Get There

Headaches on the horizon

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0500

Beltway HOT lanes: Beginning Friday night, northbound and southbound traffic on the Capital Beltway will shift left approaching the Arlington Boulevard (Route 50) interchange. Beltway lanes in this area will narrow so workers can safely demolish and rebuild parts of the roadway and the bridges over Route 50. This traffic pattern will remain for 12 to 18 months. All lanes on the inner loop (I-495 North) will be closed by 11 p.m. Drivers will be directed to the exit ramp lanes for Route 50. They will continue through the ramp lanes to get back onto I-495 North. All four lanes will reopen by 7 a.m. Saturday. The traffic shift for I-495 north will begin near the Gallows Road interchange heading towards Route 50. On Saturday night, all lanes on the outer loop (I-495 South) will be closed by 11 p.m. Drivers will be directed to the exit ramp lanes for

D.C. transportation chief's chat is illuminating

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:02:23 -0500

Entrepreneur-turned-District transportation czar Gabe Klein opined on everything from bike sharing to streetcars during an hour-long online chat Friday, the first in a monthly series of chats he plans on transportation topics. Klein took questions and requests from the public for more than an hour. Some people wanted more tree boxes on public sidewalks; others complained about unrepaired utility cuts; another asked when streetscape improvements to Pennsylvania Avenue SE would start (within the next month). It's clear that Klein has a host of innovative projects on his plate to enhance biking, parking and walking and to get traffic moving faster in the city. Funding and bureaucracy could slow some big projects, like the ambitious network of eight streetcar lines the Fenty administration envisions covering 37 miles along K Street through downtown, H Street and Benning Road, Georgia Avenue/14th Street/Seventh Street, and Rhode Island Avenue/U Street. For a text of

The weekend and beyond

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:37:15 -0500

There's a big traffic shift coming in the Rockville area, a Saturday morning walkathon in downtown Washington and a parade in Silver Spring. You'll find details below about these and other weekend events that might affect your travels, plus a look ahead to next week. Montrose Parkway section opening The big traffic change is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Friday, and the work will continue till about noon Saturday. (The result will be improved access to Randolph Road from I-270, but avoid the area while the traffic shift is underway.) This is what will happen: -- Drivers from the west who are heading along Montrose Road for Randolph Road will be directed off to the right near Tilden Lane onto Montrose Parkway. -- The Montgomery County Department of Transportation will open the last segment of Montrose Parkway West between East Jefferson and Old Georgetown Road. So eastbound traffic on

Today's read: radio traffic guru's 30th anniversary

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:43:44 -0500

Bob Marbourg steers listeners through traffic: Despite all the hardware, Marbourg will tell you that the greatest recent advance in traffic reporting is the cellphone. He has a network of dozens, maybe hundreds -- he's never really counted -- of commuters who phone in real-time tips about delays, accidents and the like. (Paul Farhi) Marbourg's desk has banks of scanners and traffic camera displays. That's all backup. He spends the 10 minutes between traffic reports listening to drivers calling in from the roads. When he starts his report, he doesn't read from notes. He's got this road network in his mind. Marbourg says he knows more about the current condition of traffic from sitting in his studio and taking drivers' calls than he would have in the days when he was flying over the roads. On Marbourg's station, WTOP, Adam Tuss has been doing a series of reports marking his

Accident Closes I-66 Lanes At Beltway

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:42:47 -0500

[This post has been updated] 6:30 A.M. UPDATE: All lanes are now open and cleared. Traffic is still backed up to Nutley Street -- about 2 miles -- which is fairly typical of the morning rush hour commute on I-66 East. As for what happened: A tractor-trailer hauling produce hit a jersey wall set up as part of HOT construction on I-66 at the Beltway, according to Trooper B.J. Burns of the Virginia State Police. Troopers arrived on the scene at 3:15 a.m. and found that while none of the cargo was spilled, the driver's fuel tanks had ruptured and approximately 100 gallons of diesel fuel spilled onto the through lanes of I-66 East, Burns said. The lanes exiting to 495 North and South were unaffected; the lanes continuing on 66 to Arlington and Washington were the ones impacted. So there was heavier-than-usual traffic for regular Beltway commuters, since drivers

Headaches on the horizon

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0500

Beltway HOT lanes: One lane will be closed on the I-495 South exit ramp to I-395 North overnight while workers reinforce the steel beams for the High Occupancy Toll lanes project.

Metro to postpone SmartBenefit changes

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:15:06 -0500

The changes that would have affected transit benefits for many thousands of riders will be delayed for a year, according to Metro officials. The revisions, which caused widespread confusion among riders and among the employers responsible for administering the benefits, were to take effect in January. Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. had signaled that the transit authority was rethinking whether to go ahead. During an online chat Nov. 6 on Metro's Web site, he said: "Over the past couple of weeks, we have heard a lot of comments from customers about this change in SmartBenefits. I've decided that we need to rethink the changes that we are making." This morning, the iMetro blog reported that Catoe had said at a Wednesday night meeting in Prince George's County that the changes would be postponed. The transit authority said the changes were necessary to comply with IRS guidelines on how

Va. Beltway traffic shift this weekend

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:00:44 -0500

The transportation project having the biggest impact on travelers this fall is the HOT lanes construction along the western side of the Beltway in Virginia. This is so despite the fact that through lanes are not blocked during peak travel periods. Here's the latest advisory from the Virginia Department of Transportation: Beginning Friday night, northbound and southbound traffic on the Capital Beltway will shift left approaching the Arlington Boulevard (Route 50) interchange. Beltway lanes in this area will narrow so workers can safely demolish and rebuild parts of the roadway and the bridges over Route 50. This traffic pattern will remain for 12 to 18 months. Work schedule On Friday night, all lanes on the inner loop (I-495 North) will be closed by 11 p.m. Drivers will be directed to the exit ramp lanes for Route 50. They will continue through the ramp lanes to get back onto I-495 North.

Today's read: a holiday driving prediction

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:46:25 -0500

More driving this holiday season: That's what AAA predicts. The travel organization pointed to a longtime trend in which air travel continues to decline as a percentage of total Thanksgiving travel. Since 2000, the number of Americans traveling by air during the Thanksgiving weekend has dropped 62 percent. (Sholnn Freeman) I'm writing up some suggestions about the holiday getaway for drivers, to appear on Sunday's Commuter page in The Post, and I plan to post some blog entries combining the advice I get from travel experts and officials with the advice I've gotten from you. I collect the getaway advice you send to me at drgridlock@washpost.com, here on the blog and on our new discussion group, called Taken for a Ride. The holiday time drives get to be something of an obsession with me and my readers. I get inquiries all the time about best routes and best times to

Morning delays

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:31:48 -0500

In Virginia: Overnight lane closures on I-95 and the Beltway are cleared up. But I-66 is predictably sluggish. I-95 North in Occoquan and Dale City is brimming with delays, too. In Maryland: I-95 at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (Prince George's County) has inner loop lane closures, though traffic is easing up as the morning rush kicks off. And a disabled car on I-495 Inner Loop at Colesville Road could also lead to delays [6:50 A.M. UPDATE: This has been resolved].

Headaches on the horizon

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0500

Dulles Metrorail construction: Lane closure scheduled for tonight on the Dulles Toll Road (route 267) has been canceled. I-95 Widening: Three miles south of the Fairfax County Parkway exit (Exit 166), VDOT is closing several lanes on southbound I-95 to allow workers room to hang steel beams for the additional lane over Pohick Creek, one half mile north of the Lorton Road exit (Exit 163). One right lane of southbound I-95 will be closed at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, followed by another at 10:30 p.m. The lanes will reopen by 5 a.m. Overnight, one southbound lane will remain open to all traffic. The HOV lanes will remain open to southbound traffic until 1:30 a.m. (They normally close to southbound traffic at midnight.) Beltway HOT lanes: Capital Beltway Exit 57) from I-495 south (outer loop) to I-395 North will be closed from 9:30 p.m. to 5 o'clock Thursday morning so workers can

Featured Advertiser

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0500

A commute home, captured on camera

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:52:19 -0500

See if you can pick out which roads our driver takes in the video submission we received response to my previous posting, called Your traffic and transit nightmares. I missed the first road and the last road. Should have gotten them all. They're not obscure roads. The driver's route is speeded up on the video -- at least I hope so. So it does take a while to pick out the landmarks along the way, as well as the road characteristics. There's a full list of the roads at the end of the video. (Good choice of music to commute by, too.) Tell me what else they illustrate about driving in the Washington region, and consider submitting your own travel nightmares via video as well. I couldn't help but tense up every time the driver had to stop, either because the highway lane had come to a halt or because

Rail project work scheduled for I-66

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:53 -0500

The Dulles Metrorail project has scheduled some nighttime work along I-66, starting Friday, but will pull the plug on construction for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Here's the schedule. All work will occur between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless it says otherwise. Westbound I-66 -- Friday night into Saturday morning, workers will close the middle and right through lanes for restriping. When those lanes reopen, the left lane will close. The work should be done by 9 a.m. Saturday. -- The left through lane of westbound I-66 will close again overnights starting as early as Sunday. The work -- concrete barrier placement -- is to be finished by overnight Tuesday. Dulles Connector Road (Route 267) flyover to I-66 -- The right through lane of the eastbound Dulles Connector Road flyover will close for barrier placement as early as Sunday night, and then again on Monday night.

Public Meeting Tonight on NY Ave Projects

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:00:02 -0500

The District Department of Transportation plans to hold a public meeting about the upcoming string of projects that will slow travel on New York Avenue NE. (See our Commuter page feature on their impact or see the DDOT Web site, www.fixingnewyorkave.com.) The session, where you will be able to comment on the plans as well as learn about how they will affect you, is scheduled for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the McKinley Technology High School Auditorium, 151 T Street NE. There's parking at McKinley. The closest Metro station is New York Avenue, on the Red Line.

Today's read: Montgomery likes light rail, not tolls

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:00:46 -0500

Corridor Cities Transitway: The Montgomery County Council endorsed building a light rail line and adding two reversible highway lanes to ease traffic congestion along the Interstate 270 corridor. (Katherine Shaver) Tolls too high, says council: It's just a recommendation, but the Montgomery council also is writing to the Maryland Transportation Authority saying the toll rates proposed for the Intercounty Connector would be too expensive for many motorists and would leave the highway with too few users to justify its costs. (Katherine Shaver) The 60-day public-comment period on the toll plan ends at 5 p.m. Monday. Comments can be submitted on the project's Web site, at www.iccproject.com or sent by mail to: ICC Project Office re: ICC Tolls 11710 Beltsville Drive Suite 200 Beltsville, MD 20705