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| An aerial photograph of the I-264 and I-64 interchange.
(Rich-Joseph Facun/The Virginian-Pilot) |
By Tom Holden
The Virginian-Pilot
It happened so fast there was nothing they could do.
Hal Gwyn and his wife, Terrie, were trying to exit Interstate 264 at Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach, but traffic was backed up.
It was evening rush hour, and the Gwyns were stopped on the bridge over Independence, as cars and trucks roared by a few feet away.
A Jeep Cherokee suddenly entered the eastbound ramp and accelerated. The driver, a 17-year-old apparently distracted with the radio, slammed into the back of the Gwyns’ Nissan Xterra.
“He hit us hard,” said Hal Gwyn, a resident of Newport News. “When you’re not expecting it, and you’re hit at 40 mph, it almost knocks you senseless. It was a really heavy jolt.”
Apart from some bruises, no one was seriously hurt.
The daily interplay of cars and trucks exiting and entering I-264 in Virginia Beach is so common that engineers have a name for it: weaving, and it’s a key reason why so many commuters struggle at interchanges during rush hour .
“I’ve had a ton of close calls there,” said Hal Gwyn, director of operations at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News. “People will change lanes at the last minute as they decide whether to get off or not. You’re a sitting duck for people who are not paying attention to what they’re doing.”
The bridge deck over Independence is blackened with dozens of skid marks. Even the guard rails tell a silent tale. Most are new, replaced on a regular basis after collisions with vehicles moving too fast to exit safely.
Weaving problems are found in one degree or another at the five major interchanges along I-264. The problems are fueling a debate about whether tolls will one day return to that section of interstate where they were banned 11 years ago.
The Virginia Department of Transportation, at the urging of Virginia Beach, is financing a study on how tolls collected electronically could pay for improvements.
It has raised the possibility that commuters could one day return to old habits when they paid 25 cents to drive the “mainline” and 10 cents to enter from an interchange.
Only the 9.8-mile portion between I-64 to the Oceanfront is under review, largely because it shoulders some of the heaviest traffic loads in Hampton Roads. One segment, between Newtown Road and I-64, hosts 251,000 vehicles each weekday – about 1.25 million each week.
Virginia Beach city officials pushed for the study because they see no other way to pay for improvements to interchanges.
However, key leaders of the Virginia General Assembly will not sit quietly while tolls are reimposed when they fought hard to eliminate them in 1995 .
“I think that’s categorically nuts,” said Del. Leo Wardrup Jr. , R-Virginia Beach and chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “We had the tolls taken off because citizens had tolls extracted from them for years. Besides, traffic is moving along pretty well on I-264.”
When the Norfolk-Virginia Beach Toll Road opened in 1967, it was a kind of blacktop afterthought that split off I-64 to offer vacationers quick access to the beaches for a 25 -cent toll.
Since then, the former Va. 44 has become a full-fledged interstate – an immense ribbon of concrete that ranks among the most important public roads in southeastern Virginia. In one section alone, 13 lanes of traffic distribute thousands of cars and trucks every hour to all corners of Hampton Roads.
It is showing signs of age, though, despite a late fall maintenance project that brought a layer of fresh asphalt to stretches on either side of the I-64 interchange.
Many sections of I-264 are broken and filled with crumbling concrete. Some sections have fallen out of alignment, jolting drivers, while persistent drainage problems on westbound lanes near Newtown Road often leave water standing in the median for weeks after heavy rains.
A 2006 study by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration found significant problems at five major interchanges in Virginia Beach: I-64/Newtown Road, Witchduck Road, Independence Boulevard, Rosemont Road and Lynnhaven Parkway.
Among the study’s findings:
The narrow bridges contribute to some interstate segments having high crash rates. A westbound portion of I-264 near the I-64 and Newtown Road interchange ranks as the region’s 18th worst in crash severity out of 151 region wide segments. The worst is found along I-64 east of Northampton Boulevard where it joins I-264 westbound.
State officials do not keep count of the exact number of wrecks at an interchange, preferring in stead to divide interstates into segments and then count incidents within them.
“The amount of traffic those interchanges are handling has grown to a point that it’s overwhelming the ramps,” said Adam Jack, VDOT’s Hampton Roads District preliminary engineer. “That’s the bottom line.”
Fixing the five interchanges is possible, but expensive.
A preliminary estimate to improve their capacity could cost $1 billion , and more complex, longer-lasting improvements could cost $1.5 billion.
A 2006 study by URS Corp., an engineering and consulting firm hired by VDOT, hinted at possible solutions for the interchanges. Weave problems at Independence could be eliminated with a huge fly over starting near South Boulevard and vaulting over the interstate, looping west over Independence and the Best Buy store, before dumping traffic onto westbound I-264.
Such a move would allow vehicles heading to Norfolk to enter the interchange from a traffic light at a location separate from those vehicles getting off at Town Center – eliminating weave. For complex engineering reasons, improving traffic flow for the long term often requires a new bridge deck, but at a cost of more than $300 million, there’s little expectation VDOT can raise the money.
Even a cheap fix could cost at least $182 million, URS has estimated.
Robert Miller, president of MSA PC, a civil engineering, environmental sciences and surveying company off Witchduck Road, said he thinks plans to renovate the interstate are “something of a pipe dream” because the discussion has gone on for years.
Although I-264 is “critical” to his 100 employees, Miller said, “accessibility is not a real problem for us.”
He said the interstate certainly has “pinch points,” but by timing their usage, most people can avoid congestion.
“One of the great things about Virginia Beach is that there are many alternatives to getting around,” he said. “If you want, you can drive down Virginia Beach Boulevard, for example.”
The high cost of repairs has not deterred planning for some modest improvements.
VDOT is studying plans to widen the exit ramp along I-64 westbound that leads to I-264 eastbound. Drivers know it as the one that puts them on Newtown Road. A plan to double that ramp’s size is expected to cost $31 million.
VDOT expects to take bids on the job by the summer of 2010, Jack said.
A new eastbound exit ramp at the Witchduck Road interchange and a ramp for northbound drivers headed to I-264 eastbound also are planned. Contractors are expected to bid on the $64 million project by the summer of 2010.
The department also is studying adding ramps at London Bridge Road to alleviate congestion at Lynnhaven Parkway. The cost is pegged at about $17 million.
Almost anything would make truck driver Jim Owens happy, especially if it reduces his encounters with risk-taking weavers.
As a driver for Titan America, Owens regularly shepherds an 80,000 -pound concrete truck along I-264, making daily deliveries to construction sites, often at Town Center.
Close encounters are a constant worry, especially for a vehicle as top-heavy as his.
“People just pull in front of you and think that you can stop on a dime, and you can’t,” said Owens, a trucker for 22 years. Several heavy delivery companies such as Titan now try to schedule deliveries at night to avoid busy I-264.
Through the years, Virginia has doubled the number of lanes on I-264, and in the 1990s helped pay for high-occupancy vehicle lanes. The volume of vehicles, though, has increased more than tenfold.
“In my view,” said Dwight Farmer, director of transportation planning for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, “the interchanges along Interstate 264 are some of the most badly needed improvements in the region.”
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264 problem
The road is the problem, not the people. There are crazy drivers everywhere, not just here. People cutting off two feet ahead of you do slow down the traffic, but not that bad. I264 is the only way to Va Beach and the person who designed the interchanges had to be suicidal. Good driving manners should not be expected. There will always be an idiot who will drive as in a computer game, no matter how well do you educate people and how high do you set the fines. After all, police are just setting up speedtraps and not guarding the areas with a high crash rate. You have to build another major E-W route. I264 and (6)64 loop are too congested and even people going from totally remote places(e.g. Suffolk to southern Va Beach) have to use them. Hampton Roads has terrible road system and until it gets fixed, nothing can improve the traffic.
Roads
I used to think Washington DC had the worst driving conditions and taffic jams but Virginia Beach seems to be trying to get that distinction away from them. Thanks to Meyera Oberndorf and her cronies who have allowed high density overbuilding for 20 years Virginia Beach is almost totally gridlocked. Just keep building, Meyera, just keep building. And to you stupid voters, keep voting her into office. Va Bch City Council, owned and operated by the Tidewater Builders Association.
Tolls
I am not a fan of the tolls by all means, but with the tolls...everyone getting on the interstate has to pay them...everyone...military, tourist and all. Unlike our taxes...especially car taxes..there are so many military living in this town with out of state tags that dont pay for Virginia taxes and you cant tell me these people dont use the interstate. C'mon...they race each other on there little speed bikes on the interstate. And since 1/2 the residents in Hampton Roads are military..they should have to pay for the interstate as well. They drive on it and I dont want to hear that is a perk for being in the military...They get perks all over Hampton Roads. Just my opinion.
VB council claims to have no money??? Are you kidding???
Due to the extreme rise in real estate assessments, the city of Virginia Beach will collect $27 million more in taxes this year! How can they say they dont have any money to fix the roads??? They must be voted out ASAP!!!
No More Tolls
I remember the day they took the tolls off I 264 (Route 44). They said there was no need for tolls because the road has been paid for many times. Even though I was took young to drive at the time, I still remember that day. People are getting smart on this board and talking about bad drivers. There are bad drivers everywhere, not just on 264! I have never had problems on 264 like I had on I 64. Traffic is always gridlocked on I 64 regardless of what end of I64 you drive on from 2:30-6 daily! I have driven on the Chesapeake, Va Beach, Norfolk, and Hampton end of I 64 and have been stuck in nonmoving gridlock traffic on each end of I 64 many times! Those who are complaining about 264 should try to drive on I 64 between 2:30 and 6. It will definitely take a long time to get to your destination.
Little Atlanta
I remember as a young sailor in 86 when I first witnessed 3 hour traffic jams on I-44 brought on by tolls. I also remember other jams due to deteriorating road conditions, constant repairs being made, poor drivers, and population growth which helped me to learn the back roads of Hampton Roads. I also remember transferring to IL in 1991 and seeing all of the construction in the Hampton which is still ongoing to this day. All of this traffic was one of the reasons that I moved from VA Beach to the western Suffolk and dreading the drive when I have to return to the Beach area visit family. It is actually not a long drive (45 min) but depending on the time of day it can take upwards to 2-3 hours because of the population growth, rude drivers, deteriorating roadways, and lack of law enforcement because they are either hiding or at the scene of an accident. Something has to give. Bring back the tolls. Stop building in already over crowded areas. Fix the lack of mass transit. Do something!
Asphalt jungle
When I moved here years ago from Philadelphia, there were actually trees in groups on plots of land. There were fields with crops in Kempsville. There were corners without a gas station, a pharmacy, a supermarket or a strip mall. And look at us now. Our traffic is becoming very similar to that in NOVA.
A new development is just off Lynnhaven which is under construction. Those who have bought into that development must think they have a right to do what ever they please. Don't they know that the red octagonal sign at the intersection of Lynnhaven and Centerville means Stop. I am going 45 down Centerville and these idiots pull out in front of me. There may not a car behind me in sight but they cannot wait until I pass to pull onto Centerville. Don't they know road signs and common courtesy? If you are in that much of a hurry, go to bed earlier, get up earlier, and leave earlier!!
What are taxes?
We pay taxes for a reason. Like everyone else, the state has a budget. Last time I checked, roads were included in this budget. If they can't budget our tax dollars effectively, then tough luck. If we as citizens run out of money, we can't put tolls in our mailbox to collect money from the bills coming in. Besides, can you image traffic on 264 during the summer!!!!! You complain about traffic now, just imagine what it would be like with tolls.
Let Everyone Pay
Thia ia a tourist driven area, we have one of the largest international terminals in the area and are one of the most transient. Why should we as residence pay all the taxes i.e. for cars, houses, gas, and any other tax you can think of pay for all the roads. Let these people that are using the roads come forth with some money to pay for them. If you are a local get a smart pass and drive till your hearts content.
If you are going to use it........
Then pay for it!
What the heck is the matter with these roads
The drivers here are unthinking and arrogant and the roads here are atrocious. I've lived here 8 years and I can honestly say, in my 24 years of driving, Hampton Roads driving conditions are the absolute worse. Biggest pet peeve? Please put on your blinker and make sure there is enough room before you just yank over. The person you're cutting off may not can stop on a dime.
Paying attention...indeed
Notice in the article it talks of "paying attention." Well, no kidding - if people payed more attention to what they are doing, we could have less issues (ahem, hey you, doing the posted speed limit in the fast lane - move over; and you, the guy in the rice rocket or oversized truck weaving through traffic at 90 mph to save 30 seconds to get where you're going - slow down). While I'm on my soap box, be the nice guy or gal and yield (that's an English word that means 'give someone else the right of way' as opposed to not letting anyone change lanes and get in front of you, or blocking the intersection so others can't get through). I've been driving 23 years. I've driven in, to or through at least 20 of these United States, held licenses in 4 of them, operated a vehicle in 4 countries on 2 continents and both sides of the road, legally. Without reservation, the worst drivers I've ever seen are here in Hampton Roads. It isn't the military folks; it's you.
My 2 pennies worth
Well, Well I guess I am not the only one who feels the way about the city council here. But something's even more fishy. Why are they letting the Town Center to be built at one of the worst intersections in Hampton Roads? Or looking at this project from the company in South Korea? Answer(s) to help fund City Council's 10-20% raises for the next couple of years!. Untill one of these city council members are in a major injury/death accident themselves/family on 264. They won't care how bad the roads go. I still can't get over how short the on-ramp from S. Northhampton to 64W is and how many times I have nearly died there. Most of these on/off ramps are Cloverleaf ramps which are retarded because one must slow down to exit(if not stop cause traffic is backed up) and the on-ramp must try burning-up thier tranny getting up to speed so they can get on the on-ramp with other inconsiderate drivers(not all are 18 y.o.'s either). It will just get worse with more drivers and development. My $.02
Where's the Doh!! (Or is it dough??)
I've live in Hampton Roads for 8 years now and the one thing that's always amazed me is the **** highway system here. Every interchange (Except the new Mercury Blvd. one...) is a total cluster!!The highways are poorly maintained and overloaded. The secondary roads are incapable of handling their loads as well. So with all the tax monies collected, particularly inChesapeake and VaBch, why aren't things any better than they are!?!?! My belief is in the city councils and state legislature. The incompetence present in this 'Commonwealth' in future planning (Look at Oceana,) highway maintenance (speed-bumps on an interstate?!?!) and general fiscal irresponsibility make me wonder what we've all been voting for all these years. Our leaders and planners need to stop requesting proposals and make bold strides toward correcting the myriad of issues facing residents immediately!!! Stop thinking and start doing!!! And while you're at it, try being efficient with the taxes already collected!! Ha!
Just today
Maybe someone already mentioned this, but I never see more then 15 cars a day in the HOV lanes, (the enclosed ones, not the marked lanes) Why are we not utilizing these? Today I got off at Ind. going toward Holland. I was driving the posted speed limit, the GMC truck that decided to drive past all the cars patiently waiting, got up to me and then decided to cut left. The sign clearly says to merge left, right lane ends, about a 1/2 mile back. Not only did the guy flip me off, before I let him in and came within inches of my vehicle, he actually rolled his window down to see how close he could get to the front of my car before I let him in! Then this idiot got out of his truck and approached me! Why do we not use the bars to block a lane like this? Put the poles in to block the lanes where people cut in, put a stop light at the bottom of the exit at Ind. I don't know what the solution is, but something has got to change cause it will only get worse in the mentioned areas.
you get what you pay for...
i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting where whoever convinced whomever that the deceleration and acceleration lanes on 264 (and most other highways around here) should be the same stretch of asphalt!! custom-made demolition derby! it was one of the first strange things i noticed about hampton roads when i first moved here in '99.
264
those boneheads at the dot (the ones that sit on thier fat butts and collect big pay checks) need to stop building roads to wooded areas just to build more house, you can't keep the ones you have in one piece what makes you think you can keep the new ones up.
Just Drive smarter
If everyone would drive smarter and stop hogging the highway as all Virginians do (any their excuse is " They are from other states"), there is nothing wrong with 264, so don't waste my money trying to improve it. There are so many ways to get around hampton roads between points a and b besides Independence and 264.
A new VDOT
Maybe we need to get rid of the engineers that design these substandard bottle necks and get the real crews in here from states that know how to design a roadway system! The exit/entrance ramps are way too short and you don't put lights at the bottom or top of them. And whoever the moron is that decided to merge traffic at the mouth of the downtown tunnel...Well wasn't that just a smooth move for traffic flow! Exlax!
1 Billion?!?!
Why do these road projects cost so much? $64 million for a simple ramp? Come on! Someone somewhere is getting rich. VDOT gets railroaded for projects that never finish on time or on budget. Speaking of railroads, Virginia Beach has an empty rail-line spanning Norfolk to Oceanfront paralleling I-264 (you cross it on Rosemont north of the I-264 on-ramp for example) why isn't this used for light rail or even a bike path (gasp! Imagine that...)
Highway engineers and politicians
I have long believed that highway "engineers" were people who were unable to find employment elsewhere. And politicians.....how much intelligence id required for that job? City planners? .........just looking for increased tax revenue and who cares about the commuters.....
City Roads lead to congestion
Backups result in accidents and slower speeds. Besides having four lanes merge into two, or weaving at interchanges, another major cause of backup is exiting the interstate onto city roads that can not handle the exiting traffic. Areas such as Indian River come to mind, where interstate traffic backs up because of both weaving and a city stoplight close to the exit ramp. The state needs to look at fixing local exit roads as a quick, relatively inexpensive fix. Get the cars off the interstate and you eliminate the backups. And talk about backups, toll plazas on 44 were a nightmare. I'd much rather pay a few cents more in gas tax. We have endured 3 dollar a gallon gas. So if gas is two dollars, couldn't we stand an additonal ten cent tax. Or, if gas goes to five dollars, what's another dime? Isn't it a bit relative. What about HOV lanes. It makes sense to me to limit the additional HOV lane capacity during the heaviest traffic times . But then I think like a government employee.
Face it folks, some kind of tax is coming...
Our legislature and the current administration are not talking about whether we're getting a tax increase: They're talking about which increase we're getting, and when. Period. They won't do with a dollar less in Richmond any more than the folks in DC will, and folks need to get used to it. Don't expect much in the way of accountability for the billions they already collect either. There is way too much in the way of ignorance and apathy in VA for that. Besides, some people actually see taxes as a way of sticking it to the people who "have" in the name of fairness. Bottom line? Put in the toll, and at least the people who have to use the road pay, not everybody. Just write the law so money collected in HR, gets spent in HR, not all over the state for decades the way the 44 toll money was. The reason all of us despise new tax is not because we want something for nothing, but because once the something is paid for, the tax stays around forever. Duh!
Hmmmm...
I would like to see how current funding is being used that is collected for VDOT and highway improvements. One thing I never hear is accountability of current funds because if we all knew that, then perhaps we would be more receptive to painfull solutions such as tolls. Was in Dallas / Fort Worth recently and the George Bush highway tolls were maddening!! Perhaps it is time to utilize all the illegals entering our country to build roads since we're letting everyone in over the Mexican border anyway. What about developer responsibility - they build-build-build but I never hear/read any accountability for infrastructure costs as a part of all that building. Maybe it's time to leave Hampton Roads and move somewhere where it's easier to get around. Mass transportation would be a great benefit to the area and there has been plenty of time to figure that out here, but no solution yet? I'm thinking more money isn't really the answer, perhaps more cooperation regionally!
more to "weave" than meets the eye
Usually when engineers talk about the "weave" problem they're not talking about congestion caused by bad drivers, but rather "phantom jams". When you tap your brake to allow someone into your lane, the person behind you taps his just a little longer. The person behind him taps his a little longer, and so on. In this way a small brake tap can cause a major jam a mile up the road. Some studies have shown that up to 75% of traffic jams are really "phantom jams". These jams are SEVERELY worsened by complicated weaving. Ticketing bad drivers would be great, but it won't solve many of the problems. The weave problem is the reason many states, like NC, prefer to invest in very expensive, custom interchanges and only rarely build "cloverleafs". NC also has the nation's 4th highest gas tax, 2nd largest road network, an agressive toll road program and has begun investing in public transit options like light rail. We're FAR, FAR from perfect, but at least we're doing something about it.
Perhaps the engineers should have caught this earlier!
"Traffic engineers say an effect they call the weave contributes to traffic problems at the interchanges on Interstate 264."
Guess the same engineers didn't see this problem when the bids where being submitted, approved, and paid for this mess.
Want to fix I-264 between 64 and Rosemont Rd?
So, you (VDOT) finally want to fix the problems you created huh? Here is the best thing, IMHO, that you can do to fix it. ENFORCE THE LAWS ON THE SHOULDER LANES! Instead of having the signs say what they do now, make them say, "THIS LANE IS CLOSED!" with an arrow pointing down. Write every violator a ticket with no potential for warnings. Change the static signs that say, "Begin to exit here" to say, "Begin to exit here for Witchduck Rd". If someone causes a wreck by trying to jump over at the last second or beat the long line of traffic, cite them for the offense they commit. Wreckless driving. The fine and points should be high enough to seriously discourage the idiocy that occurs daily at the exits. Another thought is to wall-in the exits from 64 to 264 to end the last-second dives toward the exit. Improve signage for those exits. "EXIT NOW FOR 264 EAST/WEST" and "LAST CHANCE TO EXIT FOR 264".
Design of On/Off ramps
Have you ever traveled to other states and noticed that the exit off the interstate is before the one coming on the interstate? This allows for much smoother traffic transistion. Hindsight is always 20/20
It's not the roads, it's the drivers
My daily commute takes me along both I-64 and I-264, and I see some of the worst driving imaginable - drivers speeding, jumping lanes, illegally cutting across the double lines at the I-264 offramps, talking on cellphones, grooming themselves, tailgating, refusing to signal turns, waiting until the last second to merge as they try to jump the line, you name it. Charging tolls for expensive overhauls won't change this, it'll only give us upgraded roads with the same selfish idiot drivers. The Gwyns' accident wasn't caused by the road, it was caused by an inattentive teenager. the same can be said for all the other accidents and potential accidents we see every day. No matter how bad the roads, most accidents can be avoided with simple common sense and common courtesy - something many drivers around here are sadly lacking.
Make developers pay
At least at Indepence & 264, the increased traffic is from increased development around Pembroke Mall. Why not make the developers pay to upgrade the infrastructure? Adjusting interstate ramps should be calculated into the cost of a project -- and the city should not allow more projects unless the developers make a serious payment towards financing those upgrades. It won't cover it all, but it will certainly get the ball rolling.