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The evening commute to Stafford County on Interstate 95 could speed up under a plan to build a flyover to funnel carpool traffic onto Garrisonville Road.
Starting in late 2010 or 2011, carpool lanes in what is now the I-95 median could extend beyond Dumfries, where existing High Occupancy Vehicle lanes end.
Drivers could use those lanes years before the entire High Occupancy Toll lane project is finished, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. That nine-mile extension will carry HOV traffic and toll-paying vehicles.
Vehicles with one or two occupants will pay a toll to use the lanes, while vehicles with three or more occupants can use the lanes for free. A new right lane will be built on I-95 south so traffic can exit at Garrisonville Road, Exit 143, by flyover.
"In my mind, that's a major accomplishment," said Stafford Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer, one of several Stafford officials who pushed for an early extension of the carpool lanes. Dudenhefer and others do not want HOV traffic to merge into the left lane of I-95.
The current HOV lane merges into the left lane of I-95 south at Dumfries creating a bottleneck.
Virginia has an interim agreement to build toll lanes on I-95 with two private companies, Fluor Virginia Inc. and Transurban (USA) Development Inc.
the toll project
Fluor-Transurban will add a third lane to the current 28-mile HOV corridor running from the Pentagon to Dumfries, and build two new lanes in the center of the interstate another 28 miles from Dumfries to the Massaponax area in Spotsylvania County.
The Federal Highway Administration decided the dividing point between the project's two halves was Dumfries. This distinction was needed for the federally required environmental reviews.
The northern half will be built first. The southern end will not be finished until 2014.
That concerned Stafford supervisors, who did not want to wait for the more complicated environmental review of the southern half to be finished before Stafford had HOV access.
So Fluor-Transurban agreed to extend two toll lanes from Dumfries to just north of Exit 150/Joplin Road as part of the northern project.
One of the lanes will peel off before Joplin Road, letting drivers exit or continue on I-95 south. A single toll lane will continue south until just north of Aquia Creek, a short distance from the Garrisonville interchange. There, drivers will exit the toll lane via a flyover. The flyover will funnel traffic into a new right lane on I-95 south. From that lane, vehicles merge onto I-95 south or exit onto Garrisonville Road.
A "very optimistic" projection is that the toll lane to Garrisonville could open as early as late 2010, said Larry Cloyed, VDOT senior project manager for HOT lanes.
"The sun and the stars and the moon would have to line up perfectly," Cloyed said.
A 2011 opening would be more likely, he said, stressing these designs are preliminary and could change.
Also, Fluor-Transurban has yet to sign a final agreement with Virginia that allows construction to begin. Nothing will be built until that happens.
Stafford seeks changes
Dudenhefer has asked Fluor-Transurban to make two design adjustments.
In the current design, only southbound traffic can use the early toll lanes between Dumfries and Garrisonville in the northern project. Traffic would have to travel to Dumfries to use toll lanes when they are open north.
Dudenhefer asked the companies to consider adding an on-ramp from I-95 north at Garrisonville earlier than scheduled.
When the entire HOT lanes project is finished, northbound or southbound traffic will have access to the HOT lanes when they are open in that direction.
Also, Dudenhefer said the early HOT lane should continue past Aquia Creek to a point a quarter-mile south of Garrisonville Road, so HOV traffic headed beyond Garrisonville would not have to mix with cars exiting at North Stafford on the flyover. "They said they would consider it," Dudenhefer said.
Alterations to the design are possible, Cloyed said.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com
