Virginia Seeks To Extend HOT Lanes In Maryland Over American Legion Bridge

The American Legion Bridge already carries 300,000 cars per day, and is expected to be expanded.

Top Virginia transportation officials on Wednesday will present the findings of a study started in 2013 examining traffic volumes over the Potomac River (pdf) and will recommend to a key panel that the state pursue extending the 495 Express Lanes over the American Legion Bridge into Maryland.

The American Legion Bridge connecting the two states west of D.C. carries 300,000 cars per day, the most of the eight Potomac crossings used by automobiles. The study also measured congestion over three transit bridges, two used by Metro and one by VRE.

Based on traffic volumes, travel patterns, and growth forecasts, Virginia Deputy Transportation Secretary Nick Donohue will recommend the state focus on expanding the American Legion Bridge by extending the 14-mile Express Lanes over the river and north into Maryland, all the way to the I-270 spur.

The HOV/toll lanes on the 495 Beltway opened in November 2012, stretching from the I-395/I-95 interchange to the Dulles Toll Road, where the Express Lanes merge with the regular purpose lanes causing a terrible bottleneck heading north toward the bridge.

“We do want to try to start working with Maryland to find a way to address the issues there. We want to make clear this isn’t something Virginia can do on its own,” said Donohue in an interview with WAMU 88.5.

The deputy transportation secretary will present a 40-page report to the influential Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), whose members are appointed by the governor, in Richmond on Wednesday. In Virginia, no major road or transit project may move forward without the CTB’s backing.

The CTB is expected to make a decision on whether to pursue VDOT’s recommendation at its meeting in September. Donohue said the state is not prioritizing the construction of a new outer bridge west of the American Legion Bridge, an idea Maryland consistently has opposed. Maryland transportation officials were unavailable for comment on the proposal to extend the 495 Express Lanes into their state.

“Based on a lot of transportation issues – where people start and end their trips – as well as Maryland’s position on a western crossing, at this point staff is recommending to the Commonwealth Transportation Board that they focus on extending HOT lanes across the American Legion and onto the Maryland side of the Beltway,” Donohue said.

During a typical morning rush hour, close to 50,000 cars cross the American Legion Bridge in both directions, the most of any Potomac crossing. The 14th Street and Wilson Bridges are the next most congested, each with roughly 45,000 vehicles.

More than 23,000 vehicles cross from Virginia into Maryland over the American Legion Bridge each morning, according to the VDOT study, accounting for 14 percent of commuter throughput into Maryland or D.C. Metro’s Rosslyn tunnel carries the most people out of Virginia, 43,400 each morning, along the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines. The study estimates capacity through the tunnel would increase 15 percent if Metro used exclusively 8-car trains.

The problems at the American Legion Bridge are most acute during afternoon rush hour. The study determined traffic on the Beltway’s outer loop during the peak afternoon travel time travels only 34 miles per hour, or 64 percent of the posted speed limit. On the inner loop, it is 22 miles per hour, or 41 percent of the speed limit.

Virginia Seeks To Extend HOT Lanes In Maryland Over American Legion Bridge