Popular HOV Shortcut in Virginia Could End

Looks like the transportation board voted today to return this stretch to HOV only, good for them!

The vote apparently rescinds this one current HOV exemption but does not affect the other Virginia HOV-3 exemptions that are listed on VDOT's HOV website.

The remaining exemptions are emergency and police vehicles, public utility/service vehicles on emergency calls, certain designated hybrid vehicles, non-hybrid Clean Fuel vehicles (like those using LPG) that qualify for CF plates, motorcycles, taxis with only a driver and a single passenger, and buses that can carry 16 or more passengers.

[:)] This article was in the Washington Post on the Sunday before Christmas about the change of the HOV exemption on January 14th.

QUOTE:
HOV Enforcement Planned on Part of I-395;
Southbound Drivers at Springfield Interchange Will Need to Be Part of Carpool

Nick Miroff; Washington Post Staff Writer

For the past 25 years, southbound commuters approaching the Springfield interchange along Interstate 395 have enjoyed a privilege: amnesty in the HOV lanes. So bad was the traffic sludge stirred up by the old Mixing Bowl that police didn't mind if commuters were motoring solo along a three-mile stretch of HOV-3 lanes.

This free pass is soon to run out. Starting Jan. 14, only HOV-3 vehicles (those containing three or more people) will be able to enter the lanes between 3:30 and 6 p.m. at the Turkeycock ramp, named for a nearby creek, south of Duke Street. Transportation officials said the new Springfield interchange has alleviated congestion enough that the lanes should be used for their original purpose: carpools.

"Our goal was to return the HOV lanes to carpoolers," said Joan Morris, a Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman. "We want to make sure they have dependable commuting time."

Since 1982, vehicles with fewer than three occupants have been allowed to enter the carpool lanes at Turkeycock ramp but had to exit at Route 644 West or merge into regular Interstate 95 traffic. This portion of roadway was the only place along the 30-mile stretch of HOV-3 lanes, extending from the District to Route 234 in Prince William County, that did not impose occupancy restrictions during rush hour.

VDOT said the change is intended to make the HOV system uniform and will reduce traffic along the three-mile stretch by 30 percent.

But it will increase traffic in the regular lanes by 8 percent, according to estimates by traffic engineers.

From 3:30 to 6 p.m. weekdays, the HOV lanes accommodate 21,000 people in 6,000 vehicles, while the regular lanes handle 13,700 people in 11,400 vehicles. Regular lanes can absorb the additional vehicles thanks to the new Springfield interchange, said Randy Dittberner, a VDOT traffic engineer.

"That section has been widened, and it has the capacity it needs without creating a significant increase in congestion," he said.

Dittberner said the switch will improve traffic flow by reducing volume at two merger points: one where vehicles enter the HOV-3 lanes and another where they exit to Route 644 or I-95.

The change is also to induce commuters to carpool when construction threatens to create slowdowns. VDOT will begin a $110 million project in early spring to widen six lanes of I-95 between Newington and the Occoquan River, and work is expected to continue until 2010. That area is the biggest source of congestion for I-95 commuters, Dittberner said.

Some area drivers aren't too pleased by news of the switch. Margie Jones, a Springfield resident and retiree, said she has grown accustomed to accessing Route 644 West (Old Keene Mill Road) through the HOV lanes.

And she finds the new interchange confusing.

"There's still too much of a chance of being in the wrong lane, and if traffic's heavy, people won't let you in," Jones, 67, said. "When you're in the express lanes, there's no hassle because you don't have cars coming at you."
END OF QUOTED ARTICLE.[:)]

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Originally posted by Flyby
[br]Now on to the next VERY IMPORTANT step. The hybrid exemption renewal comes up again in June or July. Fellow HIGH OCCUPANCY drivers/riders: did you notice how jammed the HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE lanes were in the weeks before the holidays? Did you count the number of exempt hybrid vehicles with one or two passengers? It's time to commence our correspondence to our state delegates and senators NOW. Let them know that they only need to watch the VDOT cameras any morning or afternoon to realize that the HIGH OCCUPANCY vehicle lanes are moving slower than the main lanes in many areas due to the large number of LOW OCCUPANCY hybrids. THE LOW OCCUPANCY HYBRID EXEMPTION NEEDS TO COME TO AN END THIS YEAR! And please, hybrid drivers, before you start your whining, you're obviously welcome to continue to use the HIGH OCCUPANCY vehicle lanes along with the rest of us - JUST PUT AT LEAST TWO MORE FOLKS IN YOUR CAR WITH YOU - YOU'RE NOT SPECIAL ANYMORE. You do the math - your 44MPG Civic - or even 48MPH Prius - with one person vs. my 38MPG Civic with 3 - or 4 - people. It not a difficult concept to see what we've been trying to do over these many years. And you claim you're 'environmentally conscious?' Come and join the rest of us - it's really not a bad as you may think to have to share your ride with a couple of other pleasant fellow-commuters just trying to do the same thing we're doing - getting to work or home.
Join us - and become part of the solution instead of being such a large part of the problem.

Flyby

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Flyby,

Do you even know the rationale for the hybrid exemption? IT IS NOT THE MILEAGE!!! In case you are new to the area, it has to do with lowering the region's emissions, hence the designator of "Clean Special Fuel". Perhaps instead of counting hybrids, you should be counting SUVs and pickups. You do the math - it takes HOV-5 to equal the emissions of a hybrid. I realize you could care less about the plight of the polar bears, but even you have to breathe the air. Did you know that because of the end of the hybrid exemption for new vehicles that the greenhouse gas rate for the region has been accellerating? And that there has been a corresponding drop in hybrid sales?

Also, the lanes were originally NOT designated HOV. They were express lanes, identical in concept to those used in the Chicago area.

Perhaps you would have credibility if you BOTH used a hybrid AND you picked up people. Until then, you are worse for the environment even with your CIVIC.

The new rule that restricts SOV drivers using this part of the HOV-3 lanes starts on Monday afternoon.

We sure will miss our SOV friends getting off the HOVs with us at the Old Keene Mill Road (VA 644) exit. [:)]