Traffic is so bad in Northern Virginia that transportation planners had to invent a new way to describe it. Planners often talk in terms of giving a grade to a road much like a report card. An "A" means free-flowing traffic, while an "F" means a stop-and go logjam. A few years ago, planners created the grade "G" to explain just how much worse than failing the roads in Northern Virginia are.
Now, after years of dashboard-pounding frustration, countless meetings, task forces, and promises, a plan that could result in hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation projects is on the verge of becoming reality.
Taking center stage will be the widening of the Capital Beltway and coming of Metrorail to Tysons Corner, Reston, Herndon, Dulles Airport and beyond.
The Beltway project is being built by private companies but will likely require some state funding to get off the ground. It could begin next spring and after five years of construction will add two lanes in each direction to Virginia’s portion of the Beltway. Three or more person carpools will use the lanes for free, but single or two-person vehicles will have to pay a toll that could range from 10 cents to $1 per mile.
Metrorail will likely cost more than $4 billion and, once complete, is projected to remove tens of thousands of drivers from the roads each day. The line could open in 2015. By 2030, 80,300 people will begin or end their trip on the new Metro line each day, according to state projections.
There are dozens of smaller projects planned — roads to be widened, intersections to be improved, trails to be built — with projects sponsored by the county, region and state.
There will be cultural changes beyond traffic impacts. People will be able to travel from Tysons Corner Center to the Reston Town Center without using a car. Triggers embedded in the county’s Comprehensive Plan will allow office towers and condo complexes in Tysons Corner to grow even taller.
How will the lives of area residents change after that long march and will the angst during years upon years of highway construction be worth the result?
Will people be able to spend more time in their home than in their car or will continued growth mean the years of roadwork is just running to stand still?