Can you kindly remind those driving west on Route 7 between the Dulles Greenway and Route 9 near Leesburg that the only way to maintain speed up a hill is to press harder on the accelerator?
There is no good reason for this stretch of road to back up every afternoon because people are afraid to accelerate.
Vinnie DeSantis
Charles Town, W.Va.
Isn't it also possible that drivers are slowing because they are not sure what awaits them on the other side of the hill -- for instance, a line of stopped cars?
I commuted on Route 50 in Loudoun County for many years and had to slow suddenly for stopped traffic, such as on westbound Route 50 in Lenah, approaching Gilbert's Corner.
In the Driver's Seat
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I think all of the elected officials in Northern Virginia should be required to commute along the most heavily traveled corridors in their jurisdictions at least once a week -- and they should drive themselves. Maybe then they would have more interest in coming up with solutions to the crowding and overbuilding.
I look forward to retiring somewhere way south of here in two years, if for no other reason than to get away from the traffic.
Ed Merkle
Manassas
You might take a look at Northumberland County in Virginia's Northern Neck (southeast of Fredericksburg). I'm told there is only one traffic light in the whole county.
Slower Going South
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I commute from Arlington to Rockville. My route to work is to take the George Washington Memorial Parkway north, get on the Capital Beltway at the American Legion Bridge, and then take the Beltway to Interstate 270 north. I reverse that route going home.
The commute never seems bad going to work, no matter what the time in the morning. The traffic almost always flows well, unless there is a major accident, and the trip takes from 20 to 25 minutes.
However, on the way home the commute is often twice as long, with bumper-to-bumper traffic from the I-270 spur south all the way through Tysons Corner.
