If you were thinking of making a quick break for home or vacation on westbound I-66 today, think again. An accident on westbound I-66 before the Spout Run Parkway exit is backing up traffic leaving the District.
One lane is currently getting by past the accident scene.
One emergency responder who was trying to get by the traffic called it “a faster version of a parking lot.”
Elsewhere along I-66, an accident on the ramp from I-66 to Route 110 between a dump truck and a passenger vehicle is reported to be causing some slowdowns. Firefighters have just been dispatched to the scene to help clean up fluid spilled as a result of the accident.
The automobile association says that DC-area drivers should “brace themselves” for the one-two punch of kids going back to school and workers returning from summer vacations today. After a two-month respite from the worst of the area’s traffic, things should be back to gridlock-as-usual — a “dreadful day of reckoning” known as “Terrible Traffic Tuesday.”
AAA notes that about 1.5 million local commuters drive to work solo on any given workday. The group says that despite the increasing number of people working from home, Metro’s recent troubles and the new peak-of-the-peak fare may be putting more cars on the road.
At 9:50 a.m., police on the scene said they were temporarily shutting down the highway while they move the accident to the side of the road.
Traffic had slowed to a crawl before the wreck, but is starting to clear out.
Arlington BRAC coordinator Andrea Morris tells WAMU that she expects that many workers who have been relocated to Alexandria will have to make trips back and forth from the Pentagon. Those trips will increase traffic on I-395 and, as I-395 becomes backed up, overflow traffic may spill onto Arlington’s residential streets, Morris suggests.
It seems that one solution to the problem — if it is, in fact, a problem — could be to increase capacity on I-395. What do you think?
The drive around Arlington wasn’t terrible during this morning’s deluge — nothing like the dozen drivers who had to be rescued due to rising water in the District.
There were patches of bad traffic, though.
The traffic light at South Courthouse Road and 2nd Street is malfunctioning, causing backups near Fort Myer.
The light is only staying green for a few seconds for motorists traveling north or south on Courthouse Road. Police have checked out the intersection and requested that Arlington’s traffic engineering department reset the light.
As of 1:45, the HOV lanes and two lanes northbound and southbound I-395 are blocked between Seminary Road and King Street.
First responders from Arlington and Alexandria are on scene, along with Virginia State Police.
An accident in the center of the northbound span of the 14th Street Bridge is causing big traffic tie-ups for motorists heading into the District.
Emergency vehicles blocked all but the right-most lane on the bridge for 45 minutes this afternoon. Traffic backed up on I-395 past the Pentagon. There were also backups on Route 1 and Route 110 leading up to the ramps to I-395.
The language was included in the 2011 Defense Authorization bill by Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), who is a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Moran says he’s concerned about the traffic on I-395 around Alexandria’s Mark Center, the development where the jobs are set to move to by September 2011 as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC)..
There are currently major delays on Washington Boulevard due to an incident between Route 50 and Columbia Pike. Numerous police cars and fire/EMS units are on the scene of a pedestrian who is experiencing some sort of medical emergency.
Traffic is backed up to I-395 heading north, and to North Garfield Street heading south. Police will soon start diverting southbound traffic onto Route 50.
The northbound George Washington Parkway has been shut down at Spout Run due to a vehicle that skidded off the road and slammed into a tree.
One southbound lane is being blocked by a fire truck. Northbound traffic is being diverted onto Spout Run.
