WASHINGTON — Everyone seems to agree that the commute on Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia is a frustrating, time-consuming traffic bummer. Heavy traffic often extends beyond the rush hours and into the weekends, but transportation planners and some commuters disagree over how to reduce congestion to make things better.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has plans to redesign a 25-mile stretch of the highway from the Capital Beltway to Haymarket, Virginia, allowing three regular travel lanes and two toll-paid Express Lanes in each direction. In addition, the agency would add high-frequency bus service.
“This project is geared toward making travel along 66 a lot better than it is today,” says Renee Hamilton, VDOT’s executive director of the I-66 project.
Residents of Haymarket, which is less than 40 miles from D.C., say the commute can take nearly two hours at the height of rush hour.
Some commuters are troubled by the timeline laid out by VDOT’s “Transform 66” project, which doesn’t envision starting construction until 2017.
“The bus idea is a good idea … why couldn’t they do that now?” asks Jeff Ramella of Dunn Loring.
VDOT says its goals are to provide added capacity on I-66, and give commuters new options and more predictable travel times.
“The commuters, who they say will benefit under this project, will actually be harmed by more congestion and very high tolls,” says Brian Zelley of Vienna.
But VDOT says its plans would move traffic and people more quickly and reliably.
“Right now everyone is familiar with the congestion that they face on I-66 on a weekly basis and even on the weekends. This project is designed to improve that reliability and give people more choices,” says Hamilton.
It’s still to be determined whether the I-66 project will be funded by the state or through a public-private partnership.
Following a public hearing on the project Tuesday night in Haymarket, VDOT will hold another public hearing from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Bull Run Elementary School in Centreville.
