The minimum speed limit is 35mph? I'd love to be able to hit 35mph on the beltway!

What a joke? Come on the current speed limit isnt enforced along with other traffic laws. Humans drive cars they do not behave ratioanlly. They are not grains of rice sorry bubba. I am more important than you are I am fill in the blank. Folks are in a hurry this will not work and will create more problems than it solves. What happens if you enter this zone and the speed limit changes when you are in the middle of it before you get to the next sign? Well officer the sign said 50mph. Boy the sign says 35mph. Can you say revenue enhancement? thank you revenue collection officer I am sorry trooper!

Well... I hope they hire an army of people to monitor the sensors since I doubt anyone will care if the sign says anything less than 55mph and they dont see backed-up traffic where they are.

Good idea though for those travelling the entire distance from Springfield to the bridge... but not for those that only travel a few exits within the span unless they can control the speed signs every couple miles to adjust things as needed.

Just like yielding to pedestrians, HOT lanes, Smart Growth, bus rapid transit, etc....this idea sounds great on paper, and probably works wonderfully in Europe, but it will likely have un-expected results here in DC. They do this in other countries. In some places, you have a highway like the Beltway with a 20 MPH speed limit. Drivers actually go 20 MPH. That keeps the cars moving and keeps a ton of cars from piling up at a bottleneck, and everyone gets to their destination faster. Unfortunately, here people won't obey it and the effect will only be to warn people of impending stop and go traffic, thats it. But at least at that point VDOT can say they tried and the blame for the variable speed limits not being effective shifts to the drivers.

I'm glad to see VDOT is at least taking steps to try to fix what will ultimately become a severe bottleneck....the Telegraph Road interchange. Right now, the bridge is still the big bottleneck, but come December that will change. The bridge will be 5 lanes each way, the Beltway in Springfield will have 4 lanes each way, but only 3 lanes each way through Telegraph Road. This need not be a total disaster if properly managed. Unlike when the bridge span is the bottleneck, there are alternate routes around the Telegraph Road interchange that local traffic can be encouraged to use.

"What happens if you enter this zone and the speed limit changes when you are in the middle of it before you get to the next sign? Well officer the sign said 50mph. Boy the sign says 35mph. Can you say revenue enhancement?"

Dude, it's not difficult. The cops will have a way to see what the speed limit is at the time. Stop being stupid and use your brain for once.

Oh hell no. All that will happen is that when they drop the speed limit everyone will start driving faster. The cops are too busy clogging their arteries in donut shops to actually do their jobs and enforce current laws, why would they enforce this one?

You forget - in the lovely Commonwealth, 20 over the speed limit is instant "reckless driving". 35 mph + traffic going 55/65+ = millions in "transportation funding" for RoVA. All while we're road obstacles for MD drivers crossing over the bridge.

Excuses...excuses...excuses....so tired of hearing excuses from adults on road speeds.

The various dept, of transportations in the area are TRYING to find a way to make traffic move smoothly..we are not traffic experts...why not go along with the program to SEE if it really works instead of speeding up and defeating the whole process....

Do or do not, there is no try.

Here's the problem: If you try to "go along with the program" and go 35, while other traffic around you ignores the 35 and goes 55 or 65 or 75 ("me first!" as is the way things are around here), all you have accomplished is putting yourself in danger. Drivers around here have zero respect for vehicle and traffic laws, especially on the Beltway.

I travel 55 on the beltway and have to use the far right lane in order to avoid having my doors blown off by traffic going 80mph. what's going to happen when I try 35?

Let's see. The result of this will be to press more traffic on already overloaded roads like Franconia Road, Rt. 1, and the GW Parkway. It will increase cut-through traffic in residential areas. And the nimrods that have developed this plan will push more traffic to the west side of the Beltway just as the construction there will constrict traffic. More people cutting through residential neighborhoods on that side.

At the same time, car-unfriendly DC is thinking of closing the New York Avenue connector from 395.

What we need are good roads that local and regional traffic can use aside from the Beltway. But wait! Virginia cut a deal with the HOT-lanes private company that will mean huge payments to them if there are improvements to roads paralleling the Beltway. What we really need are folks oriented to solutions, not folks that are fleecing the driver/taxpayer.

For all the promises that traffic will get better, it'll never happen.

I agree with the comments above- Variable speed idea on paper will work. In practicality - not so much.
First, Drivers aren't following the speeds as is, what makes you think they will follow this new concept. Second, Dropping the speed limit down to 35 will be very dangerous as speeders fly by you over 80mpg. It will also encourage more use of local driving to get around the beltway.

What needs to be done is use "trickle" type stop lights on the unramps to beltway. (Basically the light flashes red every few seconds to allow motorists on to the beltway. This is being used in cities like Phoenix.)
Hey here is a better idea. Maybe have a "trickle" yield light. So that the "ME- ME-FIRST" drivers will be shown when to merge. I mean come on, the whole unwritten but followed concept of merging and allowing to merge every other car (like the rest of the country seams to be following) seams to evade roadraged drivers around here - but than again - thats just my opinion.