Archive: May 2006
Will You Drive on the ICC?
So it sure looks like Maryland is going to build the intercounty connector. After 50-some years of discussion the state is just a couple months away from turning dirt and a couple years away from opening for drivers. Read today's story on it here. Which brings us to this question: Who's going to use it? Will you? There is no shortage of opponents for this project and it makes one wonder if any of them will actually use the road when it opens in 2010. It's kind of like the Wal-Mart opponents. They often oppose a store, but when it opens in their neighborhood many of them find that they just can't stay away. The cheap prices and variety of goods are too much to resist. (Or maybe they have to shop there because every other store has gone out of business.) Will the time savings and convenience of the...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 31, 2006; 10:40 AM ET | Comments (42)
ICC Gets Federal Approval
Steve was right in his entry below. It was a big announcement on the intercounty connector. And it was hot. Steve wrote a story about it that's on the site right now....
By Robert Thomson | May 30, 2006; 2:27 PM ET | Comments (2)
Major ICC Announcement
That's what this morning's press release says. What the announcement is, state officials won't say. But given that Gov. Bob Ehrlich and Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan will be there, you can be sure it has something to do with taking a major step toward building the highway. The political dynamics should be interesting, what with Duncan one of two Democrats trying to unseat Ehrlich and both of them major ICC supporters. It'll also be interesting to see whether opponents have enough time over the next hour to get there and make their opinions heard. And what's with major ICC announcements always being on blistering hot days?? Last year's announcement designating a route was on a scorcher and today's is too. Can't they arrange for a nice southerly breeze for $2.4 billion?? On another note, I'm looking to tag along with a commuter or two to experience some of the...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 30, 2006; 10:31 AM ET | Comments (2)
Lots of Cars, Not Too Many Delays
At 5:30 p.m., there are lots of people out there but not too many killer backups. The worst of then are where they've been all day: on I-95 where the regular lanes and HOV lanes merge and on I-66 in the western part of the region. Many other spots look about like they do on a regular day and some actually look better. There's no backup whatsoever at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and there hasn't been one for a couple hours. Amazingly, there have been no accidents to cause major delays, even as a pretty heavy rain storm has moved through the region. Let's hope it stays that way. And here's hoping you get where you want to go and have a good time once you do ......
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 5:29 PM ET | Comments (1)
Here Comes the Rain
Rain has hit in a hard way south of the city, causing some problems on I-95. Traffic still isn't much worse than many regular work days, but it's something to keep an eye on. I-66 is heavy in Manassas and beyond, but clears up after Gainesville. I-270 is heavy, but clears up after it goes down to two lanes, BUT drivers taking I-70 west should watch out for heavy traffic between Frederick and Hagerstown. And down in Hampton Roads, the bridge tunnel backup is several miles. Stop off and get some dinner and wait for that one to clear up if you're headed out that way. Check out Memorial Day parade closings here and Rolling Thunder closings here. Info on both parades can also be found here and here....
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 4:37 PM ET | Comments (2)
Not So Bad
It's 4 o'clock and there's hardly a wait at the Bay Bridge. The worst traffic in the region is on I-95 south, where the usual jam has formed where the HOV lanes hit the regular lanes in Dumfries. I-66 is getting heavy, but is still moving. They're always bad, but this looks a little worse. Everything else seems more or less normal. Things aren't too terribly bad at the airports either, says Dulles and Reagan National spokeswoman Tara Hamilton. Hamilton said yesterday was busier than today at National. Lines have been manageable and there are still parking spots to be had, which is rather remarkable. It's a lot busier over at Dulles, but, says Hamilton "at Dulles it's always busy. It looks like a typical Friday afternoon, which is very busy." Looks to me like everyone's already gone, or they're waiting until tomorrow morning like me. Let's hope it's not...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 3:58 PM ET | Email a Comment
Traffic Gets Worse
The cars are lining up at the Bay Bridge, on I-95 south and the Beltway in Maryland. Rather surprisingly, the roads continue to be pretty clear around the rest of the region, including on I-66. This surprises us here at Get There, so we want to know what's going on. Please send me all your thoughts and experiences about driving today. Even if it's just to say you plan to leave later, I'm interested to know what people are thinking. So send in the comments already, will ya? And if you're looking for the latest real time video reports of traffic check here....
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 2:13 PM ET | Email a Comment
The Backups Begin
It's noontime and that's when the worst of the traffic is expected to start. Sure enough, the roads are starting to jam. A line is forming at the Bay Bridge that'll cause you a little delay right now, but judging by heavy traffic on Route 50 my guess is it's going to start getting bad really soon. The same goes for I-95 in Virginia, where the backups south of Springfield are starting to get severe. Just looking at it on a traffic camera makes me wince. The highway opens up after a few miles, but then clogs again around Woodbridge. The trip from D.C. to Fredericksburg is almost always terrible, so expect that to worsen over the next couple of hours. Avoid Capitol Hill at all costs. Roads have been blocked there because of the reports of gunfire at the Rayburn Building. The outer loop of the Beltway is bad...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 11:46 AM ET | Comments (1)
Getaway Day
Here it is, boys and girls, the first big getaway weekend of the summer. And, wouldn't you know it, the Wilson Bridge is open this morning to let a ship pass through, which means backups on both shores. Traffic on parts of I-95 south in Virginia are also heavy. It's worth noting that I-95 north looks just fine, which means that everyone's heading out of town and nobody's coming into work. Overall, though, the roads seem eerily quiet so far, an indication either that this afternoon and evening is going to be awful or that everyone has already left town. Or maybe gas prices are too high for people to travel at all. Whatever it is, we'll monitor traffic and update y'all all day here at Get There. So send in your hopes and fears for the day and we'll see what we can do to get you out of...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 26, 2006; 10:15 AM ET | Email a Comment
The Rantings of a Lunatic Mom
We all have our peeves with getting around this region, but we're also all used to it. We generally know where to go and what to anticipate -- District traffic circles excepted, of course. What we don't know is what it's like for an outsider to get around. That's where my mom comes in. She was here all last week, staying in Falls Church with my brother so she could see her grandkids. Her main travels were between Falls Church, Old Town and Adams Morgan, where I live. These are her rants, with more than a couple suggestions for VDOT and DDOT: DC drivers are low-rage, courteous, and understanding of the need to allow others to enter lanes, whether for merging or the not-so-rare last minute error. However, the last-minute-error situation is to be expected, as it is impossible to safely drive in DC and read all the signage. Routes...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 25, 2006; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (18)
Mr. Kaine Goes to Washington
I just got back from Capitol Hill, where Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine spent the morning telling the House Subcommittee on Highways, Transit and Pipelines (say that five times fast) all about the state's public-private highway and transit ventures. Virginia has the most in the nation and I believe has been doing this the longest, so the subcommittee wanted to talk to Kaine about a practice that is fast spreading across the country. Kaine shared the stage with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who recently signed a 75-year, $3.8 billion deal--the biggest in American history--to lease the Indiana turnpike to a private consortium. Kaine knew his stuff (as did Daniels) and you got the sense that he was excited to be on the Hill, but not so much that he was overwhelmed by it. In his opening remarks, Kaine noted that Virginia manages the third largest highway system in the United...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 24, 2006; 12:54 PM ET | Comments (9)
Summer Travel
The first big getaway weekend of the summer is but three days away and I'm curious when and where everyone is going. As loyal readers of this blog know, my sense is that getaway traffic patterns are changing. People are taking days off before and after weekends to avoid traffic or are leaving in the dead of night or at other "off" times. This sort of thing isn't new, but it seems to me that it's reached a point where this is what the majority of people do. What that means is that people who are leaving early to avoid traffic are running right into it and people who can't get out of work until 5 seem to do just fine. Also, are high gas prices changing anyone's plans? Is the bus or train now an option? I'm heading to the mountains for a hike on Saturday and then spending...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 23, 2006; 10:47 AM ET | Comments (10)
The Purple Line Lives
Remember the Purple Line? Or, as Maryland officials call it, the Bi-County Transitway? It's a proposed rail connection that would run 14 miles from Bethesda to New Carrolton. Proponents say it would provide a critical link between the Maryland burbs and take traffic off the overtaxed Beltway. It's been on the back of the back burner for the last few years, as Maryland has put all its efforts into building the ICC. A coalition in favor of building the Purple Line announced today that it will try to revive interest in the rail link by holding three rallies this week "to dramatize the urgent need for the Purple Line as gas prices hover around three dollars a gallon." The rallies will be Wednesday from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. at 9510 Georgia Avenue; Thursday from noon to 12:30 p.m. at the plaza at One Bethesda Metro Center; and Friday from...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 22, 2006; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (15)
The new Wilson Bridge opens! Sorta.
Get There offers its sincere apologies for not getting here before now. I've been out most of the day at the celebration for the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Before you get too excited, this is only the first of two bridges and is not expected to dramatically improve commutes. It's six lanes just like the old one, though it does have shoulders to clear accidents. It's also taller, so the drawbridge won't have to open very much. The real changes are expected in two years when a second six lane bridge opens. That'll double capacity across the bridge and conceivably erase the daily jams that plague bridge traffic. Still, that didn't stop project officials from holding a big celebration today that seemed to include every local, state and federal official you can imagine. Some even brought their families. The crowd of about 1,000 transportation officials and construction workers got tired...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 18, 2006; 5:48 PM ET | Comments (3)
What Would You Drive?
A report came out last night that tells us everything we ever wanted to know about who drives what in the Washington region. Much of the report is what you'd expect: people in the inner suburbs have less and smaller cars than people in the outer suburbs, for instance. But it's still kind of fascinating to get a rundown of what we drive. First, the big numbers: There are 3.3 million cars in the Washington region, 1.6 million in Maryland, 1.5 million in Virginia and 250,000 in the District. Of those, 2 million are passenger cars and station wagons, 1.2 million are SUVs and 160,000 or so are commercial trucks. Think Virginia, and especially HOV, is overrun with hybrids? Well, you're right. There are 11,843 hybrids in the D.C. area and 8,280 of them are in Virginia. And these aren't a bunch of crunchy liberals in Arlington. These are primarily...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 17, 2006; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (22)
Most Congested Intersections in MoCo
Montgomery County has released its 2006 Highway Mobility Report--I know, I know, settle down--and it includes a list of the county's 10 most congested intersections. Here they are, ranked in order of congestion: 1. Georgia Avenue (MD 97) at Forest Glen Road 2. Rockville Pike (MD 355) at Cedar Lane 3. Great Seneca Highway (MD 119) at Muddy Branch Road 4. Rockville Pike (MD 355) at South Drive/Wood Road 5. Columbia Pike (US 29) at Southwood Avenue 6. Frederick Road (MD 355) at Ridge Road (MD 27) 7. Connecticut Avenue (MD 185) at Jones Bridge Road 8. Connecticut Avenue (MD 195) at University Boulevard (MD 193) 9. Frederick Road (MD 355) at King Farm Boulevard 10. Rockville Pike (MD 355) at Pooks Hill Road Seven of the 10 intersections have been on the list for at least two years, which means things aren't exactly getting better. The biggest losers this...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 16, 2006; 10:12 AM ET | Comments (23)
Funky Traffic
It happened again. The highways were all jammed up during the day Friday, but free and clear at 5 p.m. My wife had to get from downtown D.C. to Falls Church by 6:30 p.m. I told her to leave around 5 p.m. to be sure to make it. She left at 5 p.m. and got there at about 5:25 p.m. What is going on here? I'm really starting to think the best time to head out of town is at 5 p.m. on a Friday. I can't believe I just wrote that. As for me, I headed west on Interstate 66 at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and hit traffic no less than three times, once in Fairfax, again by the construction in Manassas and finally in Gainesville. I don't know about you guys, but I still haven't made my peace with weekend traffic. It's particularly insidious to head off to the...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 15, 2006; 9:54 AM ET | Comments (18)
Getaway Day
It's Friday, it's spring and it's beautiful, which means we're all trying to get out of town and traffic will probably be a nightmare. The question is: When will it be a nightmare? Used to be that you could count on traffic being really bad sometime around 3 or 4 in the afternoon until sometime around 7 or 8. But it got so bad at those times that lots of folks started leaving earlier in the day or at odd times. So now you don't know when you're going to hit the bad stuff. I was stuck in just awful traffic between Washington and Fredericksburg on the morning and early afternoon of Good Friday, but I sailed right out of the city at 5 o'clock that evening with no trouble at all. Ditto for my ride to Chantilly, through Leesburg and on up to Pittsburgh. And that's been the case...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 12, 2006; 10:07 AM ET | Comments (12)
Welcome!
Welcome, my fellow commuters and traffic sufferers, to Get There, the blog that helps you, well, get there. We here have dedicated our lives to dealing with Washington's traffic mess and offer our humble selves to tell you everything you want to know about the daily commute, transportation debates, projects, theories and myths. Basically, we'll tell you why traffic in this area bites. (Short answer: that jerk in the BMW in front of you.) But who are we kidding? We know you just want to vent about the guy in the condo-sized SUV who cut you off this morning. We welcome that too, especially if you make us laugh. After all, if you didn't laugh about traffic then it would just be an awful, time-wasting, family-ruining, sanity-killing, rat-maze of a thing to do and we know that can't be the case. So talk to us. We'll be here every day,...
By Steven Ginsberg | May 11, 2006; 6:00 AM ET | Comments (28)
