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DR. GRIDLOCK Robert Thomson
Highly motivated people will be looking for HOT lane scofflaws
Dear Dr. Gridlock: I BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST Traffic control officer Tamarcus Jones in action at 14th and Park roads NW. A major project in the area is nearing completion.
Creating order on 14th Street Traffic control officers battled chaos during complicated construction project
by Ashley Halsey III and David Montgomery
T
he big orange barrels, the con- crete barriers and the traffic control officers seem to have marched up and down 14th Street NW for almost two years
as the Columbia Heights Streetscape reju- venation has gone on behind them. Now, with the project entering its final phase, they are expected to vanish by the end of June as 14th Street’s new look emerges from the construction cocoon — and if the weather cooperates. It will all look lovely when it’s done —
new fountains, sidewalks, curbs, paving and more, but the months of urban sur- gery on a narrow street with plenty of traf- fic and pedestrians has been challenging. The closure of multiple lanes, the 20,000 people a day who use the nearby Metrorail station, the many delivery trucks, construction vehicles and Circula- tor and Metro buses, as well as rush-hour
traffic, make the area a complex corridor to manage. “It has involved reconstruction of lanes
and curbs and lots of utility work,” said John Lisle of the District Department of Transportation. “There has been a lot of shifting lane patterns and pedestrian con- cerns, so we’ve had the traffic control offi- cers up there to help the cars get through and to look after the pedestrians.” It’s a stressful and sometimes danger- ous job, but a small team of traffic control officers (or TCOs, as they are commonly known) has helped to keep everything in motion, Lisle said. “Though at times the coordination has been difficult, the TCOs are doing their best to balance all the competing needs and keep everyone safe until the project is done at the end of the month,” he said. One of the officers who has been a stal-
wart in helping drivers and walkers coex- ist with the construction is Tamarcus Jones. “Tamarcus is one of our more ex- perienced TCOs,” Lisle said. “Pedestrian safety has been one of the big issues.”
Jones, 30, a District native, likes to take command of an intersection, advancing on the action with crisp hand gestures and staccato blasts from the whistle he keeps clenched in his teeth. “You gotta have some guts,” he said. “You can’t be scared. Because like a dog, they can smell fear.” Jones gets assigned to some of the city’s most challenging crossroads. “He’s good because he pays attention,” said Linda Frazier, a pedestrian on a re- cent afternoon, who has noticed Jones’s work with appreciation on many occa- sions. She works in Rockville and lives in Brookland, but she stops in Columbia Heights for the restaurants and shopping. “He’s open to all that’s around him. . . . Keep up the good work, Mr. Jones!” Among Jones’s recent duties has been handling traffic as paving was done on 14th Street between Monroe and Newton streets and on Monroe Street as well. “At least if you pass through my in-
tersection,” he said, “you made it safely.”
halseya@washpost.com
montgomerd@washpost.com
read with great interest your recent article on the upcoming HOT lanes
[Commuter page, June 6]. I wondered how the police are going to enforce the restrictions. HOV enforcement is rather easy in comparison! Right now, all the police have to do is see if there are two or three people in the car. However, with HOT lanes, single drivers are allowed. How do the police know if you have a transponder or not? Further, what prevents a single driver from getting a carpool transponder and not paying anything? This seems a real nightmare for law enforcement.
—Fred Heggi, Gaithersburg
Dear Dr. Gridlock: What’s to keep someone with a carpool switch on the transponder from leaving it in that mode even when traveling solo? I know these types of lanes
operate successfully in states like California, but as a writer to your column [Dr. Gridlock, June 10] pointed out, might California drivers also be more law-abiding than D.C. drivers as well as being more courteous? The flouting of HOV rules in this area is high already; might these new lanes, for which a patrol officer can’t tell simply by observing a vehicle whether the car paid the toll or is riding free as a carpooler, just increase the temptation to be a scofflaw?
—Ray Schneider, Frostburg
Conversations
People traveling on Metrorail last week faced several escalator outages, including instances when none of the escalators was working at the Dupont Circle, Anacostia or Foggy Bottom stations. On average, about 10 percent of Metro’s 588 escalators are out of service, and the recent outages sparked outrage online.
Outrage over escalators
Ellvee: So, I wonder regularly, why doesn’t metro build steps in each station. For those people who can walk them, it would be a real time saver.
fireball72: Vienna has two escalators out, one for about a week.
WMATA.com doesn’t list any problems in Vienna. Metro Fail.
kmarshall1: What in the world is going on with the escalators at Foggy Bottom? How can they be constantly broken when there is almost always someone working on them?
serphina21: You are now reporting that ten percent of Metro escalators are out. Is this your own observation or Metro’s number? If you’re getting it from Metro you should double or triple it just to be safe.
WashingtonDame: This is why I drive to work now. Metro is on a death spiral, and I have decided to get off.
Readers are discussing this and other topics every day online. Add your voice to the conversation at
PostLocal.com.
LINDA DAVIDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Escalator breakdowns are a constant source of trouble for the Metrorail system and a constant source of irritation for its riders.
DR. G’S TIPS
FAIRFAX COUNTY PARKWAY Drivers on Rolling Road will encounter delays between Fuller- ton and Richfield roads while workers reconstruct and repave a 1,500-foot section of Rolling Road. This is part of a project that will extend the Fairfax County Parkway (Route 7100). Watch for lane closures from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Mondays through Fri- days, and occasionally on Satur- day and Sunday nights. Both lanes will be open to traffic dur- ing rush hours. This work is scheduled to continue until De- cember.
TYSONS EXPRESS BUS The new Tysons Express Bus
service is scheduled to begin Monday. Buses will operate on two routes: The first will enter Ty- sons Corner on Tyco Road, tra-
THE DAILY QUIZ
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EARN 5 POINTS: Find the answer, then go to
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verse Jones Branch Drive, head south on Tysons Boulevard and finish on Greensboro Drive. The second route includes the same stops as the first but adds stops at Tysons Corner Center and at Route 7 and International Drive. You can board the buses at Shel- ter No. 6 at the Leesburg park- and-ride lot on Sycolin Road Park, Broadlands Marketplace on Moo- review Parkway, and the park- and-ride lot at Moorview Parkway and Old Ryan Road. Look for the Tysons Express signs (many of the stops are exist- ing Metrobus or Fairfax Connec- tor stops). More details are avail- able on the Loudoun County Web site,
www.loudoun.gov.
NEW YORK/FLORIDA AVENUES The District Department of
Transportation reconfigured the traffic pattern at New York and
Florida avenues NE last weekend. The new plan created a circular
traffic pattern around the Wen- dy’s restaurant at the intersec- tion, which also includes First Street and Eckington Place. The reconfiguration, a $3 mil- lion project intended to improve circulation and safety, is sched- uled to be done in August. Also, be aware of lane shifts on New York as part of a broad effort to upgrade the corridor from Ninth Street to First Street NE.
TRANSIT FARE INCREASES Metro fares are scheduled to in- crease on June 27 as the transit agency seeks to close a $190 mil- lion budget deficit. The board of directors still has to give final ap- proval, and that’s expected to come Thursday. You’ll be paying more to use Ride On, the Fairfax Connector
POINTS EVENTS
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and Arlington Transit, too. Dr. Gridlock will provide a complete roundup next week. Check the June 27 Commuter page and Dr. Gridlock blog (washington-
post.com/drgridlock) throughout the week. Metro says new rail and bus passes will go on sale Thursday, immediately after the board votes. Additional fare increases will come on Aug. 1 for rail riders when Metro implements a new “peak of the peak” fare and in the fall for MetroAccess riders. Here are some of the expected new rates as of June 27:
METRORAIL PASSES The new regular base boarding fare for Metrorail will be $1.95 for SmarTrip users. One-day pass: $9 Weekly short-trip pass: $30.35 Weekly Fast Pass: $45
SmartStudent pass: $30 Transit Link Card (MARC and VRE) : $92 (Metro plans to begin selling July cards Monday.) D.C. student 10-trip fare cards: $9.50
METROBUS The new fare on a regular Met- robus will be $1.50 for SmarTrip users and $1.70 for cash custom- ers. Express bus fares will be $3.65 for SmarTrip users and $3.85 for cash. Weekly Flash Pass: $15 Tokens (10 pack) : $17 D.C. student tokens: $7.50 Weekly senior Flash Pass: $7.50 Weekly Disabled Flash Pass: $7.50 Metro’s
much-talked-about
“peak of the peak” 20-cent sur- charge for the busiest times is scheduled to begin Aug. 1, as well
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as a 25-cent surcharge for rail cus- tomers who use paper fare cards.
U.S. 1 IN MARYLAND The Maryland State Highway Administration is resurfacing U.S. 1 between East-West High- way and Albion Road in Univer- sity Park. The $811,000 project is expected to last the rest of 2010. Expect single-lane closures along U.S. 1 Monday through Friday be- tween 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and over- night Sunday through Thursday between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Crews are removing the top lay- er of asphalt and resurfacing the roadway; cleaning and repairing storm drains; replacing curbs and gutters; replacing sidewalks and upgrading ramps; and installing pavement markings.
For more traffic information, go to
www.washingtonpost.com/traffic
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washingtonpost.com/postpoints.
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The technology controlling the high-occupancy toll lanes may be new to the D.C. area, but a key factor in enforcement is old and reliable: the profit motive. Officials with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Fluor-Transurban consortium, the people who will operate the HOT lanes on the Capital Beltway, are confident that the enforcement system they are devising will work. The operators’ finances depend
on it. There’s a lot of money at stake in making sure that detectors record the proper tolls while giving the appropriate free passes. And there’s also a lot of money at stake in making sure the lanes flow freely. If the lanes are congested with freeloaders, it will destroy a key selling point. Under a contract with the
operators, Virginia State Police will be watching the toll points. Every vehicle in the HOT lanes must have a transponder, either an E-ZPass or the new switchable transponder under development. A carpooler must be using the switchable transponder set to an HOV mode. When the vehicle enters the HOT lanes and passes under the first toll point gantry, the transponder will be read by antennas on the gantry. As the
trip continues, the vehicle passes under more recording sensors. The troopers will have
electronic devices that can communicate with toll sensors along the HOT lanes. They’ll know whether a vehicle is traveling in HOV mode or paying tolls. If the vehicle is in HOV mode, the troopers can eyeball whether at least three riders are aboard. There has been discussion about using a more sophisticated detection system, perhaps infrared sensors that can detect body heat and, thereby, count the riders. But that’s not part of the initial plan for enforcement. If the operators go for it, fine. I
don’t see any privacy issues in that particular technology. And I don’t see any issues in taking photos of license plates to ticket drivers who fail to use a transponder. (We do need to make real sure that the signs approaching the lanes make clear that there are no toll booths and that transponders are required.) My question to travelers: Is it fair to make carpoolers pay an administrative fee or deposit for the switchable transponders? I think that’s okay, because these Beltway HOT lanes will be a new service in new lanes. This would be different from charging carpoolers for transponders on I-95/395, should the plan for converting the high-occupancy vehicle lanes to HOT lanes ever get back on track. Southern California’s 91 Express Lanes, often cited in HOT lane discussions, do offer some guidance: All drivers, whether carpoolers or toll payers, must have a transponder to use the express lane. But the carpoolers are funneled into what’s known as the 3+ Carpool Lane. The rules are enforced by the California Highway Patrol.
Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer’s name and home community. Personal responses are not always possible.
To contact Dr. Gridlock: By mail: Write to Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. By e-mail:
drgridlock@washpost.com. On the Dr. Gridlock blog:
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