Construction Zone Ahead For N.Va.

VDOT Tries to Limit Tie-Ups in Tysons

Northern Virginia commuters are starting to navigate some of the biggest detours and traffic jams since the building of a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge and the reconfiguring of the Springfield interchange, amid a road and rail construction boom.

The biggest projects are the extension of Metrorail through Tysons Corner, eventually to Dulles International Airport, and high-occupancy toll lanes along 14 miles of the Capital Beltway from the Springfield interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road. Other projects include the rebuilding of the Telegraph Road interchange at Interstate 95, the widening of I-95 for six miles between the Fairfax County Parkway and Route 123 and completion of the parkway with a two-mile, four-lane segment through Fort Belvoir's Engineering Proving Ground.

The construction will go on for several years and involve lengthy, simultaneous lane and ramp closings and rerouting of vehicles. The Virginia Department of Transportation has budgeted $35 million to $45 million a year to pay private engineering and transportation management companies to coordinate the work. The money will pay for incident management crews, electronic message signs, Web sites, updates that can be sent to mobile phones and other portable devices, shuttle buses around Tysons Corner and information centers at shopping malls.

The Post interviewed two transportation experts who are responsible for helping commuters and other drivers navigate the dizzying detours, particularly in Tysons. Larry Marcus, program manager for traffic operations for ATCS, a planning and engineering firm hired by VDOT, and Steven Titunik, the agency's communications director for the region's megaprojects, answered The Post's questions.

Q What's the role of the traffic management team?

A Titunik: Through the next year, we're going to be working at almost every intersection in the area, plus 10 to 15 bridges will be rebuilt over the Beltway.

Marcus: We review the plans [to close lanes and ramps] to ensure that the proposed reduction in traffic capacity conforms to normal practices, as well as making sure the traffic impacts aren't too severe. We work closely with construction crews to balance the need to move construction forward with the need to limit traffic. In some cases, the impact on traffic would be great for some rerouting plans. In other cases, you've got to set the steel. And you have to get the word out that the traffic will be bad.

Before, during and after, we try to make things run as efficiently as possible and provide drivers with alternatives. We try to run traffic signals as efficiently as possible, in parallel corridors. With the continued lane shifts, things are very dynamic now. We do a calibrating analysis of what it will mean if you close this.

What's the biggest challenge you face trying to manage the construction zones in and around Tysons Corner?

Marcus: We've very cognizant of the impact of Tysons on the region. Disrupting people's lives is something we want to minimize. If you ask the builders to tell you a list of lane closures, they're going to take advantage of whatever they can to get the job done as quickly as possible. But we have to keep a wide eye open to make sure they're not biting off more than they can chew.

In Maryland, you've got the Intercounty Connector being built, so in isolated instances you see the construction. But they're not disrupting existing areas so much. In our projects, most of the work is done in existing right of ways. That's 200,000-plus people a day driving through the work zone.

What are some of the strategies you're using with commuters and employers to make their drive easier?