We need a commuter train right down 7 from Winchester to Leesburg or Dulles even. Then it can tie in with existing projects/public transport. Also something from 81 to downtown DC on 66 would be a great idea. There are folks commuting up to two hours one-way from the Shenandoah valley and even West Virginia into DC so they can live in an affordable community or survive on a government salary.
5
It’s disappointing that nowhere in the article is the idea of expansion of public transit in the DC area floated. I grew up in the area, lived through the pain of driving an hour or more to and from high school, and hence vowed never to endure that daily grind again. It was demoralizing then and it’s demoralizing now that the only solution politicians in the area can seem to suggest is to improve the main arteries (read: make them wider). In 20 years of rapid expansion, nobody appears to have the learned the lesson that wider, “better” highways only fill up with more and more cars. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the area is more red or more blue because once again the DC-metro area (and America more broadly) is failing to bring its infrastructure out of the 1950s and into the 21st century. Telecommuting from home can help, but it’s still only a patch. Build commuter railways, fund buses, expand bicycle-able connections, and subsidize affordable housing (with smaller footprints) closer to the urban hubs. America’s got the cash to do it and plenty of need. We’re just lacking political will, gumption, and big thinking.
15
Why not take mass transit or carpool? I will never understand people who move to an area with traffic problems and then whine about how they and their car have to sit in traffic. The DC metro area has an extensive public transit system. Yes, you have to sit near black people, but they're your neighbors, and they're good people.
9
@Just some guy Metro doesn't go out that far.
1
@Just some guy ...I work in the Route 28 corridor and the traffic is truly a nightmare. Luckily, I travel against it to get to the elementary school where I work. I dearly wish I could take public transportation, but it doesn't exist as an option for intra-suburb travel.
I think the biggest issue facing the Virginia legislature, as well as Congress, is how to look beyond the two-year election cycle in order to develop a comprehensive strategic transportation plan to serve our communities over the next 50 years.
6
@Just some guy You don't know what you're talking about. Just because someone lives in Manassas does not mean their job is in DC--it could be in Tysons, in Maryland, etc. There's no way to carpool in that situation. Mass transit, by which I guess you mean the subway, doesn't go anywhere near Manassas and never will. Your remark "Yes, you have to sit near black people, but they're your neighbors, and they're good people" is beyond the pale. I mean, how dare you suggest that commuting woes are at all attributable to whites not wanting to sit next to blacks.
11
"Never mind the election’s statewide implications (Republicans hold just a one-seat advantage in both legislative chambers), or what message the results might send to President Trump."
Exactly. Those of us of a certain age will remember Tip O'Neil. who reminded us "All politics are local". People will vote for the person they perceive as making their life better, not for what is a good message to send, and fixing a 4 hour commute is a much more immediate fix than insuring that the Ukraine gets money for weapons or that immigrants have a fair chance to come into the country (and, BTW, thereby adding to the traffic problems).
4
I am a north Virginian and a 50 year resident of the area and I have watched the evolution of land use and the misery of commuting and have sympathy for all of those in memory. Lessons learned: if at all possible work near where you live, send your kids to school, and shop. In short stay out of a car. Try to organize you work so that the income earners work at home and work only 3.5 days a week on average and when it comes to family priorities stay socially connected to the people in the neighborhood, this includes children, where you live.
Politically work on environmental and global warming issues. These will result in long-term benefits to your family. The global commons, atmosphere, soil, water, and oceans are extremely important. Give these issues legislative priority.
Great writing. We probably should consider an advanced surface mass transit system like Maglev rather than more lanes. See www.magneticglide.com for concept I am a big fan of commuter hubs that have shopping and clinics, etc. at a mass transit stations.
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Dedicated bus lanes, light rail, and safe/efficient cycling infrastructure. More lanes for more cars is not sustainable and not the answer.
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Single occupant cars are an inefficient means of funneling large amounts of people from a large suburban area into a relatively small urban core. Fix the roads all you want but it will not solve the basic issue that arises when a bunch of small humans all get in their personal tons of metal and fight for space on the freeway. Cars are great in the suburbs and country, but if you want to efficiently get lots of people into the urban core, mass public transit is the best option.
20
No sympathy for these commuters. They made a choice by living far from work, the same choice commuters in LA and other cities make everyday. They knew the trade off by going suburban instead of urban, and now they have a fantasy of voting their way to less traffic?
Dream on.
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@DD
How many of those families moved out because they could not afford to live in an urban area?
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@DD
Right? And people who choose to commute from Newark do so because they love living in Newark and not because they can't afford to live in downtown Manhattan.
Unfortunately people who work downtown are often priced out of living there. It is NOT a true choice. Your snark is not appreciated.
11
@MC
They can afford DC, but they may have to do with a small condo instead of lawns and two-story homes. It's a trade-off, and they've obviously gone for the homes and a bad commute. That's fine, except for the fumes they spew into the air for the rest of us, and the congestion they cause when we just want to shop or get to the airport.
9
Prince William County/Manassas/Manassas Park have
-continued- to allow more development while allowing Richmond to ignore the need for better roads and public transportation.
13
I don't think traffic is good. People should be able to get to where they are going in a timely manner. Why waste time in traffic? I think people can carpool more. Too many cars on the road. Neighbors need to work with each other more. Don't be shy, say hello. Drive in together. Regale each other with stories. If everyone did this, there would be far less traffic and everyone would be happier.
1
If these people had done their research prior to moving to their American dreams in the DMV exurbs, they would have discovered that they are in for nightmarish commutes for years to come. Even with 12 lane highway expansions and the addition of HOV lanes, the traffic never gets better. It only gets worse. For evidence of that phenomenon, take a look at the history of the 405 on the west side of Los Angeles.
11
Fairfax County was built shortsightedly back when it was a far off suburb. Rather than being built on a grid it's a series of cul-de-sac neighborhoods, with the result that there are really only 3 roads going from DC to the west (Route 50, which is full of traffic lights and the only one that doesn't require a toll, and 267 and 66, the latter of which can cost up to $65 in rush hour).
So far the only "solution" has been to add expensive, private "express lanes" with very few exits and entrances, which have in fact only added to traffic by creating bottle necks where they merge with the highways.
What we need is DECENT PUBLIC TRANSPORT. Public transportation is absolutely abysmal in the Virginia suburbs, coming only during rush hour, only once an hour, and generally not on time, plus there are so few of them that they meander endlessly, adding hours to your commute. Any houses that are metro accessible are priced too high for the middle class.
GIVE US DECENT, AFFORDABLE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!
26
There's a solution here, but it isn't a bus and doesn't involve building new rail.
It's in autonomous EVs operating in an AI controlled traffic grid.
And that future is actually tantalizingly close. Far closer to fruition than building out new light rail systems, widening freeways or forcing people on to the tyranny of the bus system.
1
Traffic has defined my life as a DMV native. I don’t remember a time without it. It’s just a way of life and you plan for it. My parents always told me: live and work next to the metro if you stay here and use it! I actually moved into the city, so my commute to the outer suburbs where I teach is “reverse”. Even in that situation, to go 15 miles at 6am, I leave 90 minutes ahead of time just to be safe. Thankfully the weekend bring some reprieve with train and walking options. Most people find a way to make it work, but I feel for the people further out in Northern Virginia.
4
Unfortunately, even creating a 4-lane, limited access highway through or around MANASSAS PARK, Va will not solve the problem. It will just push the traffic to the next choke point.
Suburbs, after reaching a certain density will just become gridlocked. Witness Long Island, LA, the South Shore of Boston, the whole Western part of Connecticut.
The only solution is 1. develop proper mass transit - much cheaper than building a new highway, 2. develop affordable housing where the jobs are - or bring the inner city jobs into the suburbs which will create more traffic problems.
None of the reasonable solutions can be implemented until a sea change is made in urban/suburban planning.
23
absolutely concur...as I watch the I95 choke point being moved further and further down towards Fredericksburg and beyond....
I find it amusing when people move to far-off suburbs, then complain about long commutes. In fact, many people quoted in this article admitted that they knew the commutes would be long. If you insist on having a huge house with a big yard, there is a price to be paid.
What is really perplexing, however, is that these residents think that improving the roads will end the traffic. Road building may improve traffic temporarily, but always worsens when more people move in, using the newly improved roads!
32
@Allison Trust me, I would LOVE do live downtown. Unfortunately, any housing in the city or even near it has priced me out by a few thousand dollars (this is not even taking the need for decent schools into account; living downtown and paying for private school is another $40,000 a year I don't have). I don't relish my commute but I didn't choose to be too broke to afford closer housing either.
9
@Allison , I also think that one consideration people think about is the quality of schools. While Arlington County, close to D.C., has good schools, the cost of housing just isn't affordable for most families.
The school systems in the further out suburbs are stronger than the DC public school system. For many, the trade-off is made based on educational needs rather than house/yard size.
4
I'm surprised that this article doesn't mention public transit. Buses are much more efficient than cars, and electric buses are fantastic for the environment. If much of this traffic is commute traffic, express buses seem like an easy win. One of the lanes could be carved out for buses and carpools to facilitate that. We need to stop accommodating so many single-passenger cars if we are going to get a handle on our greenhouse gas emissions. Let's solve this the right way.
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@Sandra
Simple: People who make 6 figures don't want to take the bus.
You know what has really gone unmentioned? Transforming automobiles into electrically driven automated pieces of an AI-controlled traffic grid.
Far more preferable to a "bus."
@Sandra
It's just not a matter of greenhouse gases, it's also a matter of road space. Automobiles are extremely inefficient users of space, both while they're on the road and while they're consuming parking for most of their existence.
The solution has to be some form of mass transit. However, this can be difficult to implement because of economics and entrenched attitudes.
Economics: I've bought the car, because I need it for everything other than work. The area I live in is designed for automobiles. So why not also use it for work journeys. It has the advantage that during the commute, as long as it may be, I'm sitting comfortably. I can listen to whatever radio I like. It's my own space and I don't have to share.
Entrenched attitudes: Buses are for "them". (Pick your own "them", but there's definitely some element of "undesirable" there.) They don't come when I want them. They're slow. I can't get a seat.
It's also true that the layout of new subdivisions is very unfriendly to mass transit, with multiple cul-de-sacs off cul-de-sacs.
I honestly don't know what the solution is. I can't say what it would take to get me out of my car, because I don't have one. I'm a train user. But I would like to know.
5
@Chris "People who make 6 figures don't want to take the bus." Wrong. Tell that to the people of NYC. Your attitude is typical of Midwesterners who are tied to their cars and unfamiliar with the culture in the northeast.
6