HOV Traffic Backups on 395 HOV

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   Every day the HOV lanes are backed up in the morning from King or Glebe to the exit for the Pentagon. I heard that there is only 1 lane to exit the pentagon, but there used to be two. This new traffic pattern is causing daily delays in the HOV lane. Is this permanent?

	[V]

	Sarah P

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darkstar057 Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 08 Dec 2010 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote darkstar057 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: HOV Traffic Backups on 395 HOV Posted: 06 Jun 2011 at 12:58pm
	Every day the HOV lanes are backed up in the morning from King or Glebe to the exit for the Pentagon. I heard that there is only 1 lane to exit the pentagon, but there used to be two. This new traffic pattern is causing daily delays in the HOV lane. Is this permanent? [V] Sarah P

mpatoka Members Profile Find Members Posts Junior Slug Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 12	Post Options Post Reply Quote mpatoka Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 2011 at 3:30pm
	There is construction work being done on Rotary Rd (the road that circles around Pentagon South Parking) that is normally two lanes but one of those lanes has been diverted so you must drop-off in the Stafford/F'Burg slug lane. The other single lane continues through as normal. It is temporary and the entire project is supposed to be completed by January (the lanes may open earlier hopefully). The HOV exit to the Pentagon remains the same. The Pentagon police have extra personnel directing traffic through the new patterns and trying to get cars to pull as far forward as possible before dropping off slugs to keep traffic flowing. We were behind one of the idiot drivers that decided to stop in the crosswalk instead of pulling all the way forward which then caused cars to try to pull around him. Stuff like that adds to the backup. This morning and the past few mornings the backup has been about normal with the backup beginning where the left HOV exit to Rosslyn begins, which can be 10-15 minutes just to get into the Pentagon.

fed up Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote fed up Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 2011 at 4:05pm
	I think it might help with the flow of traffic on the HOV lanes if all traffic were made to take the right turn and follow that road around (as if you were picking up evening slugs). This would allow for more roadway for all the vehicles that use the Pentagon exit. For the buses, they could continue to go straight. Just my 2 cents worth.

smithma Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote smithma Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jun 2011 at 9:32am
	quote: Originally posted by fed up I think it might help with the flow of traffic on the HOV lanes if all traffic were made to take the right turn and follow that road around (as if you were picking up evening slugs). This would allow for more roadway for all the vehicles that use the Pentagon exit. For the buses, they could continue to go straight. Just my 2 cents worth. I don't see how that would help. All it would do would lengthen the time to get through the Pentagon, because you still come back to the single lane point on the Rotary road to get to the drop off points. Now if people were willing to be dropped off at the Springfield/Burke pick-up point that might help.

fed up Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote fed up Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jun 2011 at 12:51pm
	It would help by taking the traffic off of the HOV lanes and putting it into the parking lot of the Pentagon. This is one of the main reasons that traffic backs all the way to the Washington Boulevard exit most mornings.

darkstar057 Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 08 Dec 2010 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote darkstar057 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21 Jun 2011 at 8:49am
	This morning HOV lanes were terrible again, I don't understand how HOV 395 was backed up from Edsall all the way to the Pentagon. Is this still because of Rotary road construction? This is crazy. Thanks fellow sluggers for your responses! quote: Originally posted by fed up It would help by taking the traffic off of the HOV lanes and putting it into the parking lot of the Pentagon. This is one of the main reasons that traffic backs all the way to the Washington Boulevard exit most mornings. Sarah P

mpatoka Members Profile Find Members Posts Junior Slug Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 12	Post Options Post Reply Quote mpatoka Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21 Jun 2011 at 9:19am
	I think the traffic control is contributing to some of the backup, not sure if it is causing all of it. I've noticed that we sit without moving on the Pentagon off-ramp much longer since construction started. The traffic control cops seem to be holding the traffic entering the Pentagon from the HOV while they let all the busses leave the Pentagon. In some ways this makes sense because if the HOV ramp cars are stopped, then traffic leaving the Pentagon can continue to access the HOV ramp to DC or into Pentagon City without having to wait for the HOV ramp cars to stop and let them through. It is frustrating to sit there though when they don't let the cars through to "queue up" to turn left onto Rotary Rd. In the "normal" backup it used to take 10 minutes to move from the AF memorial to enter the Pentagon. Now it's taking at least 15 minutes to go that same half-mile distance so yes it it contributing to the backup.

Scraper Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 30 May 2008 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Scraper Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11 Jul 2011 at 11:37am
	What pisses me off is all the aholes that think their time is more valuable and time and time again cut in causing more delays. Hey aholes get in line!!!