The Virginian-Pilot
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This should come as no surprise to drivers who use, or go out of their way to avoid, the Downtown Tunnel: It just made a national list of "highways to hell."
Interstate 264, particularly near the tunnel, was ranked this week as the 18th-worst commute in the country by The Daily Beast, an online news source.
Those stuck in the daily bumper-to-bumper traffic can take some solace knowing that motorists on the Hollywood Freeway, the Capital Beltway in Washington and the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago are even worse off.
According to The Daily Beast, I-264 logs 97 hours of congestion each week, with the worst bottleneck at the tunnel. The average speed there? Just under 9 mph.
The Daily Beast used data from the traffic-tracking firm INRIX, which relies on information from 1.5 million GPS units, primarily in freight trucks.
Last year, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization reached pretty much the same conclusion. It singled out the Downtown Tunnel as having the longest recurring afternoon delay in the region, about triple any other thoroughfare.
"Pound for pound, the Downtown Tunnel is about as bad as it gets for congestion," said Dwight Farmer, the organization's executive director.
"That's not necessarily something to be proud of, but it surely makes our case - we need some help."
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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Wait!
The light rail is coming! Surely that will bring the number down!
Delusion
Regretfully, the posts herein reveal the delusion that most people still feel, that is, we have the resources to fix transportation within existing funding. Simply not true, and everyday, we did the hole deeper so when we do come to our senses, the bill will be even higher. A few years ago, during the yes campaign, $0.02 on the sales tax would have built the projects. Now, costs have escalated so much that would not come close. Welcome to Virginia; our roads are dangerous!
Apparently they are only
Apparently they are only dangerous or have 'third world country' status where you live Mike. I didn't know you had moved to Port Au Prince.
Hypothetical Question
If Virginia legalized pot and the income was 1-3 billion dollars, would that amount of money address the transportation issues?
If "no" then tell me where the money is going to come from to fix a failing transportation system and to finance a "failing light rail" when there is no money coupled with the loss of high unemployment.
Your silence would be an answer in itself!
love it
I love danger.
A curse of geography
Hampton Roads is cursed and blessed by its geography. The land is too flat and the ground lacks hard bedrock to put in tall enough bridges to let aircraft carriers pass safely under. Such bridges would also be very vulnerable to severe storms. It is because of these reasons engineers decided to go with tunnels.
The problem is, like with many cities, the volume of traffic caught up and surpassed the capability of the system. Now, more capacity needs to be added, but there isn't any funding for such a large project. IMO, having private companies come in, build and maintain new tunnels and charge tolls like what is done with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is the best and quickest solution for the problem.
Well thought out...
I too think it would be better to a toll bridge/tunnel as long as the existing tunnels remain toll free. If there is a choice and someone wants to pay to use the new toll bridge/tunnel I don't have a problem with that. I know the HOV lanes were federally funded and therefore subject to federal guidelines but it sure would be better if the HOV lanes were only used during peak travel times and opened up to every non-commercial vehicle. I would also say get rid of the medians we have throughout the region. The backups caused by cars waiting to get in the left turn lane drives me crazy. The bottle neck on Virginia Beach Blvd between Newtown road and poplar hall is another place I would change by getting rid of the service roads and widening it to 3 lanes each direction. Fix the smaller/easier/less expensive problem areas first.
No Alternative
Remembering the ferries back and forth between Norfolk & Portsmouth and between Willoughby Spit & Hampton I remember they were sufficient for a day when rushing wasn't such a priority. Even missing one led to a 20 minute wait but today? Too much traffic makes Ferries a bad choice; they were nice for those who enjoyed standing by the rail and watching the docking of them but their capacity is too little. I guess there is no easy remedy; double-decker tunnels seem now to be a reasonable concept.
IMHO, mid-town is worse than
IMHO, mid-town is worse than downtown! When attending ODU, I was much better off taking the downtown than the mid-town, hands down!
drivers are different at the two tunnels
The midtown tunnel could back up further, but it would take less time to get through it. The downtown tunnel has a mess of people trying to cut in at the last minute that just doesn't happen at the midtown tunnel. I've driven both, in the last year and much preferred the midtown going east in the morning and the downtown tunnel traveling west in the afternoon. Of course this was just going to downtown Norfolk and back.