VDOT puts more wheels on the shoulder
By Alexandra Bogdanovic
In an effort to make what has often been called one of the country's worst commutes less taxing, the Virginia Department of Transportation recently gave area motorists some extra “drive time.”
On Aug. 25, VDOT extended the times during which drivers can use the shoulders on certain parts of Interstate 66 as travel lanes. Commuters can now drive on the shoulder between U.S. 50 and the Beltway from 5:30 to 11 a.m., and from 2 p.m to 8 p.m.
The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the AAA immediately questioned the change, citing safety concerns.
The organization has questions about what happens if a car breaks down while the shoulders were being used for travel.
“We applaud VDOT for being concerned about gridlock on I-66,” said Lon Anderson, a spokesman for the organization. “They should be concerned. The daily gridlock on that interstate may be the worst in our region. But solving gridlock at the expense of traffic safety is like making a deal with the devil — the short-term gains can be good, but long-term, some motorists will likely be seriously injured or killed because there were no shoulders.”
Anderson referenced a “highly publicized” case in January 2000 as justification for his concern.
That incident, which claimed a motorist's life after his car broke down, occurred shortly after the shoulders were converted into “active traffic-bearing lanes,” Anderson said.
1st Sgt. Alvin Blankenship of the Virginia State Police, who is assigned to the Area 9 Office in Fairfax, said there haven't been any accidents that can be directly related to the shoulders being open to traffic in the past couple of weeks.
“We have had some close encounters, but that's going to happen,” Blankenship said.
He added that the extended use of the shoulders as travel lanes will affect emergency response to incidents on the roadway and could be confusing to people who are not from this area.
See the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story...