Residents near the beltway raise concerns about traffic congestion and noise

People who live close to the beltway in the Annandale area raised some concerns about noise and traffic congestion during the beltway widening/HOT lanes project at a briefing Tuesday evening at Annandale High School.

The $2 billion project involves widening 14 miles of the beltway between the I95 and 395 interchanges at Springfield and just north of the Dulles toll road interchange and replacing all the overpasses. An electronic system will charge drivers who use the HOT lanes anywhere from 10 cents to a dollar a mile, based on traffic conditions.

The construction of two new outer lanes on the beltway should be completed by 2011, and all lanes will be operational by January 2013, says Jeff Wagner, spokesperson for Fluor-Lane, one of two companies in charge of the project, along with Transurban.

The meeting was convened to explain the plans for accelerating the replacement of the Braddock Road, Little River Turnpike, Gallows Road, and Route 50 overpasses. The current bridges need to be replaced because the piers supporting them aren’t far enough apart to accommodate the new beltway lanes.

Wagner says the first phase of the Braddock Road bridge will be complete next month, and all traffic will be shifted there while the existing bridge is demolished and a new eastbound bridge is constructed. The final stage of this overpass should be completed in fall 2011. During the construction, the merge lane for traffic exiting the beltway at Braddock and heading westbound will be removed, and a temporary traffic signal will be placed there to control traffic.

The eastbound bridge over Little River Turnpike will be finished in a couple of weeks and will accommodate all traffic, Wagner says, and the existing bridge will be demolished in late spring or early summer. Construction of the new bridge for westbound traffic will start in July 2010 and should be finished by October 2011. Widening the beltway at Little River will occur from July through December 2010. During this period, the merge lane for drivers heading north on the beltway and exiting at Little River toward Fairfax will be taken out, Wagner says, and a temporary yield sign will be placed there.

One Annandale resident said that forcing two-way traffic onto one overpass means there will be only room for 10-foot lanes, which “is going to be very dangerous.” The standard lane width is 12 feet. Wagner said if there is a problem, a temporary traffic light would be installed. According to Wagner, speeding up the construction of these overpasses means the project will be completed about seven months sooner than originally planned.

During the construction, the Gallows Road overpass will have just one lane going south and two lanes going north. The old bridge will be demolished and utilities will be relocated during the period from May to October 2010, and the beltway widening at Gallows will be done from July to December 2010. There won’t be an exit from the HOT lanes onto Gallows Road, raising questions from the audience about how ambulances will be able to get to Fairfax Hospital from the beltway. Wagner responded that there will be a new exit from the HOT lanes onto Lee Highway, but it won’t be accessible from the regular lanes.

Several people complained that the reduction of lanes will result in huge back-ups as people try to get onto the beltway from Gallows near the Exxon station. Other people raised concerns about congestion on Braddock and Little River.

A resident of Lafayette Village complained about the lack of a barrier wall to block beltway noise between that neighborhood and the inner loop between Little River and Gallows. He was told that the existing berm will remain there, rather than a new wall.

Michelle Holland of Transurban said the amount of sound walls will be tripled overall. Most of the sound barriers will be in place by the end of the year, with the rest done by March 2011. She said the area between Little River and Braddock will be one continuous sound wall. The gaps in some places of the sound wall are needed for utility relocation. Fluor-Lane will remove the graffiti that has already appeared on the walls.

Holland said $5 million has been budgeted for reforestation and landscaping. Just eight houses will be demolished to accommodate the HOT lanes project and all are located on Luttrel Road near the outer loop by Gallows. The residents have already relocated.

Pedestrian and bike lanes will be added to all bridges. Rosemary Ryan, an aide to Braddock Supervisor John Cook, said the county is applying for a grant to connect those sidewalks to existing sidewalks, and if that doesn’t happen, “we are committed to using county funds.”

The HOT lanes project is a public-private partnership involving VDOT, Transurban, and Fluor-Lane, and the private companies paying the lion’s share of the construction costs. Proceeds from the tolls will go to Transurban, and tickets to violators will be handled by VDOT.

Every vehicle will need a transponder to use the HOT lanes. It’s a cashless system with overhead detectors reading the transponders and determining how much drivers will be charged. The more congested the highway, the higher the cost of using the HOT lanes. Drivers will see prices posted on signs before they enter the HOT lanes. Once they enter, the price will be locked in.

Driving the full 14-mile stretch on the HOT lanes could cost as much as $14 during peak times. According to a Transurban spokesperson, studies show the average trip would be about $6, with most people getting off at Tysons Corners. Also, most people won’t use the HOT lanes every day. Cars with three more people won’t be charged. The transponder will have a switch that drivers will use to indicate they have additional passengers. Cameras mounted along the road will be used to catch violators.