Northern Virginians looking to avoid traffic by staying put until evening rush hour passes could find themselves stuck nonetheless this spring by more than 100 overnight construction projects. “It’ll impact people coming home from a Nats game, or coming back from a dinner in Washington — be prepared on the Beltway and I-66 all spring and summer long,” said Joan Morris, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“It’s a pain in the neck for motorists,” she said. “I won’t deny that.”
Projects range from major maintenance along Interstate 66 to repaving portions of Columbia Pike to widening the Capital Beltway. And while 3 a.m. construction tends to be more palatable than 3 p.m. construction, it’s starting to irk traffic-weary residents of Fairfax County.
“It’s going to reach the point of how many more roads can we close through the night around here before it’s backed up to morning rush hour,” said Fairfax Supervisor Linda Smyth, D-Providence.
Smyth’s district includes Tysons Corner, home to some of the Washington region’s worst traffic snarls. But at a recent meeting of the county’s transportation committee, Smyth’s board colleagues were more resigned to the region’s summertime slowdowns, both daytime and nighttime.
“There’s only a limited amount of time [work crews] can get out on the roads,” said Supervisor Jeff McKay, D-Lee. “And [productivity] has to be much greater when there’s less traffic on the road.”
But it doesn’t seem like less traffic when Beltway ramps are closed overnight and roads are reduced to barely a lane, said Kevin Devine, who manages a bar at Fair Oaks Mall.
Devine, who lives in Frederick, said his late-night commute can take more than two hours when I-66 is shut down and he can’t go north on the Beltway.
“And sometimes you don’t realize what’s closed,” he said, “so you drive up and down and around just to get going in the right direction.”
