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Development outruns road builders

N. Virginia jobs at stake

The area outside the nation's capital has the country's second-worst traffic congestion, trailing only Los Angeles, according to a study by the Texas Transportation Institute. Motorists in metropolitan Washington spend an average of 76 hours each year - more than three full days - in traffic jams, the study found.

It's not that officials have ignored the problem. Virginia's six-year, $20 billion transportation plan includes $620 million for highway projects in the most gridlocked region.

But even that won't keep pace with development, according to local officials.

The state's plans to upgrade roads and highways have done little to quell the political debate surrounding transportation. Gov. Jim Gilmore has been under fire from Northern Virginia officials who complain he does not grasp the depth of the problem.

Those officials have pegged the region's transportation needs at $500 million a year for the next 20 years. The plan targets two of the region's largest projects, the reconstruction of the Springfield interchange known as the Mixing Bowl, and startup financing for replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge.

It also includes $75 million toward extending the Metro subway system from West Falls Church along the Dulles Toll Road to Dulles International Airport.

"Anyone who lives or works in this region understands how congested it has become," said state Del. Kenneth R. Plum, D-Reston, chairman and founder of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association, formed two years ago to promote the development of a rail line in the area.

. . .

Dulles airport is the fastest growing airport in the country and recently announced a $3.4 billion improvement plan. The Dulles Corridor has become an Internet alley, attracting more high-technology businesses. Nearly 10 million square feet of office space came online last year, and the pace this year has not slowed.

Officials contend investing in transportation is essential if the job-rich corridor is to continue prospering. Failure to act would bring dire consequences, a study said.

Simply widening the toll road has been ruled out. For one thing, there is room in the corridor for only two more lanes, not enough to handle the volume. For another, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which controls the road, long has planned for a rail link to Dulles and won't allow the median to be used for an expanded highway.

As envisioned, the Metro rail line would be extended 23 miles and make 10 stops between Falls Church and the airport. It would feature a monorail-like "people mover" that would shuttle people between a planned rail station and the two large shopping malls at Tyson's Corner.

The region has been planning to have the line in place in 2010 at a cost of about $2 billion. In its first year, the rail line is expected to carry 50,000 commuters a day.

. . .

In Fredericksburg, officials are weighing a $500 million transportation project that would rival Springfield's Mixing Bowl.

As proposed, the Fredericksburg project could include as many as 19 lanes at its widest point, multiple interchanges, and ramps stacked four levels high. Interstate 95 would be widened to as many as five lanes in each direction with additional access roads paralleling the interstate.

Officials say a combination of federal, state, local and private funds probably would be needed to pay for the project, part of which would serve a planned tourism development along the Rappahannock River.

But local officials say they must identify financing for the project to add it to the region's formal 25-year transportation plan. Unless new money is identified, paying for the proposal almost surely would mean sacrificing major road projects planned for fast-growing Spotsylvania and Stafford counties.

VDOT also is studying extending high-occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes for carpooling commuters from the lanes' current end point in Prince William County south to the Route 3 area of Fredericksburg.

Some workers, tired of a northward commute, are giving it up for telecommuting. The number of people working from the Fredericksburg Regional Telework Center has doubled in the past five years, said Jennifer Alcott, the program's director. About 75 architects, lawyers, budget analysts and others have found a shorter drive by working in the center.

Meanwhile, opponents continue to rail against the Outer Connector, a highway project that would link southern Stafford to northern Spotsylvania, bypassing Fredericksburg. At the direction of the Federal Highway Administration, VDOT is revisiting the potential impact on the Rappahannock and on Civil War battlefields.

Proponents say the Outer Connector is needed to ease congestion, but opponents say its western corridor will contribute to sprawl in western Spotsylvania and eastern Orange County.

. . .

The eastern part of the state has its own problems.

The Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Suffolk region is so divided by waterways that its highway system must rely on bridges, tunnels and multiple bridge-tunnels. Traffic jams are common, especially along Interstate 64 at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

A second bridge-tunnel, the Monitor-Merrimack, connects Suffolk with Newport News. The state highway department is planning a third bridge-tunnel to connect the Monitor-Merrimack Bridge-Tunnel with Norfolk.

Staff writer Bill Geroux also contributed to this report. Contact Paul Bradley at (703) 548-8758 or pbradley@timesdispatch.com