I-95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension Meetings Cancelled This Week

FREDERICKSBURG – The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has cancelled public information meetings scheduled for Monday, March 13, and Tuesday, March 14, on a study of the Interstate 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project.

More information on new meeting dates will be provided as soon as possible. VDOT has cancelled the meetings due to an anticipated winter storm on Monday and Tuesday. 

Check for updates on new meeting dates at the project page on www.VirginiaDOT.org.

The project would extend I-95 Express Lanes approximately 10 miles south of Route 610 (Garrisonville Road) in Stafford County to the vicinity of Route 17. The facility is proposed to connect to the I-95 Southbound Rappahannock River Crossing project.

Additional access and operational improvements along the I-95 Express Lanes facility in Prince William County are also being reviewed.

Top 10 Most Bike Friendly Cities in the U.S.

Cities all over the world — especially Europe — are known for their bike friendliness. But, cities across the United States are making strides in ensuring that their streets are accessible and safe for cyclists. BikingExpert.com has compiled a list of the top 10 most bike friendly cities in the United States for EfficientGov.

Cycling is an incredibly beneficial exercise. Your whole body gets a workout, including your heart, and as a bonus, your exercise doubles as a form of transportation. When you rely on a bicycle instead of a car to commute, you can save money on gas, auto insurance, car payments and parking fees. You can feel good about using your own two legs to get around, reducing air pollution while experiencing the health benefits of biking. The following U.S. cities make it easy for residents to reap the many benefits of bicycle transportation.

Read the rest of the story here.

Cities Are Creating Car-Free Zones To Ease Congestion And Pollution

Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the world, according to INRIX’s Global Traffic Scorecard. And 11 of the world’s 25 most congested cities are in the United States.

In Europe, some cities are trying to tackle congestion by limiting cars and making it easier for people to walk or bike. The city of Paris has banned cars from a stretch along the right bank of the Seine, and its mayor wants to extend the car-free zone even further.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson talks with urbanist Charles Montgomery(@thehappycity), author of “Happy City: Transforming Our Lives through Urban Design,” about how car-free zones benefit a city and why America has been slower to catch on.

Listen to the story here.

How 7 Cities Are Growing their Bicycling Communities, And Doing So Safely

The more people biking on a city’s streets, the safer each individual bicyclist becomes. Dubbed the “safety in numbers” phenomenon, this pattern was originally identified by researcher Peter Jacobsen back in 2003. Now the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has run the numbers in 7 American cities to see how their initiatives to increase cycling have paid off both in ridership and individual safety, and their recent report confirms what Jacobsen had already found to be true.

NACTO undertook a survey of 7 cities, highlighting the policies and projects which have been successful at increasing ridership, including in low-income communities and communities of color. The resulting report, Equitable Bike Share Means Building Better Places for People to Ride, makes a clear case for the “safety in numbers” approach to bicycle planning, with bike share and bike infrastructure at the forefront of the effort.

“In cities that are building protected bike lane networks, cycling is increasing and the risk of injury or death is decreasing,” the report begins. “Pairing appropriately-scaled bike share with protected bike lanes increases ridership and is essential to equity and mobility efforts.”

Read the rest of the story here.

It’s Time We Prioritize Our Streets

Let’s be clear – prioritizing walking, biking and transit is not code for “banning” cars. With that being said, many American cities could use a refresher course on designing vibrant complete streets that accommodate users of all ages and abilities

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For decades, American cities were built specifically around automobiles, putting all other modes at a great disadvantage. Today, many communities are refocusing on implementing what will work best for the cities of tomorrow rather than settling for the constraining built environment of America’s suburban sprawl era. Urbanist Fred Kent explained it well noting, “If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.”

Read the rest of the story here.

395 Express Lanes Project Team Begins 'Early Works' Activities

FAIRFAX - Next week the 395 Express Lanes project team will begin preliminary work, or "early work" to prepare for project construction to kick off this summer. Early works activities will help the project meet its aggressive schedule and will include efforts performed both in-the-field and remotely.

Early works activities include geotechnical investigations and surveying, and may require crews to access areas adjacent to the project corridor. Other activities such as preliminary design and drawing submittals also will occur, but will not require crews to work in the project corridor.

To support this work, the I-395 HOV lanes from the Edsall Road area to Boundary Channel Drive will be closed during late-night periods next week, weather permitting, as follows:

• March 8 to March 10 beginning at 8 p.m. until 4 a.m.
• March 10 to March 12 beginning at 11 p.m. until 10 a.m. on March 11 and 12, and until 4 a.m. on March 13

During these hours, all motorists traveling northbound on the 95 Express Lanes will be routed off to the regular lanes near Edsall Road. Southbound motorists in the I-395 HOV lanes will be routed off to the regular lanes near Boundary Channel Drive. There will be no access to and from the HOV lanes via the Eads Street interchange during these closures. The 95 Express Lanes south of the Edsall Road area will remain open and operating under the standard reversal schedule.

What area drivers and residents near the I-395 corridor should expect during the 395 Express Lanes Project early works phase:

• Any necessary lane closures will take place outside of rush hours and will be communicated to the traveling public in advance
• Project officials will provide information about early works activities to keep residents informed
• Permanent construction activities will not begin until summer 2017
• Drivers should travel with caution and remain vigilant for construction crew members both on I-395 and within nearby residential communities

The 395 Express Lanes project will extend the 95 Express Lanes for eight miles north on I-395 to the border of Washington, D.C. The project will convert the two high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to three high-occupancy or toll Express Lanes, allowing non-HOV travelers the option to pay a toll to access the roadway while maintaining free travel for transit and HOV-3 carpools. The project will also deliver additional corridor improvements including:

• A fourth southbound regular lane between Duke Street and Edsall Road
• Rehabilitation of five bridges over I-395
• Enhancements to the south Pentagon parking area to improve transit access and circulation

Project construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2017 with the Express Lanes opening in fall 2019. More information about the project is available at: www.virginiadot.org/395express and www.395expresslanes.com.

Why Local Businesses Shouldn't Worry About Eliminating On Street Parking

One of the most common arguments against eliminating parking from downtown areas is that it'll affect business. The people behind those complaints are dead right: There will be an impact on business—only it's the opposite of the one they have in mind. Removing cars from downtown streets actually increases trade by attracting pedestrians and cyclists, and a new study of Queen Street West in Toronto's Parkdale neighborhood has the numbers to prove it.

Back at the end of 2015, a study was commissioned to see just how many people arrived at the street by car, and how many got there by "active" transportation like walking or biking. The idea was to see what impact a parking ban or other car-hostile, people-friendly changes might have on local businesses.

Read the rest of the story here.