Tuesday, April 2, 2013
A special promotion is in effect April 6 and 7 to encourage travelers to try out the new express lanes.
Drivers this weekend can use the I-495 Beltway Express Lanes for free—no E-ZPass required. The free weekend, April 6 and 7, is part of an educational campaign to encourage Beltway drivers to try the new travel option on the Virginia side of the Capital Beltway and see how the Express Lanes can work for them, according to the 495 Express Lanes project. In addition to two full days of free travel, the Express Lanes will also lift the E-ZPass requirement. Drivers can travel on the Express Lanes with or without an E-ZPass and will not be charged a toll. At all other times, drivers are required to travel with an E-ZPass; carpoolers must have an E-ZPass Flex. Free Express Lanes travel is only available April 6 and 7 to two-axle vehicles. Free …
Friday, March 29, 2013
The Virginia Department of Transportation has sold Hunting Point, formerly named Hunting Towers, to Hunting Point Apartments LLC, which is managed by Chicago-based Laramar Group.
The Virginia Department of Transportation on Friday sold Hunting Point, the two eight-story apartment buildings in Alexandria's south end, to realty firm Laramar Group. VDOT acquired the apartment buildings in 2001 to make room for the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The buildings' former owner, Kay Management, had the right to buy the property back from VDOT but at the time, the two parties couldn't come to an agreement, according to Deputy City Manager Mark Jinks. According to Richard Bennett, VDOT's state right of way and utilities director, the contract consideration was $81 million, but VDOT received less than that amount as various adjustments and credits were applied. The net proceeds will be applied to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project…
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Local bicyclist involved in accident advocates for better bicycling conditions on Route 1.
Belle View resident Mark Murphy bikes to and from work. Every day, he rides through a side trail where Richmond Highway crosses the Capital Beltway at the gateway to southern Fairfax County. On Jan. 4, Murphy was hit by a car entering the Hampton Inn parking lot on his ride home from work. “The driver didn’t see me riding along the trail, although I had on a reflective vest and two headlights. I didn’t see his turn signal, if it was on,” Murphy said in a blog post on the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) blog. “When his car turned towards me, I slammed on my brakes but couldn’t get out of his way in time and when he hit me, I flipped up onto his car’s hood.” Murphy suffered minor injuries as a result. He was frustrated by the …
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Department says new technology will allow officials to track plows, redirect them to emergencies this winter.
When its snows in Northern Virginia this winter, the Virginia Department of Transportation says it's ready to meet it head-on, with a $55 million budget and new resources, including technology that allows for more efficient plowing and an increased road-salt supply. At a briefing about the department's winter preparedness plans Wednesday in Fairfax, Branco Vlacich, VDOT’s Northern Virginia maintenance engineer, said 4,000 trucks would be available to plow snow and keep roads clear this winter — 1,000 more trucks than VDOT had during the harsh winter of 2010. About 2,200 of the 4,000 trucks will be equipped with Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) technology, enabling officials to locate plow trucks are and deploy them to the nearest emergency …
Thursday, June 14, 2012
You can find comprehensive travel information via VDOT's 511 service on your phone, the web and now as an app for iOS and Android devices.
Last month, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced that their 511 service is now available for Android phones and tablets and Apple's iPhones and iPads as a free app. The service was previously available via phone calls to the 511 number and on the web at www.511virginia.org. As we all too well know, summertime travel on Virginia roads can be unpredictable. There are of course some known knowns, to paraphrase a former Secretary of Defense, such as I-95 South will be a parking lot every Friday from 2 p.m. onward. But when you encounter stalled traffic on a late evening mid-week as you try to run errands or when you find out too late that there are going to be periodic lane closures on the beltway to accommodate …
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Motorists: Give your opinion to the agency by June 12.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Virginia E-ZPass, the Department of Transportation program that gives automatic transponders to motorists to speed up travel at toll booths, is considering a $1 monthly fee to cover administrative and operations costs. In an e-mail to E-ZPass customers, program administrators said the number of users is expected to double over the next several years as new toll roads open. The fee will help cover administrative and operations costs. "VDOT has the utmost understanding that E-ZPass operations brings convenience and efficiency to toll operations. E-ZPass allows for electronic toll collection at Virginia toll facilities and lessens the need for manual collection," the email said. "However, there is a cost to providing the service to the …
Friday, May 25, 2012
Alexandria City Council lets potential buyers of Hunting Towers know it wants to maintain affordable housing in south Old Town.
The Alexandria City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday at City Hall affirming the current zoning of the Hunting Towers apartments and the city’s commitment to preserving the market affordable and workforce housing in the complex in south Old Town. The Virginia Department of Transportation purchased Hunting Towers and the nearby Hunting Terrace in 2001 to make room for the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. VDOT is now looking to sell the property—valued at $61 million—and will begin taking sealed bids from potential buyers beginning this summer. “Essentially what we are trying to do with this statement is let potential owners know we want to keep this workforce through whatever way we possibly can,” Councilman Rob Krupicka said. “The second …
Monday, October 31, 2011
In their response to the first of six questions posed by Patch, the candidates for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors discuss county versus state control of area roads.
The four candidates running for chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors answered six questions by email for Patch. We will feature one question over the next six days, with the unedited answers by each of the candidates. Incumbent Democrat Sharon Bulova (website, Facebook, Twitter) Independent Christopher DeCarlo (website, YouTube) Republican Michael “Spike” Williams (website, Facebook) Independent Will Radle (Facebook, YouTube) Question #1: Should Fairfax County take local control of its roads, as some surrounding jurisdictions, or allow VDOT's continued control? Explain. Sharon Bulova The State is increasingly making overtures about turning the road system (which is now pretty much entirely a State responsibility) over to …
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Supervisor McKay says Best Way entrance is unsafe, but VDOT disagrees. Raised concrete medians are planned.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is modifying the I-495 off-ramp to N. Kings Highway after a resident complained of numerous accidents. Juan Barnett, a government employee who lives at the corner of N. Kings Highway and Katherine Street across from the rear entrance to Best Way supermarket, began submitting complaints about accidents in October 2010. Since moving to his house in March 2010, Barnett says has seen at least five accidents at the intersection. He has sent VDOT, county supervisors and the Fairfax County Police photos of accidents, as well as a Youtube video of the aftermath of a crash in January 2011. The problem is the Best Way market’s rear entrance, he told Patch. Barnett thinks the entrance is dangerous because …
Friday, June 10, 2011
The third part of a continuing series of interviews with key officials.
A transportation “catastrophe” looms for Northern Virginia unless the September move of 6,400 federal workers to Alexandria’s Mark Center is delayed, according to Sean Connaughton, Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation. “This is essentially putting a cork in the main artery into Washington,” said Connaughton, who acknowledged that the Mark Center location for the Washington Headquarters Service is an issue of national security. “The Department of Defense has been smart to locate some of their facilities along major interstates – except for this one.” Base Realignment and Closure will bring an “immensely negative impact” to Northern Virginia’s roadways, said Connaughton, who spoke with Patch after a speech at Shenandoah University in …
interested
3:14 pm on Saturday, March 30, 2013
I would encourage the Laramer Group to sit down with the residents as soon as possible to give them some information on what is planned in the short term and in the longer term. more ›