HOV question

Thanks tdar, that was actually going to be my next question. I certainly hope that this practice is eliminated once construction is completed.

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As a follow up....what about going south??? Non HOV cars getting on around Landmark and getting off in Springfield?? Will this go away after the road work is completed?? Makes for a mess in the afternoons.

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USA -- thanks for the website, great stuff there :) Might be nice for the webmaster to add that link to the website (hint, hint)...
- Will

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(Regarding the "Mixing Bowl," that's the traditional name for the Pentagon interchange. It was never the name for the Springfield Interchange until some loser at the Washington Post was too lazy to think of an original name for that mess. The name was applied to the Pentagon interchange before it was rebuilt in the 1970's. I-95 had two lanes there and Washington Boulevard had one lane, so traffic would "mix" back and forth--and back up horrendously--as people jockeyed back and forth between the two roads. Scott Kozel's web page has a history of this.)

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I believe that technically that was never supposed to be allowed, but the police have decided to tolerate it because the alternative is to funnel all those cars through the local lanes in area between the Beltway and Route 644, which is horrible enough at rush-hour as it is. That's why non-HOV's are allowed into the express lanes from that ramp to the ramp out of the express lanes just south of the 644 overpass. I read somewhere, I think in Dr. Gridlock a few years ago, that the ramp near Landmark (the Turkeycock Run ramp, so named after the stream that goes under the highway there) is scheduled to be removed once the Springfield Interchange is completed in 2007 or 2008, because the redesigned highway will separate traffic going to Springfield from traffic going further south.

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As a follow up....what about going south??? Non HOV cars getting on around Landmark and getting off in Springfield?? Will this go away after the road work is completed?? Makes for a mess in the afternoons.

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It wasn't always that way. The ramp just past the Pentagon has of course been there since the Pentagon "Mixing Bowl" interchange (more on that below) was rebuilt in the 1970's, but it was rarely open until the 1990's. Thus, the express lanes were HOV all the way into DC. My recollection is that VDOT opened that ramp to all traffic sometime in the early 1990's when there was some sort of road work--don't recall what exactly--being done on the main northbound bridge span or on the Case Bridge (again, I don't recall which). I believe the reason for opening it was to lighten the horrible snarls that would occur in the regular lanes. Once it was opened, I think they concluded that drivers would never stand for having it closed again. Personally I wish they would close it, but not for HOV convenience. I don't pick up slugs in the morning because the nearest line is inconvenient, so I am in the local lanes at that area. Many drivers entering the highway from Washington Boulevard insist on attempting immediately to cut across four lanes of traffic like kamikazes in order to access this ramp, often without looking or yielding to traffic already on the road. It's extremely dangerous....and stupid, since often the regular lanes are faster over the 14th Street Bridge precisely because of these people (so long as you stay to the left approaching the bridge due to the GW Parkway merges). Especially given that there is an entrance to the express lanes from the Pentagon car park, this ramp could be closed again.

(Regarding the "Mixing Bowl," that's the traditional name for the Pentagon interchange. It was never the name for the Springfield Interchange until some loser at the Washington Post was too lazy to think of an original name for that mess. The name was applied to the Pentagon interchange before it was rebuilt in the 1970's. I-95 had two lanes there and Washington Boulevard had one lane, so traffic would "mix" back and forth--and back up horrendously--as people jockeyed back and forth between the two roads. Scott Kozel's web page has a history of this.)

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I have been curious for some time now regarding the question I am about to pose to anyone who might be able to answer it. The question is regarding the northbound I-95/395 HOV lanes at the 14th Street Bridge. Why is it that HOV restrictions end before the bridge and not after? This seems to be a rather small and insignificant point, but I just can’t help but wonder.

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I have been curious for some time now regarding the question I am about to pose to anyone who might be able to answer it. The question is regarding the northbound I-95/395 HOV lanes at the 14th Street Bridge. Why is it that HOV restrictions end before the bridge and not after? This seems to be a rather small and insignificant point, but I just can’t help but wonder.