Major Backups on GW Parkway

by ARLnow.com | March 19, 2013 at 5:20 pm | 2,734 views | 6 Comments

Commuters are experiencing major backups on the GW Parkway due to a serious accident in Fairfax County.

The crash occurred on the GW Parkway near Route 123. According to an Arlington Alert email, traffic was shut down in both directions to allow a Medevac helicopter to land.

Backups on the northbound lanes of the Parkway reportedly extend down to the Memorial Bridge

Fedworker

What flipped over this time?
- Jim
  
  Your human compassion sensor?
- bobco85
  
  Based on other news sites, it appears to have been a 5 vehicle crash. One of the vehicles involved was a motorcycle, the driver of which had to be taken to the hospital via helicopter.
NPR

I was on GWP yesterday and it took me 3 hours to get home. I’m not sure why the police didn’t close off the road and allow commuters to get off at Spout Run. The park police are responsive and seem to care about traffic, but 3 hours is a long time–some commuters ran out of gas. They had the cars turn around over the grass by the McLean exit ( my exit). One by one and some vehicles couldn’t manage it safely so they waited on the side. They could have done this further back too so people didn’t have to wait. I usually pick up the kids and thank goodness my husband was able to do it. It was exhausting–
- thrak
  
  They actually did close NB GWP at Spout Run but I’m not sure how long after the accident it was. In any event, there’s a pretty good distance between Spout Run and the 123 exit, so there were many vehicles trapped and it does take a long time to single-file them across a sloped grass median to turn around. There was an investigation concerning the accident, so it wasn’t simply a matter of clearing the road and opening the lanes.
  As frustrating as it is to be stuck in accident back-ups (I was stuck on the SB side), I always remind myself that I’m better off than those involved in the accident, no matter how serious or minor it may have been.
JamesE

I had just gotten on SB from the 123 on ramp around 4:30, must have just missed it.

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