Lake Ridge relief: Details on fixes for Old Bridge Road at Route 123. Weigh in this week on what actually gets fixed.

LAKE RIDGE — If you’ve ever crossed the Occoquan River bridge on Route 123 while traveling south from Fairfax County, you know about the constant backups.

On weekday afternoons, the right lane of three slows quickly as drivers queue up to turn right onto Old Bridge Road for the last leg of their commutes into eastern Prince William County.

That intersection of Route 123 (Gordon Boulevard) and Old Bridge Road is one of the worst in the Old Bridge Road corridor — the main thoroughfare of Lake Ridge.

Locals and Waze users take this road to access Interstate 95, instead of using Prince William Parkway one exit to the south.

The level of service at this intersection — a ranking by which traffic engineers rate the effectiveness of a crossroads — is described as failing.

And no matter which way you are trying to go through this intersection each weekday, morning or afternoon, you’re going to get stuck in average delays of a minute or more, according to a new Old Bridge Road Engineering Study.

The not so short-cut

Oh, you can try to get around it, as some have tried using a shortcut through a residential neighborhood. But it won’t help.

The study showed drivers who are using the shortcut on weekday afternoons are turning off Route 123 early, turning right onto Commerce Street at the entrance to Occoquan town, then left on Washington Street, which then becomes Occoquan Road that takes them to Old Bridge Road.

The “shortcut” is slower by as much as two minutes, rather than if drivers simply would’ve stuck to the main roads, according to the study.

People may choose to use this route because, to them, it feels like they are consistently moving and not sitting in a traffic jam, the study concludes.

Proposed fixes

So, what can be done about it? A lot, the study points out.

First, a left turn lane from eastbound Old Bridge Road into a Fast Fuels gas station on the corner of Route 123 could be removed so a left turn lane from Old Bridge Road to Route 123 could be extended. That would help ease the drive for morning commuters headed across the Occoquan River into Fairfax County.

For those headed home in the evenings, closing off the intersection of Admiral Drive at Route 123, and extending the right turn lane for drivers turning right from 123 onto Old Bridge Road would create more capacity.

Admiral Drive is an entrance to the Occoquan Landing, a neighborhood lined with townhomes. If closed off, the new main entrance from Route 123 would become Flagship Drive at Route 123, one block north.

Big ideas for 10 Old Bridge intersections 

I chose to examine Old Bridge Road at Route 123 for this post because it is the congestion-plagued entrance to the Old Bridge corridor.

The traffic study cited in this post was authorized and funded by Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson’s office. She’s been committed to working with residents, local officials, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and this news organization to find solutions to Old Bridge Road gridlock. 

The study tackles not only this intersection but 10 major intersections in the corridor between Route 123 and the end of Old Bridge Road at Prince William Parkway and Touchstone Circle.

And the same engineers have made similar recommendations for all of the intersections — things like installing barriers to reduce crashes, consolidate the entrances to the Tacketts Mill shopping center, and straighten some of Old Bridge Road’s most curved sections.

You can learn more about the study, see the intersections, and hear more about the proposed improvements at an upcoming meeting at Old Bridge Elementary School in Lake Ridge. The meeting is organized by Supervisor Anderson and will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22.

The upcoming session is the latest in a series of meetings Anderson has held since taking office in 2016 as part of her Old Bridge Road Think Tank. Last spring, Potomac Local participated by buying beer for about 100 people who came to Waters End Brewery to chime in at our Old Bridge Road forum.

Right now, the recommended fixes to Old Bridge Road all remain unfunded. The input gathered from people who comment at the meeting will be used by traffic engineers who will “go back to the drawing board,” said Anderson, to formulate a plan that will determine which improvements could go forward and be submitted for funding.

Back at the intersection of Old Bridge and Route 123, the area is prone to crashes. There were 21 crashes here between 2014 and 2017, three of them with reported injuries.

Overall, Old Bridge Road carries between 38,000 and 59,000 cars and an average day.