Custis Trail Riders – Take the VDOT I-66 Survey

[eminva]

Dang, I already took the survey and I answered that I didn’t commute on I-66. It never occurred to me that that was meant to include the Custis and that I would have gotten an option like “bicycle” assuming I figured out the follow up question was “What mode of transportation do you use?” But overall, I found it one of the more confusing and ill conceived surveys I’ve taken in a while.

I don’t live in Arlington but I said NO to any new lanes on I-66. If there were a way to make that more emphatic, I would have. I also said they should make the whole thing HOV-3 and get rid of the exemption for hybrid vehicles. I am mean that way.

Liz

[DismalScientist]

I want to say “yes” to more lanes on I-66 and remove the HOV restrictions. This would divert cars from my commute routes (Washington Blvd, Fairfax, and Clarendon inbound). As long as I-66 remains in its walled canyon, I don’t care how many cars are on it.

[rcannon100]

I-66 wont stay a “walled canyon” if they add the lanes they want to. It will tear down homes, parks, schools… the Custis Trail. The reason its “NO” to new lanes is so that I-66 will stay in that current walled canyon. More lanes pretty much would mean tearing down the walls and significant destruction of N Arlington.

[americancyclo]

That was an awful survey. The wording was horribly biased, and I got mad when the options were ‘Build new lanes for Commuter buses’ or ‘Build new HOT lanes for everyone!’

Argh. Also, bicycling is NOT mentioned in that first page. Got the tip from Washcycle and pushed on through though.

And there’s more! I hated this question:

Next, think about what factors are important to you when deciding how you will commute. How important to you are the following factors in choosing how you commute on your morning commute trip?

Lack of barriers separating the HOV lanes from the general purpose lanes
Reducing your level of stress
Ability to find a carpool or slugging partner
Cost of tolls
Safety
Time alone to yourself
Availability of transportation if you have to be at work/school late or have to leave work/school unexpectedly
Price of gas
Being in control of your commute
Making productive use of your time during the commute
Flexibility

My considerations are weather and the equation goes like this:

Is it raining?
Yes. -> Bike to Metro.
No. -> Bike to Work.

[DismalScientist]

There is plenty of room between the sound walls. They added a third outbound lane between Glebe and Sycamore and didn’t change the sound walls. There are grass and trees in the median and on the sides. See http://www.arlnow.com/2011/10/04/group-renews-call-for-widening-of-i-66/. I live a block from I-66. Don’t succumb to the scare tactics. No one has ever proposed tearing down houses or making changes to the Custis trail.

Arlington made a big mistake by limiting traffic on I-66. Commuters are diverted to Arlington Blvd and Lee Highway, which more effectively split Arlington than the much better designed I-66. The diverted traffic to Washington Blvd. makes my neighborhood less pleasant.

According to http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Int66_MetroViennaRte.html, I-66 could be expanded to 8 lanes west of Spout Run and 6 lanes east of Spout Run all while staying within the sound walls.

[CCrew]

” Thank you for participating, but at the current time you do not qualify to participate. “

[Dirt]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that up.

[dasgeh]

When I took it, the question about commuting on 66 specified modes of transportation (car alone, bus, etc) but did not include biking.

@DismalScientist – The reason I oppose widening I66 is adding lanes usually increases the number of cars on the road. In the very short term (after construction is completed), some cars may be diverted from alternative routes to the new lanes. However, as people hear that there is now more room in the new lanes and/or on the alternative routes, more people will choose to drive alone. Some the end result is more cars on the road. And while it’s nice that the cars are stuck down in the 66-canyon while they’re on 66, they have to go somewhere from the canyon. Whether that means driving through the Rosslyn death trap to get to Gtown/Rosslyn, or increasing congestion on Arlington and DC streets, eventually the cars come out of the canyon, and potentially pose a hazard to people on bikes and on foot.

I’m a firm believer that the best long-term thing strategy for make biking and walking safer is to have fewer cars on the road — get those people on transit, in buses (and train bus drivers) and on bikes. Focus on Smart growth and discourage growth in exurbs. There are benefits all around.

[CCrew]

@Dirt 9630 wrote:

Interesting. Thanks for posting that up.

It tossed me to the curb on the “Do you work someplace xx” questions :p

[mstone]

There’s no way to represent biking less than 50% of the time. I complained about that in a follow up email. At least I got a $5 starbucks card–the survey took a lot longer than I expected.

[vvill]

Well, it wasn’t the most useful survey for bike commuters but I did get the Starbucks card…

I answered that I’d support a congestion charge, which I would, if the public transit was improved. When I lived in London where they have one of those, there isn’t too much traffic since no one wants to pay just to drive their car into the city, let alone parking/petrol/etc.

FWIW I think if they had a dedicated bus lane, and ran express buses/coaches from a few spots, such as Falls Church, Tysons Corner, Ballston, etc.. you could take a lot of people off I-66 and even off the Orange Line. It would be a better option than something like the horrible 38B bus.

[DismalScientist]

@dasgeh- I’ve seen these induced demand studies and I am certainly unconvinced by their methodology and conclusions. When I-66 was built, it was unusable by single driver commuters. Mass transit was available in the corridor. Separated bicycling facilities were provided. In spite of this, Fairfax County continued to grow and I would imagine that the primary means of commuting to work in Washington remains single occupancy drivers.

I think trying to induce Fairfax county folks to use transit will be difficult as residential density is not sufficient to have an efficient bus system. When commuters get to a Metro station, the lots and the trains are already full. Most people won’t even consider bicycling.

Folks in Arlington often promote Smart Growth, which means increased residential density near transit and work facilities. This often entails density that many folks don’t want. People want their lawns. At the same time, Arlington restricts growth.
East Falls Church residents are fighting against increased density where it logically should go. Arlington would never give up parkland to support more housing. This pushes people outward more than the quality of the road infrastructure. The result is higher land values for Arlington home owners (which, being one, I am all in favor :p) and miserable commutes for those that are forced to live farther out (and won’t consider bicycling).

The notion implicit in the 1970’s Arlington deal concerning I-66 is the Arlington could somehow limit Fairfax County’s growth or otherwise affect Fairfax County residents’ behavior by restricting transportation through Arlington. That has largely failed and now both Arlington and Fairfax are paying for it in increased congestion and traffic on local streets.

[eminva]

@DismalScientist 9644 wrote:

I think trying to induce Fairfax county folks to use transit will be difficult as residential density is not sufficient to have an efficient bus system. When commuters get to a Metro station, the lots and the trains are already full. Most people won’t even consider bicycling.

I live in Fairfax county and while my experience is anecdotal, it does not bear this out. Just taking the neighbors on my block who work in DC, not one drives in. I primarily bike, the rest take metro. They either get dropped off at the station by a spouse, walk (1 1/2 miles) or ride a moped or bike to the station. When I take metro, I take the bus to the metro station. It runs every half an hour during rush hour and there is a Fairfax Connector bus a couple of blocks away that also runs every half an hour. I find the system efficient. On the rare occasions I have driven to the station, I can get a parking spot if I get there by 8 a.m. The trains are crowded, I will give you that.

I can think of two friends who bought hybrids and drive to DC — one works very long hours and the other has a job that requires her to travel through many parts of DC, not all easily accessible by public transit. She would take metro if she didn’t have that obstacle.

I think the situation is very complicated, which makes solutions bedeviling. I guess I should have said good for VDOT for trying, even though I found the survey flawed.

Liz

[dasgeh]

Thanks, eminva!

@DismalScientist – I think one of the ways you can lessen the number of cars on the road is to make driving miserable. Another is to make it expensive. Once people realize that their default (driving) isn’t great, they start looking around for alternatives. If the alternatives aren’t readily available, they try to make them available. Look at the expansion of public transport in Fairfax County since the 1970s (as one anecdote). I’m pretty sure there’s lots of research out there on this, but there’s logic behind it.

As a last thought – where do you think all of these cars would go if I66 were widened? It’s easy to say “DC”, but (1) that’s not true and (2) the road and parking network in DC is already at capacity and there’s no extra space to dedicate to it. More congestion = more frustrated drivers = more road rage. I’d say 75% of the danger in my commute is caused by frustrated/impatient drivers, and I honestly believe that if they were more relaxed they would be more responsible. (E.g. not run stop signs to speed up to a stopped line of cars).

[DismalScientist]

Driving is already miserable and expensive. This is part of the reason that I don’t do it. However, the majority of people still do it. Alternatives (besides telecommuting and perhaps express buses) haven’t materialized. (Metro was built at the same time.) If people want to get on I-66, they can arrange carpools, but they don’t seem to. I-66 is probably the only road in the world that does not operate at capacity during rush hour, but is at capacity at all other times.

On the second point, that is exactly my point. Because the road and parking network are already at capacity, that is limiting the number of cars getting into DC. The question is not where would the cars go if I-66 is widened, but rather where would they come from. The answer is that they would come from drivers that are currently driving on Arlington Blvd, Lee Highway, and Washington Blvd because they are currently forbidden on I-66 at rush hour if single occupancy. I agree that congestion causes frustration. That is why I want the frustration on i-66 rather than on the roads on which I bicycle.

I find it ironic that bicyclists often advocate for segregated facilities for bicycles (and pedestrians) in order to reduce bicycle/car interactions, but at the same time condemn expanding segregated automotive facilities that would similarly reduce these same interactions.

My comments should not be construed as pro-car, but rather that the anti-I-66 argument is, in my opinion, flawed. Further, I think that Arlington’s insistence on keeping I-66 narrow and HOV led to unintended consequences that are more problematic than just having a wider highway inside the walls.

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