Archive: June 2006
Assessing Performance
I've gotten some answers to your questions about performance during the storm. I've got to say, all in all, it seems like most people had limited gripes. There were a few real difficulties -- mostly on Metro and in the District -- but overall I've heard fewer complaints than I would have expected. Let's get to the ones I did here: OrangeLineHater wrote: "The Orange Line this week has been unbearable. WMATA lists 10 minute delays on their Web site ... um, try 1 hour, 15 minutes to get from McPherson Square to W. Falls Church last night. And another hour this morning. Why can't they be honest about the delays? I can understand that the trains would be slower because of the problems at Federal Triangle, but how about some 8-car trains for the Orange Line? I waited out three trains last night before I was able to squeeze...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 30, 2006; 11:32 AM ET | Comments (4)
Report Card
It looks like we might have made it through the worst of the weather and the commutes (he said with fingers crossed.) So that means it's time to assess how our local transportation departments did. Tell me what you think they did well and where they need to improve. And I will do my best to get answers to any questions y'all have over the next couple of days. I say the next couple of days because many officials are still out there working hard to get everything back in order, so it may take a little time to get answers. So let 'er rip......
By Steven Ginsberg | June 28, 2006; 11:54 AM ET | Comments (19)
Is That Rain I See?
Yes it is, and it's coming down hard yet again. So far, though, the morning commute appears bearable. The main trouble spot on the interstates is on I-395 in Virginia, where standing water in the northbound lanes is slowing drivers to about 5 miles an hour near Shirlington. That will probably be enough to slow that highway, and perhaps parts of I-95, throughout the morning commute. Otherwise, there are dozens and dozens of high water spots on secondary roads across the region. Transit is more hopeful today, with Metro and MARC running fine and VRE running a limited schedule. The forecast isn't good. Rain is expected this morning, this afternoon and tonight and more is on the way tomorrow, so there are sure to be more problems. Track all of the traffic and weather reports here throughout the day. But that's what I know. Be sure to let me know...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 27, 2006; 6:50 AM ET | Comments (37)
Rain, Rain and More Rain
Some of the major problems on the area's roads and rails have been cleared, but several major complications remain for afternoon commuters. In Virginia, the Beltway was cleared and reopened this morning, but more than a dozen secondary roads are still flooded. In Maryland, Route 29 and a handful of roads are also flooded and in the District jams are all over the city because of downed trees and malfunctioning traffic lights. Metro has reopened all its stations, but riders continue to report slow service. The news on the suburban commuter lines is not good: VRE has announced that no trains will run today and the service will not make a determination about tomorrow until around 4:30 a.m. On MARC, the Brunswick and Camden lines will not operate today. The Penn line is operating on a holiday schedule. Take a look at the road cameras and the alerts on our...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 26, 2006; 1:49 PM ET | Comments (14)
Weekend Work Announcements
We have some of the weekend travel advisories that our traffic and transit agencies issue each Thursday. This one is about Metrorail work that will slow service on the Red, Orange and Green lines this weekend. Look below for another one about work at the Springfield Interchange. This is the advisory from Metro: Orange Line Track Maintenance On Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Orange Line trains will share one track between Ballston-MU and East Falls Church-VT/UVA because of track maintenance. Passengers traveling on this portion of the Orange Line should add 15 to 20 minutes of travel time for their trip. Red Line Track Maintenance On Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Red Line trains will share one track between Silver Spring and Fort Totten because of track maintenance. Passengers traveling on this portion of the Red Line should add up to 15 minutes of...
By Robert Thomson | June 22, 2006; 3:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
Weekend at the Bowl
The Virginia Department of Transportation has published its advisory for this coming weekend's work at the Springfield Interchange. (Note also our posting below that has information about the work on Thursday night that affects traffic on the Outer Loop of the Capital Beltway at the Mixing Bowl.) What/Where:9 p.m. Friday until 9 a.m. Saturday; 8 p.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday. Weather permitting. VDOT will install concrete beams for the new HOV lanes bridge over the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks. To perform this operation VDOT will have 8-10 intermittent stoppages, 15-minutes, on I-395 South, south of Edsall Road leading to I-395 South Exits: Exit 1A: I-395/95 South, CLOSED, on both nights for the duration of work. I-395 South motorists heading to I-95 South must use Exit 1B - Springfield, and merge left to access the I-95 South lanes. Exit 1B: I-395 South to Springfield Exit 1C: I-395 South to flyover...
By Robert Thomson | June 22, 2006; 2:08 PM ET | Email a Comment
Mixing Bowl Advisory
VDOT asked us to remind everybody about the overnight work going on this week at the Springfield Interchange that will shut down part of the Capital Beltway's outer loop. Here's what's going on: What/Where: Through Thursday night, 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Weather permitting, VDOT will close the Capital Beltway outer loop, I-495 East (toward the Woodrow Wilson Bridge) and the exit off the outer loop to I-395 North (toward Washington) about three-fourths of a mile before and after I-95/395 to erect the final steel span connecting the two segments of the new I-395 North bridge to the Beltway inner loop, I-495 North, expected to open this fall. Motorist Impact: I-495 East motorists heading to the Wilson Bridge and motorists exiting the Outer Loop to I-395 North heading to Washington must exit onto I-95 South to Exit 166, Fairfax County Parkway East (Route 7100) and turn around onto I-95 North....
By Robert Thomson | June 20, 2006; 3:09 PM ET | Comments (7)
Metro's Growing Popularity
Question for you Metro riders out there: The subway system has set a cluster of records for ridership over the past few months. Some of this lately has to do with the Nats games at RFK, but that's not all of it. What do you think is going on? Is it gas prices? Are you noticing that the trains are more crowded during your morning and evening commutes? Friday was the latest date to join Metro's list of top ten ridership days. There were 783,093 trips taken Friday, making it the seventh highest ridership in the system's history. RFK was a sellout that night, the first of the Nats' three games against the New York Yankees. I took a train from McPherson Square to Stadium-Armory at about 7:30 p.m. I was surprised about how many latecomers were on the train, but it was a smooth trip. We left after the...
By Robert Thomson | June 19, 2006; 1:47 PM ET | Comments (24)
Stay Away from the Wilson Bridge -- Again
Today is the beginning of another weekend to stay away from the Wilson Bridge. The workers over there are closing both sides of the Beltway on the Maryland shore so they can lift giant, steel beams over the highway. The beams will form the supports of a new interchange for Maryland Route 210. The work begins at 9 tonight and runs until 8 Saturday morning and again Saturday night until 8 Sunday morning, so if you're off to the beach make sure to get through the area before 9. Be careful, though. The first time they did this, they ran long, so I'd give them a little extra time on either end. If you do have to go through the area, you'll be taken on a detour that could delay you as much as a half hour. You can check camera views of the area on our traffic page. Speaking...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 16, 2006; 10:54 AM ET | Comments (6)
Rating the Commute
You guys are awesome. Day 1 of Rate Your Commute rated 84 comments and a behind-the-wheel look at all sorts of commutes, including one from New England. I'm surprised and a little impressed with how many people do combo commutes. I've always figured that once you get in the car it's hard to get out of it, especially if it means taking a bus or a train for another hour. It was also fun to see how many people can make it to work in almost a mile-a-minute times before a certain hour, but if they leave .01 seconds later, as Lun a Tic noted, then their commute turns into something really awful. My favorite post was this one, from driver guy: "wheaton to tyson's corner; ratings: morning is 45 cars out of a possible 55 cars afternoon is 27 cars out of a possible 55 cars the rating system...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 15, 2006; 11:25 AM ET | Comments (16)
Rate Your Commute
We're going to try something new today called Rate Your Commute. What I'm hoping is that all you Get There fans will write in about what your commute was like today and everyday. Witty remarks are welcome and anything that makes me laugh out loud at my desk is worthy of a prize. (I don't actually have any prizes to award, but it'll still be worthy of one.) All other manner of commute descriptions are also welcome. Also, all rating systems are welcome, so long as you make clear which one you're using. I'm not entirely sure where we'll go with this. Maybe we'll crown someone the champion of the worst commute in Washington or something. But that's what's cool about this forum -- we don't need to know where it's headed. You and I can take it anywhere we want. I'll start off with my commute, which will probably...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 14, 2006; 12:23 PM ET | Comments (94)
A New Kind of Traffic Report
The folks in Maryland announced that they are testing a new kind of traffic monitoring system that is supposed to tell drivers how long they'll be sitting on the highway. The $310,000 pilot program is on Interstate 70 in Howard and Baltimore counties and if it works, it'll be coming to a road near you sometime soon. The Maryland State Highway Administration and the University of Maryland at College Park have teamed up to put 10 roadside sensors on a 20-mile segment of eastbound I-70 between Route 27 and I-695. The sensors detect traffic speeds and volumes. As conditions change on I-70, estimated travel times to I-695 are automatically updated on five portable message signs. But wait, there's more. Not only does each sign tell drivers the estimated travel time between the sign and I-695, it also says what time the sign was last updated. State officials say that "this...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 13, 2006; 10:57 AM ET | Comments (24)
Hope for Traffic?
This comes from my online chat earlier today. I'll add a couple of my thoughts to it and then open it up for y'all. "Northern Virginia: Is there any hope for a solution to the traffic problems in our region? "When I bought my home 8 years ago, my commute was an acceptable 10 miles. Now, two jobs later, my commute is a miserable 25 miles each way. With the cost of housing, I can't afford to move closer to my job and I haven't had luck finding jobs closer to my home. "It seems to me that as long as companies in the DC metro area continue to recruit and hire new employees, developers will continue building more homes which leads to more traffic. For some strange reason, it seems that a developer can build 10,000 new homes in a few years but it can take the local, state,...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 12, 2006; 12:49 PM ET | Comments (14)
Woodrow Wilson Bridge: Three New Lanes Open
Here's an announcement from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project: At 7:45 a.m. Sunday, all three lanes of northbound I-95/Capital Beltway Outer Loop were restored across the first new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, replacing the one-lane situation that was implemented at 9:30 p.m., Friday. The lane re-opening occurred ahead of the project's schedule, which had a worst-case scenario of reopening at 5 a.m., Monday. At 9:41 p.m. Saturday, project officials said, the first public vehicles rolled across the new Wilson Bridge in the single lane. A Toyota Corolla carrying Ted Shin of Elkridge, Md., was the first to cross the bridge. During the brief total closure to implement the switchover, the project presented the first six crossers with coins specially minted commemorate the opening of the bridge. Construction of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge began in October 2000. Separately, to the east of the new bridge, an overnight closure of the entire...
By Robert Thomson | June 11, 2006; 11:54 AM ET | Comments (1)
New Wilson Bridge Opens
Post staff writer Sandhya Somashekhar reports that the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge opened to traffic at 9:45 tonight. It's one lane of one span, but it's open. She said the people waiting in the line of traffic knew what was happening and were very excited, realizing they were about to make local history....
By Robert Thomson | June 10, 2006; 10:14 PM ET | Email a Comment
Wilson Bridge Traffic: Field Report
Post staff writer Sandhya Somashekhar, who is part of our team covering the Wilson Bridge work today, just reported in. She said she drove on I- 95 from Lorton and got off onto Franconia Road. She said traffic was moving 55-60 mph. It was getting congested approaching the Springfield Interchange, but that was about normal for the area. She urges drivers to be cautious, though. The cars are going pretty fast considering how close together they are and how many decisions they have to make in that area. Then she got onto the Capital Beltway from Van Dorn Street and got off at Telegraph Road. At the Amoco station on Telegraph, near the Beltway, she talked to Steve Sprague, 55, of the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. She asked him if he had any intention of crossing the Wilson Bridge today. "Not on your life," he said. Mike Gordon, 27,...
By Robert Thomson | June 10, 2006; 12:13 PM ET | Email a Comment
Bridge Weekend: Mid-Morning Report
A survey of the traffic cameras from the Wilson Bridge back down the Capital Beltway's outer loop and onto I-95 Northbound shows that traffic still is flowing well, despite the squeeze down to one lane at the bridge as crews do the paving required to open the new span. Looks like a combination of sophisticated travelers who knew what to expect and motorists just following the posted detours that are taking them to alternate routes across the Potomac this morning. You can see for yourself by going to our Web site's traffic page. We'll have some eyewitness reporters later on from our staff writers Karin Brulliard and Sandhya Somashekar....
By Robert Thomson | June 10, 2006; 10:48 AM ET | Email a Comment
So Far, So Good at Wilson Bridge
As Washington wakes up, the traffic along the Capital Beltway and on I-95 in Virginia looks pretty good, under the circumstances. Those being that a massive amount of work is going on at the Woodrow WIlson Bridge this weekend. There's a steady stream of single-lane traffic heading across the bridge from Virginia to Maryland. Farther back on the outer loop, it looks like the warnings and detours are having the desired effect of keeping traffic away. At the Potomac crossing, the main event involves preparations for the opening of the first of the two new spans. That's supposed to happen today. But to make that happen, crews had to narrow down the traffic on the outer loop to one lane, so there are severe restrictions on northbound travel. If drivers in the Washington area and long-range travelers do not heed the warnings that project managers have been issuing, that would...
By Robert Thomson | June 10, 2006; 8:26 AM ET | Email a Comment
Stay Away From the Wilson Bridge!!!!
Whatever you do tonight and for the rest of the weekend, stay away from the Wilson Bridge. Starting tonight at 8 o'clock, the outer loop of the Beltway is going to be narrowed to one lane so workers can get busy redirecting the highway toward a new bridge. The backups will extend at least four miles and could go much further if people don't steer clear of the area. Additionally, drivers on northbound I-95 will not be allowed to cross the bridge. They will be diverted at Springfield, either to the western half of the Beltway or up I-395 through the District. At some point Saturday afternoon the outer loop will be redirected to the new bridge, the first of two six-lane spans that will replace the existing bridge, but traffic will still be limited to a single lane so workers can finish realigning the Beltway. Project managers promise that...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 9, 2006; 10:14 AM ET | Email a Comment
Bad Commuter Week, Part 3: The Lane Hogs
I don't know about you, but it seems to me that more and more drivers can't commit to one lane. They straddle both lanes and in many cases drive right on down the road that way for miles. And you know what? It drives me CRAZY!!!! The worst cuplrits for this sort of behavior seem to be taxi drivers. They've got those big cars and they're going slow and they're looking this way and that for fares and inevitably they seem to end up going about 13 miles an hour in two lanes. Or maybe they do it on purpose to hog the road so they monopolize fares or because they think they own the road, or whatever. I don't mind the slowness and the search for fares, but they gotta pick a lane. This has a lot to do with you too, SUV drivers. Whatever people think of SUVs...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 8, 2006; 11:01 AM ET | Comments (21)
Environmental Group Says Toll Highways Okay
We take a break from bad commuter week to share an interesting development in the transportation world. The advocacy group Environmental Defense has come out in favor of using public-private partnerships to build tolled highways. Their support, as you might imagine, came with a couple caveats. They prefer tolls to be added to existing lanes with minimal widenings and for some of the revenue to be used to fund public transit and to protect the environment. If highways are done in this way, Environmental Defense sees winners all around. Taxpayers don't have to pay for most of the fixes, drivers gain more capacity and more assurance, transit options are increased and the environment is protected. In the real world this means that they do not think that the intercounty connector is a good idea because it is a brand new highway that brings with it a number of environmental concerns....
By Steven Ginsberg | June 7, 2006; 11:15 AM ET | Comments (11)
Bad Commuter Week, Part 2
Today we talk Metro etiquette. Most people -- at least most who join this blog and my Web chats -- seem to think that everyone on the Metro is rude, inconsiderate or a brainless tourist. They don't care about getting over to the right on the escalator, they hug the poles on the trains and they talk loudly on their cell phones about what went wrong with their date last night. (Hint: You and your mindless chatter.) One of our posters, known only to us as "Metro rider," pretty much agrees with all that. The rider's twist is that he or she thinks this is just the way it should be. To wit: "1. ESCALATORS ARE NOT STAIRS. They are designed for standing, NOT walking (left, right, or center); continued walking weakens the structure & causes accidents. Either leave a few minutes earlier or utilize the staircases (yes, I know,...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 6, 2006; 11:07 AM ET | Comments (28)
The Loathing of the Left Laners
I almost made it through the comments without getting mad. And then "Me" posted this: "MD Driver is right. There is no "passing lane" in Maryland. It's just a lane, and the left-laners can stay there if they so choose. Sorry." This pretty much sums the left laner 'tude. I can stay there if I want and there's nothing you can do about it. I reckon that's so, whether there's a "passing lane" law or not. But the fact that you can totally misses the point. We can do lots of things in life that we choose not to do because they fall into that vast and undesirable category of "not cool." The question is WHY do you want to stay in the left lane. You know you shouldn't be there. You know it causes backups. You know it makes the highway less safe. And yet you persist, simply because...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 5, 2006; 4:31 PM ET | Comments (21)
Bad Commuter Week
Good day to all ye commuters out there and welcome to Bad Commuter Week, where we spend the whole week discussing all the things we hate about the guy in the lane next to us or standing next to us on the subway. You know who I mean: The dude going 56 miles an hour in the left hand lane. Or the one jabbing you in the midsection while he talks loudly on his cell phone. I'll kick it off with a few thoughts on the left laners of this world. First, let me say with all due respect, that you people bite. Get out of the left lane already!! It's not your own little private street to do with what you will. It's not even the fast lane, as so many driving instructors -- and the Eagles -- have tried to tell you. It's the PASSING lane. As in,...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 5, 2006; 11:47 AM ET | Comments (47)
Watch Out, Weekend Travelers
If you're going to be driving the Capital Beltway at night this weekend -- or any weekend in June -- you'll want to read Steve Ginsberg's story in today's Post about the construction plans involving the Wilson Bridge and the Springfield Mixing Bowl. And Metro riders also should be alert this weekend. This is how the transit authority describes the work and its impact in a statement: Metro personnel will conduct a complete maintenance overhaul outside the Stadium Armory Metrorail station on the Blue and Orange Lines from 10 p.m., Friday, June 2 to 5 a.m., Monday, June 5. This will include the replacement of 900 feet of running rail, cross ties, tie plates, stone ballast, and traction power cables on both tracks. As a result of this work, trains will not be able to operate between Stadium-Armory and Benning Road, and Stadium-Armory and Minnesota Avenue. To perform this work,...
By Robert Thomson | June 2, 2006; 10:40 AM ET | Comments (9)
The ICC Wins
Thirty-nine people -- a new Get There record! -- wrote in yesterday to vote on whether they would drive on the ICC. The results of this completely scientific, totally definitive, irrefutable poll show that 19 people said they would at least occasionally drive the highway and nine said never, not a chance, fugettaboutit, go fly a kite. So I think we can definitively declare that two-thirds of people love the ICC more than their own mothers. Some of the other responses were too difficult to put in one column or the other, such as "20850" who said no to using the highway but hoped other people would. As usual, any discussion of the ICC brings out a lot of strong feelings -- and strongly expressed misconceptions. Let me address a few of my favorites here. Tola wrote: "Wow, I've been keeping up with this debate since I lived near it's...
By Steven Ginsberg | June 1, 2006; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (14)
