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Joined: 12 Jan 2005
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote defender Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: County closer to HOT lanes
    Posted: 31 Jan 2005 at 9:01am
Thanks to various writers, there have been several articles on the breakdown of the HOV lanes in Northern Virginia. Most noted what thousands of car-pooling Northern Virginia commuters already know; if you want to legally cheat HOV-3, buy a so-called hybrid. If you want to defeat HOV, you may also buy a hybrid.

The legislators may have intended well by allowing hundreds small, “clean fuel” cars onto the HOV-3. However, the hundreds have multiplied to be thousands and now include full-sized LPG fueled trucks, CNG fueled Crown Victorias, and conventionally fueled, Ford Excape SUVs. Almost to a vehicle, these run through a legal loophole and onto the HOV-3 with “room for five, while ridden by one.”

This week, we are at a critical point. Our Legislators, particularly those who chair or sit on transportation sub-committees, need to understand how bad the daily commute has become, and why HOV is critically ill. The sickness is rooted in one cause. However, we have a simple and effective cure.

The Virginia Legislators needs to excise the cancer from the HOV. They need to END ALL EXCEPTIONS THAT ALLOW SOLO DRIVERS IN THESE LANES. Overnight, we will gain a potential to move 4,000 additional commuters without putting another car on the road. Ending the exceptions will decrease overall pollution by putting multiple commuters in the existing clean fuel vehicles. It will relieve HOV congestion. Best yet, it will do this at no additional cost to the taxpayer.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote beachhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 2005 at 12:36pm
"Commonwealth Transportation Board" sounds like "Virginia Basebal Stadium Commission." At least the baseball guys held some public meetings and found out what they were up against before they tried to ram that gem past No. Va. residents. Fortunately, DC figured out they were going to loose baseball to VA if they didn't get their act together, making what could have been another ugly situation moot.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 2005 at 12:13pm
I got the article below from the online Journal newspaper. Not really much new but I do have some comments. This "Commonwealth Transportation Board" doesn't appear to be accountable to anyone. I believe all of their meetings are held in Richmond, and the whole thing seems very secretive to me. Perhaps I am just paranoid. These issues are huge and they are almost being decided in secret. To me, this appears to be a situation where some well placed money by the HOT developers could work wonders. Do other states work this way?

(PS I just wrote an email to the VDOT spokesperson that was mentioned asking for info about contacting the head of this Board)

(PS I also just found a section of the VDOT website with some info on recent actions by the board)

http://www.virginiadot.org/infoservice/ctb-default.asp


HOT-lane proposals
move forward
The Commonwealth
Transportation Board voted Thursday
to move two high-occupancy toll
proposals to the next stage of
review.

The proposals, submitted by the
Clark Construction Group and Fluor
Virginia Inc., are designed to
alleviate traffic congestion along 36
miles of Interstate 95 between
Fredericksburg and Washington.
Both proposals would replace
high-occupancy vehicle lanes with
high-occupancy toll lanes, in which
single drivers would pay a variable
toll to use.

An advisory board will review
the proposals and also will allow for
comments from the public, said
Tamara Neale, a Virginia Department
of Transportation spokeswoman. The
review process is scheduled to
continue until fall, followed by
advisory panel recommendations to
the VDOT commissioner.

Negotiations with one or both of the
contractors would not begin until
early 2006, Neale said.
“A lot of things have to happen
before that project becomes a
reality,” she said.“We’re not digging
tomorrow.”
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SpongeBob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jan 2005 at 2:27pm
Dear wmcg698220:

We are talking about toll booths being added to the lovely Shirley Highay corridor beginning in about 13 months.

Goodbye Slugs! Nice to know you! See you in the traffic jam!

Sponge B.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wmcg698220 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jan 2005 at 9:19am
quote:
Originally posted by Admin
[br]County closer to HOT lanes
By LILLIAN KAFKA
lkafka@manassasjm.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2004


Elected officials in Prince William County are looking more closely at plans for pay-to-cruise interstate lanes and they have some commuter-friendly suggestions of their own.

High-Occupancy Toll lanes, or HOT lanes, should be seriously considered, said members of the Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday after they heard a presentation by Gary Groat, director of project development for Fluor Virginia.

Fluor Virginia, an Arlington-based transportation company, has submitted a public-private partnership bid to build 56 miles of HOT lanes from 14th Street in Washington, D.C., to the Massaponax interchange in Spotsylvania County.

"We really have to examine these proposals because there is no federal or state funding for it," said Supervisor Chairman Sean T. Connaughton, R-at large. "This may be our only hope for road and transit improvements in this corridor."

Fluor's $1 billion proposal would add a third lane to the reversible High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes that exist between the north- and south-bound lanes of Interstate 95.

Instead of requiring two passengers, the new lanes would require three or more passengers per vehicle to avoid a toll charge.

Groat said that in California, where HOT lane popularity is growing, more people are car-pooling to use the HOT lanes without having to pay.

Fluor's design also calls for an additional 24 exit and entrance ramps with some for buses only.

The design, Groat said, encourages bus transit systems.

The Bus Rapid Transit system that is being encouraged with the plan would access existing and undeserved transit areas.

Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan, R-Dumfries, suggested that more park and ride lots be built in Prince William to take advantage of the HOT lanes.

"It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel," Caddigan said about the proposal.

VDOT doesn't have plans to extend the existing HOV lanes for years.

Groat said that if environmental impact studies are done within 18 months, construction could begin by 2006.

But the Commonwealth Transportation Board has to first decide if it wants HOT lanes, then who should build them.

Fluor Virginia has made one of two proposals submitted to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Clark/SCC/KPRI made the other proposal and is scheduled to present it to Prince William officials later this year.

The Board will send a letter to the Commonwealth Transportation Board to encourage it to choose HOT lanes and make it speedy.

The Bus Rapid Transit could even be used on U.S. 1, Connaughton suggested.

Instead of calling HOT lanes "Lexus Lanes" as critics sometimes refer to them, Groat suggested a new name.

They're not ways for only the wealthy to bypass traffic jams on the general lanes, he said.

"They should call them "Lumina Lanes," he said, since studies have shown that in California people from all social and economic strata use the HOT lanes.

Single-passenger cars could pay up to $7 dollars or more to drive on them.

Tolls are calculated per mile and the average toll could be about 15 cents per mile, Groat said.

The tolls could change every six minutes and go up or down depending on congestion. If lanes are relatively clear, the charge is low. If they get congested, the rate increases, just like peak phone rates or electricity use times.

Highway managers would be able to keep an eye on the lanes by monitoring about 150 cameras watching the entire stretch of road from Spotsylvania to the District.

Only cars with Smart Tag or EZPass stickers could use the toll lanes because cash won't be accepted. High occupancy vehicles would also use a sticker to indicate that they shouldn't be charged.

Also in the works is a Fluor proposal for a $693 million expansion of the Beltway HOV lanes between the Springfield Interchange and the American Legion Bridge.




This story can be found at: http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN%2FMGArticle%2FWPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778503231&path=!news&tacodalogin=no


If HOT lanes were to become a reality...how long till they were operational? Months? Years?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dickboyd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2005 at 9:23pm
Yep, it can't be done legally. So change the law. Just find another Juliette Lowe bill and add a rider to allow conversion of public roads to the private sector.

Isn't anyone interested in knowing who Kenny Klinge is?

quote:
Originally posted by Bob
[br]Question. What is the legal aspect of converting a taxpayer-paid road such as 395 from public access to toll? Obviously a different situation from the beltway proposal to add new concrete. A driver told me today that it cannot be done legally.

Bob



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dickboyd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2005 at 9:17pm
Close the Pentagon. Move the military to Yuba County, California.

Close FHWA's Turner-Fairbanks research station. Move Federal Highway research from state to state on a rotating basis. First state to get the honor is the one with the highest crash mortality per capita. Hihgway research stays there until crash mortality drops.

Run the Federal government like they run the Olympics. Most State governments are part time anyway. Move the meeting place for Congress from one state capitol to another. Alaska would be the first state to host the new federal government. After that there would be a lottery. Losing state gets to host the feds.

The Supreme Court, Congress and the head of the executive department could not be in the same state at any one time.

Allow Congressmen and Senators to be in only three places. Their home district, the appointed capitol, or travelling between those two places. Maximum travel time 48 hours. Elected members of the Executive department could only be at the appointed capitol, state funerals, or international conferences.

quote:
Originally posted by tdar20
[br]Its all well and good to complain about the HOT solution, however if not HOT what then? I think it will be forever before VDOT funds an extension / expansion to the HOV lanes. If nothing is done, which is always an option for Virginia, the HOV lanes will be beyond capacity in a few short years. The merge down in Stafford get worse as time goes along. Used to be just Friday afternoon that it was bad but now.......almost every day. So, that being said, I dont have a solution either, except that its not cheap to commute to DC. Something will have to be done soon or the system will be non-functional in a short few years. The growth in Stafford alone could break the system.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dickboyd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2005 at 9:06pm
Be careful of what you ask for, you just might get it. Capacity means full. It won't hold anymore. When is a glass of water full? When one more drop causes it to overflow? Or when there is enough slosh room for the waitress to balance the glass on a tray and carry it to the table without spilling.

To a traffic engineer capacity means adding one more car changes the road to a parking lot. Speed at capactity is about 70% of free flow speed. Breakdown happens one day in twenty. Clearing time after breakdown can be one hour or two days.

quote:
Originally posted by tdar20
[br]SpongeBob.....first you cant prove the HOT lanes are going to cause more of a back up; it is only your opinion. My point is that if nothing is done at all then the HOV lanes will be way past capacity in a very short time. HOT lanes change the face of HOV but does not eliminate them all together. Something has to be done...last I heard fromthe State was a study that proved the capacity limit will be reached but there is nothing in the future budgets to lengthen the HOV lanes past the current merge near Quantico. And by the way, I for one would be willing to pay extra to use the HOT lanes as long as they extend them past F'burg. During the last 10 years I have tried every way I can think of to get to work and they either cost you time or money. The growth in Spotsy and Stafford alone will bust the system in the near future.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dickboyd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2005 at 8:53pm
If you have enough money to build light rail to Stafford, a better investment would be to build office buildings in Stafford and have the people that live in Stafford, work in Stafford. One answer might be to give Stafford County a DC Post Office and ZIP code identification.

quote:
Originally posted by adjguy
[br]Sponge, well said. Wow.

I never thought of it that way. Would building a light rail system coming down to at least the stafford county line help?

Other suggestions?





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Nov 2004 at 3:42pm
On another thread, someone was talking about how the maintenance on the HOV is so bad, then why not do HOT? Actually, as I was stuck on the HOV lane the other morning, I wonder if VDOT is letting the condition of the HOV deteriorate on purpose so everything will get so horrible that the only alternative is HOT! I guess I am just too cynical and paranoid. But seriously, VDOT really doesn't care about our current HOV backups. Has anyone heard or read a single word about the HOV situation? Any discussions of HOV 4 or any other recommendations are just from slugs. The authorities act like they are completely helpless.
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