Transit buses will use I-66 shoulders for faster commute

If you’re a bus rider on Interstate 66, get ready the possibility of a faster commute at 25 mph.

If you’re a driver on I-66, get ready to see transit buses passing you on the shoulder.

A new pilot project called I-66 Bus On Shoulder starting March 23 will allow OmniRide commuter buses to use the shoulder lanes of I-66 when highway speeds drop below 35 mph. When these buses hit congestion, bus drivers will be allowed to pull onto the highway shoulders at certain sections and continue past traffic congestion at 25 mph.

Bus drivers will be able to utilize about six miles of a shoulder lane along I-66, and just over a mile of shoulder on a portion of the road that connects to Dulles Toll Road.

Here’s a complete breakdown of segments of highway transit bus drivers will able to use:

• Extension of the existing shoulder use on the eastbound Dulles Connector Road where it ends at the West Falls Church Metro station to the merge onto eastbound I-66 near the Great Falls Street overpass
• Eastbound I-66 from the US 29 overpass near Spout Run Parkway to N. Quinn Street
• Westbound I-66 from beyond the Rosslyn Tunnel (N. Nash Street) to the US 29 overpass near Spout Run Parkway
• Westbound I-66 from the N. Quincy Street underpass to the auxiliary lane beyond North Fairfax Drive

The I-66 On Shoulder project is a $600,000 pilot program that will test how allowing buses to use the shoulder lane to skirt traffic congestion will work. Later this year, more transit providers will be allowed to use the shoulders after agreements are formed by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the respective transit companies.

The shoulder traffic pattern was put in place on the Dulles Connector Road since 2000, according to officials. The program is modeled after a similar bus-on-shoulder traffic patter in Minnesota, which has about 300 shoulder lane miles open for transit bus use.

The get the highway ready for the new program, crews spent the better part of the past year trimming trees, relocating mileposts, placing new signs, and widening portions of the shoulders than needed them, according to officials.

The bus on shoulder program announcement comes after state officials announced they want to place express toll lanes in I-66, similar to the E-ZPass Express Lanes that opened on I-95 late last year