I-66 Expansion INSIDE the Beltway (Arlington, Reston: living in, legal, bus)

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by gutter2d

I'm an Arlington home-owner in the Clarendon-Courthouse Civic Association and am strongly in favor of widening I-66 to 3 lanes inside the Beltway assuming the current HOV restrictions remain in place. While I walk to work every day for my commute to work, the constant congestion on I-66 inside the beltway negatively impacts my quality of life by making it impossible for me to drive to Tysons, Reston, Dulles Airport, and the Mosiac District on nights and weekends. The constant congestion also negatively impacts our County and Falls Church because there is a ton of cut-thru traffic on Broad St, Route 50, and Route 29 from vehicles bypassing I-66.

Cut through traffic? I would have to backtrack quite a ways to take 66 to get to and through Arlington. I can hop on 50 from Carlin Springs fairly easily, and when I lived in an apartment right off of 29 (not in Arlington) again, I would have had to backtrack quite a bit to take 66 to and through Arlington.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

And we already did--back in the '70s. The solution was to build 66 but keep it to two lanes each way inside the Beltway. A reasonable compromise that has served fairly well.

So we have to remember that Arlington has already met the exurbs halfway--by relenting on the construction of I-66 and then putting up with it all these years.

That was then, this is now. Things have changed.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by dkf747

That was then, this is now. Things have changed.

There are these rails that run directly down the middle of 66, and I think a metro line runs on them. More people need to use it.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by dkf747

That was then, this is now. Things have changed.

Remind me not to do any handshake deals with you!

[gomason]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

So promises and agreements are null and void when some length of time you decide has elapsed? OK....

What makes you think we want or need any easier access? It's easy to get to those places already from Arlington--via 66 or Old Dominion.

Or just don't widen the already widened freeway yet again. Besides, traffic moves quite well on 66 through Arlington most of the time.

I guess traffic moves well in Arlington if you completely ignore the fact that the worst bottleneck on 66 inside the beltway is exits 68-71 (which is in Arlington County). This is not really about commutes either. There is stop and go traffic seven days a week at all hours of the day which definitely makes it more difficult than it should be to get to Tysons or Dulles.

HOT lanes expansion would also be within the Coleman spirit because revenue will go straight to VDOT who will probably dedicate it to transit improvements. I won't even comment on your "agreement" comment because you're standing on really flimsy ground there.

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

I will probably feel a slight bit of schadenfreude after 66 is widened, when people still have hellish commutes. Because that is what will happen. I'm trying to muster up a bit of sympathy, but it just is not coming to me. I avoid 66 like the plague, because it seems to have bumper-to-bumper traffic 24 hours a day in spots. Widening the road will not fix that. There are some larger issues at play here.

This isn't about commutes as I said earlier. The road is woefully under capacity 24/7. When's the last time you sat in traffic on the beltway outside of peak hours? The beltway is free flowing outside of peak times pretty much 24/7 and it carries about 60,000 more cars a day (37% more). It was free flowing outside of rush hour even before the HOT lanes too.

395 is pretty much free flowing 24/7 outside of peak times as well and carries even more traffic than 495 I think.

I wouldn't support four lanes but three lanes within existing right of way sounds like common sense to me.

[Fallout Zone]

Originally Posted by gomason

I guess traffic moves well in Arlington if you completely ignore the fact that the worst bottleneck on 66 inside the beltway is exits 68-71 (which is in Arlington County). This is not really about commutes either. There is stop and go traffic seven days a week at all hours of the day which definitely makes it more difficult than it should be to get to Tysons or Dulles.

HOT lanes expansion would also be within the Coleman spirit because revenue will go straight to VDOT who will probably dedicate it to transit improvements. I won't even comment on your "agreement" comment because you're standing on really flimsy ground there.



This isn't about commutes as I said earlier. The road is woefully under capacity 24/7. When's the last time you sat in traffic on the beltway outside of peak hours? The beltway is free flowing outside of peak times pretty much 24/7 and it carries about 60,000 more cars a day (37% more). It was free flowing outside of rush hour even before the HOT lanes too.

395 is pretty much free flowing 24/7 outside of peak times as well and carries even more traffic than 495 I think.

I wouldn't support four lanes but three lanes within existing right of way sounds like common sense to me.

No, there isn't. Not even remotely close.

[gomason]

Originally Posted by Fallout Zone

No, there isn't. Not even remotely close.

Excuse me, just 6-10am and 3-7pm both ways M-F and about 11-5 Saturday and Sunday. Just 52 hours a week or 62% of the time there is daylight. More hours in the week than 495 & 395 combined because of the terrible weekend traffic.

I hope you're not disputing the weekend traffic. Have you been on 66 on the weekend?

[Zack]

Originally Posted by gomason

Excuse me, just 6-10am and 3-7pm both ways M-F and about 11-5 Saturday and Sunday. Just 52 hours a week or 62% of the time there is daylight. More hours in the week than 495 & 395 combined because of the terrible weekend traffic.

I hope you're not disputing the weekend traffic. Have you been on 66 on the weekend?

This is pretty accurate, though west-bound weekdays goes more like 1:30-7pm from those trying to beat HOV restrictions, and weekends are busy until 7 or 8 pm frequently.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Remind me not to do any handshake deals with you!

How long do handshake deals last? Isn't this one over 40 years old? I was a kid then.

[Fallout Zone]

Originally Posted by gomason

Excuse me, just 6-10am and 3-7pm both ways M-F and about 11-5 Saturday and Sunday. Just 52 hours a week or 62% of the time there is daylight. More hours in the week than 495 & 395 combined because of the terrible weekend traffic.

I hope you're not disputing the weekend traffic. Have you been on 66 on the weekend?

Your previous message made it sound like 66 was a permanent parking lot. I am on 66 all of the time and it has been months, maybe years since I had a delay that extended my trip more than 10 minutes. HOV is free flowing outside of the peak-of-the-peak times around 8am and 5:30pm. It is an annoyance, not a life-changer.