the Pentagon during peak periods?

Getting as many people across the river as possible should be the focus of the transit benefit. Based on what have seen from I-66 Transit Subsidy this could be a significant amount money. Buses are going to get trapped by the merge point and will struggle to complete with the additional volume the third lane will add.

To satisfy all the jurisdictions from Spotsylvania to Arlington/DC, reconstructing the Long Bridge and implementing a four track system between L'Enfant and Alexandria should be strongly considered.

Benefits include increased VRE service, MARC run-through, Richmond HSR, , Amtrak, and Efficient Freight Movements through DC/Virginia Ave Tunnel.

Is there a plan to fund this type of major state project or just give local jurisdictions/NVTC a percentage of the subsidy?

In the aftermath of the Governor's recent compromise over I-66 inside the Beltway, will there ever be a public process for extending HOV restrictions and tolling in the reverse-commute direction or for increasing the HOV occupancy requirements from 2 to 3?

There seems to be no rational reason to arbitrarily change from HOV-2 to HOV-3 in 2020, 2021, or 2022, if I-66 could still operate congestion-free during the hours of tolling.

On the other hand, the current plan to manage I-66 traffic only in the peak-commute direction, leaves I-66 congested for reverse commutes, which discourages ridesharing and bus transit on I-66.

I ride 95 hot lanes from Prince William Parkway to 395 (DC) everyday. I was under the impression that the max charge was going to be .80 per mile. That is not true. is there a charge limit? or can they charge anything they want. i carpool, i will not pay to use the road.

VDOT's snow removal capability encountered some disastrous failures this past winter. Would Mr. Layne please comment on what is being done to try to avoid the same problems in the future?

Do you think your surname contributed to your interest in a transportation career?

I seem to sit in slow moving traffic each morning on I-66 approaching the Beltway. When I get onto the outer loop, there usually isn't heavy traffic, so the problem is just with the way people get into the exit ramps to the inner and outer loops. There was work on the ramps when the HOT lanes were constructed, and that didn't solve any problems. Now, there are plans to add tolls to I-66, will anything be done to help traffic flow better from I-66 to the beltway?

This is about the part of I-95 south that leads to VA-644 exits 169A & B, after collecting traffic from I395 and the Beltway.

After every winter it suffers from large potholes. Even worse, lane markings disappear, which in this area of multiple merges and lane changes creates a mayhem.

Yet VDOT for some reason is pretty slow addressing the problem. Last year (or was it 2 years ago?) nothing happened for many weeks since I reported the problem to VDOT, and I am sure I wasn't the only one. Only when I raised it here, repairs began.

This year I was glad to see that they milled the surface early. But then, for several weeks nothing happened, so no lane markings, still potholes, though at least the rough milled surface forces drivers to slow down.

I think they are going to pave it this week, there signs saying that the exit will be closed on Thursday.

My question 1 is: does it really have to take so long between milling and re-paving? Is it what technology requires (and if yes, can't a faster technology be used?) or is it only a planning issue?

Question 2 is more general. That area is one of several areas that develop serious problems every year, another example being Fort Myer Dr under Gateway Park in Rosslyn.

Apparently theses roads haven't be constructed properly for the local conditions and volume of traffic.

Couldn't VDOT one summer close such areas for a week or two and do a deep rebuild to prevent the problems from reoccurring every single year?

Hello Secretary Layne, I live in the western part of Arlington where there is already considerable road noise from the highways. 66 west has already been expanded to 3 lanes at Ballston and 4 lanes just past East Falls Church. We also have noise from 267 and the beltway. Plus there is also noise from both the orange and silver lines of the Metro. While I agree that widening 66 may provide some traffic relief for people west of the beltway it seems that it would be done at the expense of our quality of life in Arlington.

How will expansion of the 395 Express Lanes impact slugging? Currently, the HOV-3 lanes maintain the incentive for drivers to carry slugs in order to use the lanes. When the lanes change to express only, that incentive goes away. Then, there is only an incentive to perhaps save money. do you think slugging will fade away?

We were told by the Govenor of Virginia that everyone that can use the HOV lanes on I-66 now will be able to use the I-66 HOT lanes free of charge in the future. Does this include persons with Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) displaying the Virginia Clean Special Fuel license? Currently they can use I-66 inside of the beltway during HOV periods.

The Prince William County board of supervisors removed the Bi-County Parkway from their comprehensive plan. How does this affect the I-66 Outside the Beltway project? Does an auxiliary/4th GP lane need to be added between Gainesville and Centreville to handle the anticipated traffic volumes in 2040?

Several years have passed since the mainline of 95 from the Purple Heart bridge through Fairfax County was widened.

There are now four lanes and the road is straight and well lit. Why doesn't VDOT set a uniform speed limit of 65 through Prince William and Fairfax counties?

The 55 speed limit from northern Prince William through Fairfax county undermine safety by creating a lot of turbulence as drivers swerve around the few drivers obeying the speed limit or suddenly brake when they see a state trooper.

The current mish-mash of speed limits of 65, 60, and 55 make no sense in Prince William and Fairfax counties on 95. It would make far more sense to follow the example of the express lanes and set a uniform 65 speed limit.

Why will the HOV to HOT lane conversion on 395 take away free access to the express lanes for one or two passenger vehicles during weekends and at night?

Your administration likes to portray the express lanes as all about choice-you can choose to pay the toll-but they impose significant costs on non-express lane drivers.

For example, on 95 the Express Lanes have worsened congestion in the mainline during the weekends because drivers who cannot afford the tolls are forced into the mainline and as you know there are major bottlenecks at Edsall Road and Garrisonville road as mainline drivers wait for Express lane drivers to exit.

So the argument that no one is worse off is untrue. On 395, I'm very concerned there will be serious congestion in the mainline during the weekends and at night especially when they're doing construction by taking away those lanes.

Further, the taxpayers already paid for the 395 Express Lanes so you're in effect trying to tax us again for something we already paid for.

I've never had a problem with any missed tolls or the like. But what I find odd is that Virginia doesn't require Transurban to query the E-ZPass database before sending violation notices. That is, I have three cars and two transponders. All three license plates are listed in my E-ZPass account. If my transponder battery died without my knowing, it'd be easy for Transurban to query VDOT's database and then bill my account. Why aren't they required to do this? What's the point of listing a plate number if the information isn't to be used?

Should only go to the roads and not mass transit. Let the users of mass transit pay for it. Especially since Metro is such a corrupt joke!

The Northern VA area get its fair share of tax revenues for our roads etc. Currently we may get 17 cents back from each tax dollar we send to Richmond. I81 and I64 are really nice but dont benefit those of us in NOVA on a regular basis. 80% of the tax revenue generated by our fuel taxes etc should stay in NOVA and not go South!!!!

self-driving cars are likely to become very popular in not-too-many years. what consideration, if any, is being made to factor in the effect they'll have on area transportation? for instance, dc will take a huge revenue hit when their parking fines and speed camera revenue goes to zero.

An inch of snow on the afternoon of January 20 left VDOT paralyzed; like so many thousands of others, my commute home lasted over six hours. Mr. Layne may be proud of his agency's performance during the big snow storm, but his answer gives me no confidence that his agency intends to try to learn from the storms that it has handled badly.

When I-66 Outside the Beltway was initially marketed to the public, VDOT and DRPT jointly billed the project as a multimodal transformation of I-66.

However, over time, the project steadily diminished it's highlighting of transit programs, a necessary component to address congestion and moving people stipulated in the Tier 1 EIS (i.e., no one solution—esp. not just HOT lanes—is adequate to address the corridor's problems).

We subsequently found out that the regional system had no identified regional operator(s) for transit, no specific funding source, and hypothetical headways of 25 minutes for two different types of bus service.

Thus, we are left with a Transform I-66 project that is merely a transformation to tolling. In spite of the public voicing its opposition to tolling and the extensive eminent domain and environmental impacts, VDOT is proceeding essentially with its intial plan (fwiw, imho, HOT lanes have their place in any package).

It is highly disappointing that VDOT was not more responsive. Where are the buses?

Multiple times a month, I take I-95 South from Arlington to the Richmond area, and there is a massive amount of slowdown from Woodbridge to Fredericksburg. I know there is a plan to expand the Express Lanes an additional two miles and have the ramp exit on the left instead of right - but this will only alleviate the traffic approaching Route 610 - not the many miles before. What studies are being done?

from what i remember, the only reason the I-66 segment inside the Beltway was permitted originally is because it was promised never to be expanded.

Is my memory correct, and if so isn't it a bait and switch to now expand the road anyways?

Neither VDOT nor its contractors apply induced demand/induced travel factors in its modeling for projects.

For the broader audience, induced travel means that if you build a new, wider road, it will be overwhelmed before long by drivers who previously hadn't used that route or hadn't used it at that time of day.

The result is that the new roads or added lanes will fill up sooner (even with managed lanes) and taxpayers will be on the hook for misguided attempts for future widening projects.

Additionally, it perpetuates the mistaken perception that widening is the only solution to our surface transportation problems.

One solution is using leading edge modeling; there are DOTs that use ABM or DTA modeling for forecasts. When will VDOT adopt the concept of induced travel first recognized in 1962?

When will VDOT begin to incorporate induced travel into its forecasting?

The city of Alexandria is using $7 million in state urban funds to widen a road, Eisenhower Ave, which has the same traffic volume as it did in 2002. The city first justified the widening because the area would attract thousands of new residents and jobs but after 6,000 people have moved into the immediate area and 10,000+ jobs have been added, traffic on this road stayed the same. Then, the city argued that when it hooked up Eisenhower Ave to I-95, traffic would increase but again, traffic has remained the same (VDOT does excellent traffic volume estimates). Why are you allowing state money to be wasted on an unnecessary expansion project?

Is there a time-table to take 395's Express Lanes farther north to the Pentagon?

What current plans are there for I-66 Westbound lane expansion in Falls Church and points west? There are several places where home development is quite close to the current I-66 westbound, and it is not clear to me that widening could be done without land seizure or eminent domain proceedings. Is VDOT contemplating such actions?

When is this going to be fixed? the short right lane that merges to then go off into exit 3b is absurd and causes a bottle neck every day.

Do you support the idea that one of Metro's (many) problems is the lack of dedicated funding from all jurisdictions? Would you work to support creating a dedicated funding stream for Metro, as other mass transit systems around the country have?