Unclogging I-66: Va. Has Possibilities Aplenty

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TO THOSE WHO MIGHT be tiring of our reports about crowding on the Orange Line and the inevitable need to split it from the Blue Line, please bear with us for one more installment of transportation futurism. This time, let's focus on Interstate 66, specifically the portion between Rosslyn and the Dulles Toll Road.

If you ask transportation planners, the Orange Line and the crowded highway — sporting only two lanes in either direction through Arlington County — are essentially part of the same transportation corridor. Crowding on one affects congestion on the other. And both are packed, as anyone who travels them knows all too well.

Next week, the Virginia Department of Transportation will host a public meeting to go over an all-you-can-eat buffet of possibilities for I-66, and one option has to do something with that pie-in-the-sky idea we discussed yesterday: Digging a crosstown M Street subway line through the District to relieve congestion in Virginia.

Of course, officials are a long way from breaking ground on any new construction, and considering that Virginia — and the rest of the region for that matter — doesn't have billions upon billions of dollars just sitting around to solve various transportation crises, they're also not at a point to start figuring out how expanded transportation links across Arlington County could be funded.

But let's take a look at the possibilities — which could include everything from a long-awaited subway station in Georgetown to express buses on I-66 to upping the carpool restrictions from a two-person minimum to a three-person minimum to adding a new outbound lane to the highway. And it's that last possibility that could stir the passions of entrenched Arlingtonians.

» A QUICK BACKGROUNDER: When I-66 was originally planned, it was supposed to be a much larger and wider freeway, including dual Potomac River crossings — one being the current Theodore Roosevelt Bridge and a second that would have been built west of the Key Bridge. Fierce protests and agreements with the Arlington County government forced the highway plans to be scaled back to two lanes in each direction with rush-hour carpool restrictions. But with the rise of the reverse commute, contra-flow congestion on I-66 has grown to be mindboggling. Weekend gridlock, too, is not uncommon. And for emergency management officials forced to plan for a potential mass evacuation of the nation's capital, I-66 is a clogged artery, with Rosslyn — pictured here in 1982 during I-66's construction — and its two Potomac crossings becoming the nexus of a massive backup.

» THE (RELATIVELY) EASY OPTIONS: One thing is clear: Any potential expansion of I-66 would not require any expansion of the current right of way the freeway sits within, sans a few vacant parcels of land. That is why adding a third outbound lane between the Rosslyn tunnel and the Dulles Toll Road — for added evacuation capacity, supporters say — is a relatively simple option. But could that extra space for a third lane could be used for greater mass transit capacity through the I-66 corridor? VDOT, in its "Idea 66" master document, has laid out a number of possible uses. If you want the nitty-gritty details, this writer suggests you carefully inspect Section 5, but we'll sum up the non-Metrorail options before diving into the big proposal to dig a new Metrorail tunnel.

1.) Don't Do Much of Anything: No expansion. Introduction of HOV-3 restrictions on I-66. Eight-car trains on Orange Line.
2.) HOT/HOV Expansion: Regional transportation plans already plan for HOV-3 restrictions on I-66 by 2030. Carpool restrictions would be expanded to non-rush hour periods. New high-occupancy toll lanes could be introduced. There are various ways to either crowd more people into cars or make it expensive to drive on the highway.
3.) Access Improvements: Part of I-66's congestion problems are tied to crowding at onramps, particularly at Fairfax Drive and Sycamore Street. Access configuration could be improved.
4.) Squeeze I-66: Shoulders and travel lanes could be narrowed to add capacity.
5.) Express Bus: An additional lane could be created for express buses linking the District, Arlington County and outer suburban areas outside the Capital Beltway. Express service could link the Fairfax County Government Center to Union Station; Vienna to Crystal City; Reston/Herndon to Union Station and West Falls Church to Union Station. Some bus rapid transit plans include options to tie into the District's planned K Street Busway, with dedicated express bus stations in Arlington County along I-66.

Interestingly enough, Metro's incoming chief, John Catoe, is coming to Washington after a long tenure in the Los Angeles transit community, where he was known for bus transit innovations that are cheaper — but by no means perfect — alternatives to expanding rail transit. (This writer has heard a few theories tossed about by transit observers that Catoe's hiring was tied to the fact that because a massive Metrorail expansion is not financially possible, the region needs to innovate transit via expanded bus infrastructure.)

» A NEW (AND VERY EXPENSIVE) SUBWAY LINE: As has been pointed out, the planned Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport via Tysons Corner will add to the capacity pressures facing the Orange-Blue line chokepoint at Rosslyn. While rerouting the Blue Line from Franconia-Springfield could relieve this pressure, the ultimate solution is a very expensive — approximately $3.85 billion, according to the Idea 66 document — new M Street subway line linking Union Station in the District and the East Falls Church station in Virginia via six miles of "rock tunnel" (including stops at Mount Vernon Square, Connecticut Avenue, New Hampshire Avenue, Georgetown and Rosslyn) and seven miles of at-grade track along I-66 (with a station at Glebe Road to the north of the current Ballston station.)

The new subway line would tie together the already planned Dulles Metrorail extension with the current Blue Line track coming from Alexandria and the Pentagon.

Lots to digest here. If you're interested in learning more or voicing your opinion, be sure to attend next week's meeting at Washington and Lee High School in Arlington on Monday, from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. We're a long, long way from seeing any sort of relief on I-66 or on the Orange Line. But it can't hurt to consider the possibilities.

I-66 photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post; archival photo of I-66 construction from The Washington Post; planning images courtesy VDOT