According to a new study, auto commuters in Washington and Chicago spend about 70 hours — nearly three whole days — of extra time in the car thanks to traffic. We beat out the famously congested Los Angeles area, where commuters only spend 63 extra hours in the car each year.
Washington also ranked #1 for “fuel wasted per peak auto commuter” and #2 for “commuter stress” and “cost of delay per peak hour auto commuter” (at $1,555 per year).
This weekend the county board is expected to approve a $4 million contract that will install six miles of fiber optic line along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, Columbia Pike and Glebe Road. It’s the first phase of a long-term traffic management project that planners hope will allow more intelligent, real-time management of traffic flow in the county.
In addition to connecting 54 county traffic signals, the fiber line will add capacity for traffic management tools like traffic cameras, motorist information signs, and traffic counters.
Traffic lights at a number of busy intersections around Arlington are reported to be on flash.
Among the intersections with flashing traffic signals are South George Mason Drive at Four Mile Run Drive and South Hayes Street at 12th Street, in front of Pentagon City mall.
Police are urgently calling in salt trucks to the Arlington Forest neighborhood, where a number of cars have been sliding down a steep hill on North Edison Street.
Cops are starting to block off access to the road in the area of Carlin Springs Road and North Emerson Street. They’re reporting on the radio that the street is coated with ice.
As a result, the project — which started last summer and was originally slated to take 15 months — has been prolonged by an estimated three months. Planners will now have to redesign the relocation process. Work is not expected to resume until “late spring,” according to a letter from the county to local residents and organizations.
The delay will also affect the Metro and ART bus stops that were closed and relocated as a result of the project.
A van caught fire on northbound I-395 near the Pentagon around 6:00 tonight. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze. So far, there are no reports of injuries.
Firefighters shut down at least one left-hand lane, but there did not appear to be any major slowdowns as a result of the fire.
Just as we were receiving notification of a road closure between Fern Street and Grant Street on South 23rd Street near Crystal City, a tipster sent us the photo above with this description:
Good morning — There’s some sort of water problem on 23rd St South near Crystal City, between Fern and Grant, closer to Fern. Water is out on at least that block (I live there and a neighbor has told me hers is out as well). It looks like this utility truck has fallen through the street surface, a sinkhole or something. That could be the cause — either the water main was broken, or it was shut off to make repairs. Picture attached, though it’s not the best angle.
“Is there any point at which that will formally and permanently be canceled?” a caller asked the governor, adding that single-occupant hybrids “clog up” the HOV lanes during rush hour.
McDonnell, who signed a one-year extension of the law in March, noted that the law was “put in place in previous administrations… to create an incentive for using fuel-efficient cars.”
We’ve heard reports of at least six crashes caused by the van between the Roosevelt Bridge and Sycamore Street on I-66. At least two additional crashes have been reported outside of Arlington. We’re hearing that two drivers required medical treatment.
Police temporarily shut down the ramp from westbound I-66 to Sycamore Street to allow an ambulance to access one of the crash sites.
Temperatures have been hovering around freezing, raising the possibility that roads wet from yesterday’s rains could freeze. Last night VDOT began treating bridges, ramps and other freeze-prone stretches of road with salt, as a precaution.
So far, however, it would seem that ice is not a factor in the morning commute. No significant accidents have been reported as of 7:30 this morning and there are currently no major delays on local highways.
There is a stop sign missing on the on-ramp from Courthouse Road to eastbound Route 50, causing a serious traffic hazard.
Police are currently on scene directing traffic, according to police radio transmissions. Before police arrived, cars were heading straight through the T intersection, where Courthouse Road traffic heading onto Route 50 normally yields to eastbound Route 50 traffic exiting onto the ramp.
I-66 is currently slow in both directions in the area of Glebe Road, near Ballston.
Traffic heading eastbound is facing delays due to some sort of road work that shut down one lane near Spout Run. That lane closure just cleared.
