FABB Blog

 

I-95/395 HOT lanes public hearings

We attended one of the I-95/395 HOT lanes public hearings held last night in Springfield. As we noted in our earlier post, we were most concerned about the ped/bike bridge used by many commuters to cross I-95 near the Springfield Metro station and Springfield Mall.

The bridge is being torn down to make way for exit/entrance ramps for the new HOT lanes. In order to replace the ped/bike bridge in the original location, it would need to be twice as high as the existing bridge to clear the proposed ramps. Instead, the new 10-foot wide ped/bike bridge will extend along I-95 to the Franconia-Springfield Parkway ramp, extend parallel to the ramp, then cross at grade across approximately 6 lanes of potentially high-speed traffic. It will then descend to the west side of I-95 where it will make a big loop, which we are told is required to meet ADA requirements. To see a detailed image, click on the image above.

The new bridge will be dangerous for users and could take twice as long to cross. Users will be required to activate a pedestrian signal, wait for the signal to change, then pray that motorists actually stop, especially those using the southbound ramp. This is a major degradation in service for trail users.

Please send comments to the project team by February 21 to ask for an equivalent replacement to the existing bridge:

1. The new bridge will be much more dangerous for all users.


2. The replacement bridge should provide equivalent access as the original bridge.


3. The new bridge should provide a grade-separated crossing of I-95 and not require crossing of multiple exit/entrance lanes.

You can review the plans and make comments at the final public hearing tonight from 5-9pm at:

Minnie Howard School
3801 W Braddock Road, Alexandria, VA 22302

Public hearing flier. posted by Bruce Wright at 3:26 PM permalink