- HOV restrictions on I-66, I-95 and I-395 will be lifted on Monday, July 4. Normal HOV restrictions will be in place on Friday, July 1, and Tuesday, July 5.
- Northbound/southbound schedule for the I-95/395 reversible lanes: Lanes will be southbound from 1 p.m., Friday until 2 p.m. Saturday; and northbound from 4 p.m. Saturday through 7:30 p.m. Monday. On Monday, the lanes will be northbound until 7:30 p.m., and southbound from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. Tuesday. The lanes will re-open northbound by 3 a.m. July 5.
- July 4 event traffic: To accommodate travelers attending Fourth of July events in Washington, the Virginia Department of Transportation will coordinate and adjust signal timings at approximately 116 signalized intersections along major arterial roads, including U.S. 1, 29, 50 and Va. 7, 123, 236 and 244. Signals will be timed to help move traffic into the District during the day and then south and west from the city between 9:30 p.m. and midnight.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge
- Drivers are urged to travel to Maryland’s eastern shore / Ocean City, Md., Deleware Beaches using the Chesapeake Bay Bridge during off-peak times, before 2 p.m. Friday, before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m. Saturday, before 11 a.m. and after 10 p.m. Sunday.
Hampton Roads / Virginia Beach / Outer Banks, N.C.
- Drivers are urged \to use the Interstate 664 Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel as an alternative to the I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel to access Virginia Beach or Outer Banks, N.C.
Metro
- The transit system says they’ll be geared up to handle the increased volume of riders on Independence Day.
- Click here to see the Metro’s full service schedule for Monday.
- The Smithsonian station on the Blue and Orange lines will be closed until after the conclusion of the fireworks display on the National Mall. Metro urges riders trying to get downtown to see the fireworks to use Farragut North, Federal Center SW, Capitol South, L’Enfant Plaza, Archives Navy Memorial, Union Station or Judiciary Square stations.
- All regularly scheduled track work for Monday has been canceled due to the anticipated volume of riders.
Virginia Railway Express
- No service Monday
Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission OmniRide, OmniLink
- No service Monday
Motorists will soon enjoy shorter travel times from Prince William County into Fairfax County after the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) opens an additional northbound lane of Interstate 95 across the Occoquan River on Friday, June 17.
This portion of the northbound lanes stretches 2.5 miles from Route 123 to the Route 1. It is part of the final phase of the I-95 widening project. Â
“This northbound lane will play a big role with the morning rush hour traffic, said H.S. Warraich, VDOT project manager. “We’ll open the southbound side in a few weeks and commuters will notice immediately,” Warraich added.
By July 4, weather permitting, the southbound lane will open, but for the remainder of the summer, crews will still be finishing up soundwalls and landscaping but will be out of the travel lanes so there will be minor traffic impacts.
The $123 million I-95 Widening project runs approximately six miles from the Fairfax County Parkway to Route 123 in Prince William County. Construction of the three-phased project began in 2008. Phase I, the northbound lane from the Route 1 on-ramp to the parkway, was completed in December 2009. Phase II was the southbound lane from the parkway to the Furnace Road overpass. It was completed in October 2010. For more information, go to VAmegaprojects.com.
-Press release
Taking the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on Interstate 95 Tuesday? Make sure your car has three or more occupants.
Virginia State Police along with other agencies are cracking down on those who violate the HOV laws as part of a stepped up enforcement effort, Capital HOV Awareness Day.
Police will be out in force during both the morning and evening rush hours driving the length of the lanes as well as sitting along the highway trying to spot violators, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.
The enforcement methods will shift throughout the morning and evening to avoid traffic backups.
While vehicles on HOV lanes on I-95 and 395 must have three or more occupants, vehicles on I-66 must have two occupants to use the lanes.
Police in Maryland will also step up enforcement on their HOV lanes, on I-270 and the John Hanson Highway (U.S. 50).
During the special HOV enforcement last year, police issued 2,300 summons and arrests over the two-day enforcement period, said Geller.
A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Prince William County until 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
It comes as a large area of storms is moving east from the Charlottesville area into the Potomac Communities.
Temperatures have been hovering the in the high 80s and low 90s today, with periods of bright sunshine, making conditions ripe for scattered thunderstorms.
The forecast calls for more storms into the evening hours and throughout the day Sunday.
Temperatures are forecasted to drop significantly on Monday and Tuesday, as temps on Tuesday should hover in the mid-70s, according to the National Weather Service.
Prince William County, Va. –– The unemployment rate for jurisdictions along the Potomac River continues to fall.
Stafford County’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in April, down from 5.6 percent in April 2010.
Prince William County also posted a 4.9 percent unemployment number, down from 5.7 one-year ago.
While the two jurisdictions aren’t leading the region in job creation, officials in Prince William County this week credited the federal government and private sector jobs for the rise in the recent employments statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, which are well below the national unemployment average of 9.1 percent in May.
“Prince William County is located at the center of Northern Virginia, and our residents provide the highly skilled workforce needed to fill the jobs created throughout the Northern Virginia region,” said Prince William Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart in a press release. “We are committed to providing solutions for the federal government and private sector industries – particularly with regard to BRAC, the life sciences, data centers and government contractors – which continue to bring quality jobs to Prince William County and the rest of the Northern Virginia region.”
Arlington leads the area with the lowest unemployment rate of 3.4 percent, while Loudoun County comes in second with 3.9 percent, according to the Labor Department.
Fairfax County shows an unemployment rate of 4.0 percent.
Virginia localities still struggling to regain ground the economy is Martinsville, with an unemployment rate of 20.6 percent –– the lowest unemployment rate in the state.
Williamsburg has the second-worst unemployment rate in the state at 15.6 percent.
Woodbridge, Va. –– A line of severe thunderstorms moved through the Potomac Communities late Thursday night bringing reports of ping pong-ball size hail in Woodbridge.
Much of the area was placed under a severe thunderstorm warning by the National Weather Service shortly after 11 p.m. The slow-moving storms brought heavy rain, high winds and dangerous lightning.
Large hail was also reported, according to the weather service.
The storms came after the region saw nearly record-breaking temperatures on Thursday.
Reagan Washington National Airport flirted with the 100 degree mark for much of the afternoon, and by 3:52 p.m. the mercury had reached 101 degrees. Add four to five degrees to that temperature for the heat index and that’s what people felt when they ventured out of the air conditioning.
A heat advisory was in effect throughout the day, expiring at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Temperatures will fall back into the lower 90s on Friday and into the high 80s for the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The possibility of showers and thunderstorms remain in the forecast over the next three days.
Unedited video of lightning rolling through Lake Ridge just before midnight Thursday.
Woodbridge, Va. –– Officials want Metro to show riders they plan to someday extend system to the Potomac Communities.
In a letter to the Washington Metropolitan Transportation Authority today, Virginia State Sen. Toddy Puller (D-36, Prince William, Stafford), Del. Luke Torian (D-52, Dumfires, Woodbridge) and Del. Scott Surrovel (D-44, South Fairfax) urged the agency to include an extension of the system’s Blue Line to Woodbridge and Yellow Line to Fort Belvoir on a newly redesigned subway system map that will be used by riders.
The politicians say residents along the Richmond Highway (U.S. 1) corridor are crying out for an extension of the Yellow Line because of the military’s BRAC relocation of personnel to Fort Belvoir, which is expected to bring at least 19,000 new employees to the garrison.
A Blue Line extension would allow employees who are being relocated from the National Geospatial Defense Facility in Rosslyn to the Engineering Proving Grounds on Fort Belvoir to use the rail instead of being forced to drive on Interstate 95, the letter stated.
“It would serve the fastest growing part of Fairfax County over the last 10 years around the former Lorton Prison site. Extending the Blue Line to Woodbridge and Dale City would spur revitalization to the Route 1 corridor, bring relief to people with some of the longest commutes in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and take cars off the constantly clogged Interstate I-95,” the letter stated.
A $2 million transit study approved by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell will examine transportation improvements in the area between the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Quantico Marine Corps Base. These three officials hope a Metro rail extension will be largely considered during this study.
The letter comes as Metro announced it would redesign it’s 40-year-old system map to reflect the addition of the system’s new Silver Line to Tysons Corner, and eventually Dulles Airport.
An extension of Metro’s Blue Line to Woodbridge quickly became a campaign issue in 2009, but officials never said how they would fund such an extension.
The idea was supported by then Delegate Paul Nichols, but he went onto lose to Del. Richard Anderson (R-51, Lake Ridge) who said he supported providing additional funding to Virginia Railway Express rather than Washington’s Metro system.
As the Metro map is set for a redesign, Greater Greater Washington has invited its readers to submit their ideas for a newly redesigned map. You can see those designs here.
The heat and humidity will make a return to the Potomac Communities on Wednesday.
Temperatures are expected to climb into the mid 90s, and heat index values will make it fell as hot as 105 degrees outside, according to the National Weather Service.
That has prompted a heat advisory for the area from noon until 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Residents are urged to stay indoors in air conditioning, put off strenuous activity until the late evening or do it during the early morning hours, know the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke and to wear light-colored clothing.
Teachers who want to take grant money from Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and put it toward pay incentives to hire teachers for hard-to-staff schools in Prince William County, reports Insidenova.com.
Where’s Virginia’s high-speed rail?
A prominent Virginia businessman says Virginia just doesn’t get the big picture when it comes to high-speed rail, and that’s he’s disappointed in Gov. Robert F. McDonnell for not doing more to bring faster trains to the state, reports the Washington Post.
Roads with route numbers above 600 may be out of luck
If the route numbers are above 600, they may not be widened for some time, reports My Piece of the Planet.
Stuart wins award for helping to protect the Chesapeake
When it comes to protecting the Chesapeake Bay, Sen. Richard Stuart (R, 28th –– Stafford, Prince William) has won an award for his efforts, reports Fredericksburg.com.
Groupon loses, so what does that mean for another popular coupon site
The Washington Business Journal asks what do losses for social coupon site Groupon say about Washington-based competitor Living Social?
