Region's Traffic: From Bad To Worse

Vehicles crawl into the District from I-395 yesterday. Traffic flow is deteriorating across the region, a study says. (By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)

The council's report shows a commuting pattern that moves from homes on the east side of the region to jobs in the west each morning, with the reverse in the afternoon. This results in chronic bottlenecks, such as on the inbound lanes of Interstates 66 and 395 in afternoons, that are a reversal of traditional commuting patterns.

Kirby said the findings show that the challenge ahead is not only to build more roads but also to find a better balance between where people live and where they work. "If you got more employment growth in the east, you could balance out that traffic," he said.

The report found that the worst commuting spots are on the inner loop of the Beltway between Interstate 270 and Connecticut Avenue from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and on I-395 between Pentagon City and the 14th Street Bridge from 5 to 6 p.m.

Cars average 5 to 10 mph through those stretches at those times, numbers that translate into levels of service so poor that they are literally off the charts used by transportation experts to measure performance.

The report also gauged the 10 spots that have changed most dramatically over the last three years. No stretch of road was on both lists, suggesting the worst spots are not getting better while others are rapidly becoming worse.

Among the 10 segments changing the fastest, there was one, ranked seventh, that was actually improving. The big winners are commuters who travel in the morning on the westbound side of Route 50 in Maryland, where a carpool lane was added since the last study.

But there's also evidence that such relief could be fleeting: A carpool lane that was added to the Dulles Toll Road before the 1999 study resulted in noticeable improvements early on, but six years later the road is completely congested.

The report also indicated that problems are mounting fastest in Virginia, home to four of the top five places on the list of roads where conditions are changing rapidly. "Virginia is getting a lot of the growth in employment and household growth," Kirby said. "Put those together, and you have traffic growth."

Kirby said the best short-term solution for Washington area commuters lies in express toll lanes, which are planned on almost all major commuter routes. Transportation officials are drawn to the concept because tolls could be adjusted according to traffic levels, allowing them to control congestion.

Express toll lanes "are the single biggest opportunity on the horizon to make major improvements within the next five to 10 years," Kirby said.

Another promising development for Washington area commuters is that Virginia leaders are planning to build express toll lanes on I-95/395 in the next few years, which could help alleviate congestion on three of the worst stretches of highway in the region.

A new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, half of which is scheduled to open in the spring, could also ease backups at another trouble spot, while the District is in the early stages of revamping the congested 11th Street Bridge.

The report showed "there are spot improvements that we can make," said Montgomery County Council member Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty), who also serves as chairman of COG's Transportation Planning Board. "We have to start to say: How do we take that next step? We can't just keep sticking our neck in the sand."