Below The Beltway

It’s been going on for eight years and cost over half a billion dollars, but, as the Washington Post points out this morning, the Springfield Mixing Bowl is still a traffic nightmare:

After eight years and $676 million, all of the swirling ramps and bridges are open at the Springfield interchange, and traffic is flowing freely through one of the busiest crossroads on the East Coast, where interstates 95 and 395 hit the Capital Beltway.

But there is growing concern that navigating the new Mixing Bowl’s 50 ramps and 24 lanes is confusing and could be creating different safety problems. Drivers complain of counterintuitive highway splits where they must head to the left to ultimately go right and head to the right to go left. They worry about staying in the left lane of the Beltway and winding up heading to Richmond.

“It’s doing the opposite of what people expect,” said John Ulaszek of Arlington County, who commutes daily through the interchange and reports plenty of close calls. He sometimes takes his camera to record the skid marks on the pavement and the last-minute lane changes.

“It’s like putting the hot and cold knobs on the opposite side of the sink, and people can’t understand why they just got scalded,” he said.

And the result has been predictable. Accidents are still in issue, including one of the most tragic ever to occur on the Washington Beltway:

The worst accident at the new interchange occurred June 14, when four young women died in a collision with a tractor-trailer at a point where two left lanes of the Capital Beltway’s inner loop split off and head to I-95 south, Virginia State Police said.

And confusion continues to reign:

No sign can cure the core reason for confusion at the new Springfield interchange: Three highways still meet there, all of which end in “95,” and one of which — the Beltway — travels in a circle.

Drivers approaching the interchange from the south and looking to take a right toward the Woodrow Wilson Bridge now go left to take a new flyover ramp that eventually goes to the right. Drivers heading to the left and Tysons Corner need to stay to the right to take another ramp that eventually funnels them the correct way.

That can confuse motorists, especially those unfamiliar with the area or making long-distance drives on I-95.

“When drivers’ expectations are met, their reactions are quick and accurate. If expectations are violated, reactions are delayed somewhat, and the probability of committing an error is going to go up,” said Martin Pietrucha, associate professor of civil engineering at Pennsylvania State University and director of the university’s Transportation Operations Program. Having multiple decision points in a short period adds to the confusion, he said.

That’s what the Mixing Bowl always has been about — quick decisions. Now, when drivers heading north on I-95 want to continue into the District, they must exit onto I-395 north. Staying on I-95 north really means heading onto the outer loop of the Beltway, which is labeled both I-95 north and I-495 east. To head west on the Capital Beltway, drivers must follow signs to I-495 north.

And don’t even get started about the traffic. Don’t even think about being on 95 North in Prince William Saturday or Sunday morning, or 95 South on a weekend afternoon……unless you like sitting in slow-moving traffic that is.

The rational thing to have done would have been to completely separate the traffic that’s continuing north on 95 to destinations past the Washington area from the traffic going around the Beltway. But that’s never going to happen.

And here’s photographic evidence of the insanity that is the Mixing Bowl