The Virginian-Pilot
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Bad news for Hampton Roads drivers piled up like traffic behind a freeway wreck last week - a new report showed that congestion is worsening, while state officials slashed the road-building budget.
The Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization released a study that shows travel delays rose 18.5 percent during the morning rush hour and 45.3 percent during the afternoon rush hour between 2000 and 2005.
"The picture is really worse than what you see in the study," said Camelia Ravanbakht, the agency's deputy executive director.
The numbers reflect only typical congestion caused by cramming more vehicles on the road than it can handle, not back ups caused by accidents, breakdowns, road work or weather.
Ravanbakht said national studies show that about half of all traffic delays are due to capacity issues, which means the true delays could be double the figures detailed in the report.
The report highlights a need for fixes, but money is increasingly scarce.
On Thursday, Virginia's chief transportation official announced that road and transit projects throughout the state will be cut by $1.3 billion, delaying several projects locally. They include the U.S. 17 Steel Bridge in Chesapeake, improvements to the Interstate 64 and Interstate 264 interchange in Norfolk, and I-64 widening in Newport News.
Dwindling state and federal road-building money collected in gas taxes is to blame.
"Everybody knows the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is bad - they hear it in the news every morning," Ravanbakht said. "Everyone knows the Downtown Tunnel is bad in the afternoon. And that Interstate 64 at 264 is bad. We know the bottleneck areas, but now we've documented these things with supporting data."
She said the afternoon delays are worse than in the morning because there are more non-commuter vehicles on the road at the time.
Among the findings:
About a third of the time afternoon commuters spend behind the wheel is due to traffic delays.
The worst afternoon delay is Interstate 264 westbound in Norfolk approaching the Downtown Tunnel.
Other notoriously bad afternoon jams include both sides of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, both sides of the Midtown Tunnel, I-64 between Interstates 564 and 264, I-64 at Fort Eustis Boulevard and I-264 eastbound in Virginia Beach.
The longest morning delay is I-64 on the Hampton side of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel heading toward Norfolk.
Other morning bottlenecks include I-564 approaching Norfolk Naval Station, I-64 approaching the High Rise Bridge from Bowers Hill, and the Midtown and Downtown tunnels heading to Norfolk.
The conclusions were based on data collected and analyzed on 1,400 miles of roadway during peak travel hours, including interstates, freeways and major and minor arterials.
"There are no surprises in the report," MPO Executive Director Dwight L. Farmer said. "We made this prognosis eight to 10 years ago, and it's unfolding just as we forecasted."
Regional leaders years ago identified a package of big-ticket road projects to ease the growing congestion, but none have been built because of a lack of funding.
With dim prospects that projects such as the Southeastern Parkway in Virginia Beach and the third bridge-tunnel linking South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula will be built any time soon, the MPO staff is suggesting smaller fixes. They include encouraging transit use and carpooling, re-timing lights to make traffic move swifter and finding ways to clear highway accidents and incidents faster.
"It's our responsibility to start putting other options on the table and start thinking out of the box," Ravanbakht said.
Farmer said the suggestions would be a temporary fix.
"I think everyone would agree we need to invest more in major capital improvements; at the same time, we all agree it's difficult to raise that revenue when citizens are hurting in this economic climate," he said.
Farmer said the report was not meant to be fuel for raising taxes for road building.
"We're making sure we take the pulse of our roadways and making sure we don't have any surprises," he said.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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Question
If we're in a depression, and the economy is sooooo terrible, soooo many people out of work, sooo many lay offs, and soooo many people have lost their homes... why is there any traffic problems at all? But, no matter... Obama will wave his hand like a Jedi, and all our problems will disapear and all across the land will be content and happiness.
If you’re so unhappy, move.
Nah... you first.
Yea...but
As a frequent HOV user - ride a vehicle that qualifies for HOV. (I ride a MC).
Yea, but judging by your nickname you ride a Harley. That makes you a traffic problem because other cars have to dodge the parts falling off. :)
Infrastructure
Well, we're not as bad as Europe, where most roads were built for chariots, well before cars were invented!!! (smile)
Some infrastructure things could be done better but remember most people don't plan to build a city--it just happens as towns and villages gradually join up at the middle. Something like VB's planned downtown is a whole new concept within my lifetime.
My personal pet peeve. In the north, you don't see onramps and offramps for the interstate combine into one lane. What a dangerous concept that is. I am surprised anyone was ever allowed to build them that way. A cloverleaf up north lets everyone *off* first, then has a break before another lane comes *on* (even when two directions are coming on at the same time!).
Let me get this straight:
Open HOV lanes and congestion will end?
Our traffic is better than NOVA’s, so we have no right to expect better?
You want better public transportation. But you won’t support what’s already there?
Two fewer aircraft carriers is all it takes to set things right? (Perhaps you hadn’t you noticed we’re already down one, and that’s made no noticeable difference.)
(And where are the people who think the solution to everything is a casino?)
These comments sound like the usual whining and finger pointing. If you want changes, you must be willing to work for them and pay for them. The transportation challenges we face are vast and interrelated. No single bridge, train or tunnel is going to solve them. Nor is pretending you can turn back the clock to some simpler time. If you’re so unhappy, move. If not, work to make things better. But please stop whining.
Every city with Subways LRT
Every city with Subways LRT ect all have really bad traffic. I thought they fixed it.
I am someone from other than there
And, you think it's bad there, come to Northern VA and try driving South on any road north of Fredericksburg in the afternoon, or north in the morning. There was even more poor planning here. And every Sunday evening, every highway is jammed northbound. Your problem is the same as ours. They allow all this crap to be built to draw in more tax revenue. They don't develope the infrastructure BEFOREHAND like they should. Then they take all that new tax revenue and give it everything and everyone except VDOT. Until that stupidity stops, this problem is only going to keep getting worse. Build all the public transportation you want, it will make no difference. All that will do, is encourage them to bring even more people in.
RT 17 South Is So..
..peaceful in the morning driving down to Cherry Point. Lots of fields, with hawks and wildlife circling. The occasional crop dusting plane in the summer or spring. Field upon field of open farmland. Small housing developments built into the land instead of matchboxs placed end to end around Lynnhaven, Indian River Rd, Providence Rd..etc. No foul smelling tunnels. Peaceful evening drive home. No jets coming over my house where I can read the pilots name on the canopy. No dangerous feelings of walking around in town unlike Portsmouth, Norfolk, Ocean View or any strip mall in VB. This writer is secure in the thought that when the "likes" of Hampton Roads politicians (especially VB politicos) reach my area, I will sell and move further away-all while making a profit and I will have a smile on my face. If all this does not come to pass, I will sit, smile,drive and live in solitude!
Three major factors
Three major factors contribute to this problem. 1. Geography. There's nothing we can do about the fact that Tidewater is now spread across the Bay and the rivers. That's infrastructure hell. And our cities do occupy an incredibly vast amount of land, which complicates things further. 2. Poor planning. Our region suffers from notoriously poor urban and infrastructure planning, if you have lived anywhere else in the country you've probably realized this. Here, our leaders, who to be sure inherited a very poorly-thought-out infrastructure, have only made things worse. 3. Fragmentation. The different cities in Tidewater have not worked together to overcome these challenges. Our leaders have, instead, coveted one another, forgetting their own city's identity. Really it's about those leaders desiring the revenue benefits that the other city identities clearly have. Hence we have Norfolk pushing Ocean View, "downtown" Virginia Beach, and places like Hampton/Portsmouth struggling for an identity of their own.
HOV 4 HOV only
As a frequent HOV user - ride a vehicle that qualifies for HOV. (I ride a MC). When the HOV is open to everyone - it is way slower than the normal lanes - look at the back up at the 564 exit at 6AM as everyone tries to jam on there. At 630 I jump on & fly past everyone stitting still on 64. Same in the afternoon - HOV is slower than 64 b/c of all the cars at 345, but at 415 it's wide open! When HOV is open to all - I avoid it like the plague & I gennerally do way better than all the "moths to the flame."