| The
Ever-Widening Road |
| Now comes a plan to widen the Capital Beltway from the Springfield
interchange to the American Legion Bridge to at least 10 lanes,
possibly 12 lanes, at the bargain basement price of $3.25
billion. |
| That puts the cost of the 14-mile stretch of highway at
$232 million a mile. And that's at today's cost. Since the
project won't start, or be completed, for several years, that
cost will skyrocket. |
| Remember when building Interstate highways cost $1 million
a mile, including land and overpasses? Ike was still president
then. |
| There is a reason why the Virginia Department of Transportation--the
same agency that brought you HOV lanes on the Dulles Toll
Road and wanted to double the cost of the toll--wants to widen
the Beltway. Transportation officials predict that by 2020
the traffic on the Beltway will increase by more than 30 percent
and the rush hour will last 18 hours a day. |
| There are several variations to the plan, but they all include
HOV lanes and the taking of 250 to 350 homes, many businesses
and acres of parkland. |
| But widening the Beltway only assures that traffic congestion
will increase. Cars, trucks and buses will fill up as many
lanes as the Commonwealth cares to build. Widen the Beltway
and it will only fill up quicker. Widen the Beltway and they
will come and drive on it. |
| And where is all that traffic supposed to go? The 12 lanes
of the new Beltway would eventually empty onto two-lane and
four-lane roads, causing bottlenecks of gigantic proportions.
Take as an example the six-lane Route 7 in Loudoun County
which empties into four lanes of traffic as the highway enters
Fairfax County. No matter how quickly traffic can move on
the Loudoun portion of Route 7, it still slows down in Fairfax. |
| So what is the solution to the future of transportation
and traffic in Fairfax County? If I knew that answer I think
I wouldn't be writing this column. But there are some possibilities: |
| å The western bypass is one solution. Taking the traffic
the long way around Washington, instead of on the existing
Beltway, removes the excess traffic, especially large and
dangerous trucks, from the daily commuting patterns. It's
also safer. |
| å Mass transit, especially trains, would be the ultimate
in solving Virginia's traffic woes. Metro to Dulles is just
the start, and there is even more mass transit that should
be planned. |
| å A new bridge across the Potomac River near the Loudoun-Fairfax
border would be another boost to alleviating traffic problems.
Instead of using Route 7 and the Dulles Toll Road to the Beltway,
traffic from Loudoun and Fairfax could simply avoid the commuter
rush by driving directly to the western Maryland business
centers. |
| å New centers of commerce and the continuation of development
away from the urban areas would also lessen the need for long
commutes. Reston was supposed to be the ideal model for this
solution, and it has succeeded to a large degree. However,
people now are èreverseî commuting--living closer to the District
where housing is becoming more affordable and driving to Reston,
Herndon and Eastern Loudoun County. |
| The biggest problem has been the lack of planning and coordination
between development and transportation solutions. And it continues
to worsen as we allow more and more high-density housing without
proper traffic planning. |
| The solutions become more difficult as the Washington area
grows and grows and we delay planning. However, widening the
Capital Beltway at a cost of $232 million a mile--in today's
dollars--is no solution at all, no matter now we plan for it. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
