Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
Northern Virginia Subregion
Located in northeastern Virginia, the Northern Virginia Subregion is comprised of the
cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park; and Arlington,
Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince William Counties. It connects to the national freight transportation system via several highway, rail, and airport facilities, including; I-66, I-95, and
U.S. 29; Norfolk Southern and CSX rail facilities; and Dulles International Airport. With
its large professional and business services and information services sectors the Northern
Virginia economy is less dependent than Virginia as a whole on manufacturing and other
freight-intensive industries. About 65 percent of tonnage moving within the Northern
Virginia Subregion is pass-through freight with inbound and outbound freight comprising 26
and five percent respectively.
Recommendations to improve the flow of freight through the Northern Virginia Subregion
include the widening and addition of HOV/HOT lanes on I-95 and I-66.
Geographic Definition
The Northern Virginia Subregion is located in northeastern Virginia and is part of the
Washington, DC metropolitan area. It consists of the following jurisdictions (see Figure 1):
Cities
•
Alexandria
•
Falls Church
•
Fairfax
•
Manassas
•
Manassas Park
Counties
•
Arlington
•
Loudon
•
Fairfax
•
Prince William
Significant highway freight transportation corridors that intersect with the Northern
Virginia Subregion include U.S. 29, I-66, and I-95. U.S. 29 is a divided four-lane highway
through much of the Subregion with the sections in the City of Fairfax being six lanes
wide. I-66 is a four-lane limited access Interstate highway between I-81 and Gainesville, a
six to eight-lane Interstate highway from Gainesville to Arlington County and a four-lane
Interstate through Arlington County into Washington, D.C. I-95 is a four-lane limited
access Interstate highway in southern Virginia, a mostly six-lane Interstate highway
through central Virginia, and an eight or more lane Interstate through the Northern
Virginia Subregion.
Significant rail facilities within the Subregion include CSX’s north-south main line
(National Gateway) that generally parallels I-95 from Alexandria to Emporia and points
south, and Norfolk Southern’s Piedmont line (Crescent Corridor) that runs from
Alexandria to Danville and south to Atlanta.
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The Northern Virginia Subregion has no Port facilities.
Dulles International is the largest cargo airport in the Commonwealth handling over 80
million pounds of freight in 2006.
Figure 1.
Northern Virginia
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Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
Economic Profile
Northern Virginia over the past decades has become one of the leading economic generators in the United States economy, experiencing fast growth in population, jobs, income,
research, and services. The scale of growth has fed freight transportation volumes and
future transportation demand in Northern Virginia will continue to be influenced by the
interplay between these factors as well as changes in national and global logistics patterns
and the Subregion’s industry structure. Industries, ranging from manufacturing to construction and high-tech to distribution possess specific freight transportation needs, and
their growth will affect freight transportation demand in Northern Virginia. The
Subregion is a focal point of Virginia’s highway network and includes Dulles International
Airport, a major handler of domestic and international air freight. Northern Virginia’s
freight transportation facilities play an important role in the Virginia economy by
providing mobility for the goods required by the intensive high-value services and
technology industries congregating within the Subregion. The safety, reliability, and
capacity of the Northern Virginia transportation system and its ability to carry freight efficiently will affect, positively or negatively, the overall competitiveness of the State’s
economy. The population growth and industry trends that will influence the freight
demands placed on the Northern Virginia highway network are reviewed in this section.
Population Growth
Population growth has a direct impact on freight transportation demand and Northern
Virginia is the fastest growing part of the State. More people take more trips, require more
services, and need more goods to sustain themselves. The number of people living in the
Northern Virginia increased by 14.3 percent from 2000 to 2007, twice as fast as the Nation’s
(+7.2 percent) and much faster than the State’s (+9.0 percent) overall growth rates. As of
2007, Northern Virginia was home to 2,075,176 residents and accounted for 26.9 percent of
Virginia’s population. According to state population projections, the I-66 Corridor is
expected to add about 775,215 people during the next 23 years (see Figure 2) and will reach
a population of 2,850,391 by 2030 (this growth is the equivalent to adding the combined
present-day populations of Arlington and Washington, D.C. to the Subregion). The rate of
projected population growth in Northern Virginia through 2030 is substantially higher
than either Virginia’s or the Nation’s. Northern Virginia will account for one-third of
Virginia’s net population gain between now and 2030.
Northern Virginia’s fast pace of population growth puts pressure on the Subregion’s
freight transportation facilities. In particular, the Subregion must accommodate the
mobility, consumer, and logistics needs of an increasing number of residents, workers, and
businesses, and do so reliably, safely, and efficiently within a fast-growing, densely settled,
and increasingly urbanized environment. For these reasons, the decision-making process
regarding the future of freight transportation related infrastructure and services on I-66
needs to incorporate and respond to notably strong growth conditions.
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Figure 2.
Northern Virginia Subregion
Historic and Forecast Population Growth
1990-2030
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Source: Virginia Employment Commission.
Economic Structure
Northern Virginia’s defining economic characteristic compared to the nation and Virginia
is the relative size of its professional and business services sector (e.g., engineering, research,
consulting, advertising, legal, etc.), and to a lesser extent, the size of its information services
(e.g., communications, Internet, publishing, and broadcasting) industries. Northern
Virginia’s strengths in these advanced services industries have helped to set Virginia apart,
both nationally and internationally, in terms of overall economic dynamism. In 2005, professional and business services accounted for 28 percent of Northern Virginia’s jobs compared to 13 percent and 17 percent, respectively, for the nation and Virginia. Figure 3
illustrates the contribution of each major sector to total jobs in Northern Virginia and the
prominence of the Subregion’s professional and business services sector can be easily seen.
Service industries, including professional and business services and information, tend to
move smaller, more time-sensitive goods. The trucking and air industries have historically
dominated these types of shipments. Northern Virginia’s major airports (WashingtonDulles and Reagan Washington-National), provide the Subregion’s businesses with quick
access to markets worldwide, a comparative strength for the movement of goods and
people. Growth in service industries is driven by increasing business and consumer
demand. Businesses require increasingly efficient communication, finance, transportation,
and distribution services in order to develop competitive advantages and as essential
inputs into the production of goods and other services. For consumers, as personal income
grows so does demand for services such as banking, telecommunications, tourism, and
entertainment.
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Figure3.
Economic Structure
Shares of Employment by Major Industry Sector,
United States, Virginia and Northern Virginia Subregion
Industry Share of Total Employment
30%
25%
Freight Intensive
20%
Goods Movement
Retail
15%
10%
5%
0%
Professional
Natural
Information
Other
Retail
Manufacturing
Financial
and Business
Resources
Services
Trade
Activities
Services
and Mining
Educational
Leisure and
Government
Transportation
Construction
Wholesale
and Health
Hospitality
and Utilities
Unclassified
Trade
Services
Percent of U.S. Employment
Percent of VA Employment
Percent of NOVA Employment
Source: Virginia Employment Commission and U.S. Department of Labor.
Construction also is a large sector in Northern Virginia. The Subregion’s historically
strong population and economic growth stimulates the construction of new commercial,
residential, and government buildings, as well as expanded infrastructure. Although construction has slowed significantly due to the current drop-off in home building, Northern
Virginia, as a locus for much of the State’s long-term population growth and its role within
the greater Washington D.C. economy, will continue to support a strong construction
sector in future years. Construction depends on the reliability of the roadway system to
ensure on-time deliveries of building materials.
Congestion can undermine the
sequencing of projects and long delays can ruin batches of cement that have tight delivery
windows.
Northern Virginia is home to a wide range of nationally significant historical attractions and
is a popular venue for conferences and business meetings, resulting in a significant tourism
(leisure and hospitality) industry. In 2005, the tourism industry accounted for 10 percent of
the Subregion’s jobs. Tourism-related industries depend on trucking to deliver supplies
reliably to restaurants and hotels, frequently located in busy urban nodes and city centers.
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Concentration of Goods Movement and Freight-Intensive Industries
The relationship between freight transportation activity and the Northern Virginia economy is strong and multifaceted. For example, “freight-intensive” industries, including
manufacturing,
construction,
and agriculture rely heavily on
Freight-Related Clusters
the efficient movement of
While an efficient multimodal transportation system is
goods, both for the outbound
important to every sector of the economy, certain
shipments of their products to
sectors are particularly dependent on the transportation
reach worldwide markets, as
system for freight movement. These sectors are
well as for inbound shipments
grouped into three clusters as defined below:
of intermediate goods required
for production. These freightFreight-Intensive Industries includes most subsectors
intensive industries contributed
within natural resources and mining, all construction,
some 83,000 jobs to the
and manufacturing.
Subregion in 2005, accounting
Goods Movement includes the wholesale trade sector
for about 20 percent of the
and some subsectors within transportation and utilities.
Virginia total (see Figure 4). In
addition
to
freight
Retail Trade includes all subsectors within the retail
transportation’s importance to
trade sector.
these freight-intensive industries,
efficient
multimodal
freight transportation systems can help to minimize the cost of consumer goods, benefiting
consumers and the retail industry. In 2005, Northern Virginia included some 114,000 retail
jobs. Transportation infrastructure improvements that reduce costs by either: 1) lowering
travel times; or by 2) increasing the reliability of on-time shipments translate directly into
benefits for the Northern Virginia and Virginia economies. Finally, the “goods movement”
industry (e.g., trucking, distribution, airports, etc.) also provides a significant number of
jobs and income to Northern Virginia residents working for the businesses that process,
ship, and deliver goods bound for destinations within Virginia, as well as to other
locations within the United States and throughout the world. The goods movement
industry employed over 41,000 people in Northern Virginia in 2005. Representing a
portion of one of the largest markets in the country (Washington-Baltimore metropolitan
area), it is crucial for goods originating from the State’s distribution facilities to reach
Northern Virginia efficiently.
Combined, the freight-intensive, retail, and goods
movement industries account for 25 percent of total Northern Virginia employment,
somewhat lower than the 31 percent average for Virginia, overall (see Figure 5).
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Figure 4.
Employment by Freight-Related Cluster in
Northern Virginia Subregion and Virginia
Employment
450,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
Freight Intensive Industries
Goods Movement
NOVA Employment
Retail
VA Employment
Source: Virginia Employment Commission.
Figure 5. Share of Employment
by Cluster
Northern Virginia Subregion
Retail
12%
Freight
Intensive
Industries
9%
Figure 6. Share of Employment
by Cluster
Virginia
Retail
13%
Goods
Movement
4%
Remaining
Industries
75%
Freight
Intensive
Industries
13%
Goods
Movement
5%
Remaining
Industries
69%
Source: Virginia Employment Commission.
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Commodity Profile
The two primary measures of freight transportation activity are tonnage and value. Value
is a good indicator of economic activity associated with freight transportation, while tonnage is a good indicator of the demand that freight movement places on transportation
infrastructure.
Freight also moves in different directions:
•
Inbound freight is moved from somewhere outside of the Northern Virginia Subregion
to a destination within the Northern Virginia Subregion.
•
Outbound freight is moved from somewhere within the Northern Virginia Subregion
to a destination outside of the Northern Virginia Subregion.
•
Internal freight is moved from one point within the Northern Virginia Subregion to
another point within the Northern Virginia Subregion.
•
Pass-through freight is moving from an origin outside of the Northern Virginia
Subregion to a destination outside the Northern Virginia Subregion while at some
point passing through the Subregion.
Figures 7 and 8 show that about 87 percent of the total tonnage moving into, out of, within,
or through the Northern Virginia Subregion is hauled by trucks with most of the
remaining hauled by rail. A large majority of the value (99 percent) is hauled by trucks.
Figure 7. Mode Share of Total Corridor
Freight Tonnage
2004
Water
0.1%
Truck
86.9%
Air
0.1%
Figure 8. Mode Share of Total
Corridor Freight Value
2004
Water
0.0%
Air
0.4%
Truck
99.1%
Rail
0.5%
Rail
12.8%
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Figures 9 and 10 describe the direction of travel for Virginia’s domestic commodities
within the Northern Virginia Subregion, based on tonnage and on value.
Figure 9. Directional Proportion of Total
Corridor Freight Tonnage
2004
Figure 10. Directional Proportion of Total
Corridor Freight Value
2004
Through
65.8%
Through
68.6%
Inbound
26.4
Inbound
21.7%
Outbound
8.5%
Outbound
5.3%
Internal
2.5%
Internal
1.2%
By tonnage, the leading commodities moving domestically are nonmetallic minerals and
food and kindred products followed by secondary traffic (U.S. warehouse and distribution); lumber and wood products; and clay, concrete, glass and stone. By value,
transportation equipment is the leading commodity, followed by secondary traffic.
Table 1. Critical Commodities Inbound, Outbound, and
Internal for the Northern Virginia Subregion by Tons
2004
Commodity
Tons
Percent Share
Nonmetallic Minerals
25,457,249
25%
Food/Kindred
11,447,692
11%
Secondary Moves
9,927,614
10%
Lumber/Wood
9,124,722
9%
Clay/Concrete/Glass/Stone
8,136,966
8%
All Others
37,214,074
37%
Total
101,308,317
100%
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Table 2. Critical Commodities Inbound, Outbound, and
Internal for the Northern Virginia Subregion by Value
2004
Commodity
Dollars
Percent Share
Transportation Equipment
$66,284,091,665
27%
Secondary Moves
$65,898,531,203
27%
Electrical Machinery/Equipment/
Supplies
$23,123,928,310
9%
Machinery Excluding Electrical
$17,801,284,807
7%
Food/Kindred
$10,816,230,594
4%
All Others
$63,888,791,714
26%
Total
$247,812,858,292
100%
For trade in Virginia’s critical commodities – that is, inbound and outbound tonnage,
excluding pass-through traffic – the leading trading partner regions are mainly within the
Commonwealth followed by the southern east coast states and the Illinois/Indiana/Ohio/
Michigan region.
Table 3. Trading Partners by Tonnage for the Northern Virginia Subregion
Domestic Inbound and Outbound
2004
Partner Region
Tons
Percent
Rest of Virginia
41,243,119
47%
South Atlantic
22,625,262
26%
East North Central
7,185,479
8%
Middle Atlantic
4,944,729
6%
New England
3,603,704
4%
East South Central
3,082,193
4%
West South Central
2,412,278
3%
West North Central
997,895
1%
Canada/Mexico
421,549
0.5%
Pacific
395,291
0.5%
All Others
472,168
0.5%
87,383,667
100%
Grand Total
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Table 4. Trading Partners by Value for the Northern Virginia Subregion
Domestic Inbound and Outbound
2004
Partner Region
Dollars
Percent
Rest of Virginia
$114,376,519,854
48%
South Atlantic
$42,137,219,121
18%
West South Central
$20,230,715,471
8%
East North Central
$19,192,074,610
8%
New England
$13,108,647,306
5%
Middle Atlantic
$10,724,962,586
4%
East South Central
$6,579,490,079
3%
Pacific
$3,926,614,758
2%
West North Central
$2,918,070,231
1%
Mountain
$2,260,554,539
1%
All Others
$3,041,862,614
1%
$238,496,731,168
100%
Grand Total
Transportation System Facilities and Performance
The Northern Virginia Subregion contains an extensive highway and freight rail network
with activity centers at Alexandria, Fairfax, Manassas, and Arlington County. Major
intersections include the I-495/I-395 and I-495/I-66 interchanges. The Subregion includes
air cargo facilities at Dulles and National Airports but no significant port facilities. Table 5
identifies the major roadway, airport, and port facilities in Northern Virginia.
Table 5. Northern Virginia Intermodal Connections
Significant Roadway Connections
Significant Airport Connections
•
I-66
•
•
I-95
•
I-395
•
Washington Reagan National
Airport
•
I-495
•
U.S. 1
•
U.S. 15
•
U.S. 29
•
U.S. 50
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Dulles International Airport
Significant Port Connections
•
None
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Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
Highway
Significant highway freight corridors that intersect with the Northern Virginia Subregion
include U.S. 29, I-66, and I-95. U.S. 29 is a divided four-lane highway through much of the
Subregion with the sections in the City of Fairfax being six lanes wide. I-66 is a four-lane
limited access Interstate highway between I-81 and Gainesville, a six to eight-lane Interstate
highway from Gainesville to Arlington County and a four-lane Interstate through Arlington
County into Washington, D.C. I-95 is a four-lane limited access Interstate highway in
southern Virginia, a mostly six-lane Interstate highway through central Virginia, and an
eight or more lane Interstate through the Northern Virginia Subregion. The number of
lanes, along with roadway geometry, intersection spacing, etc., determine how much traffic a given roadway segment can accommodate in a given period of time and provides a
sense of the capacity of the roadway. A summary of the lane widths of these three
highways within the Subregion is shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Northern Virginia Subregion Summary of Lane Widths
Route – Section
Length
Width (Total Lanes)
U.S. 29 – Prince William County
10.0
4
U.S. 29 – Fairfax County
14.3
4
U.S. 29 – City of Fairfax
3.2
6
U.S. 29 – City of Falls Church
0.8
4
U.S. 29 – City of Arlington
5.5
4
I-66 – Prince William County
11.9
4-6
I-66 – Fairfax County
17.4
8
I-66 – City of Fairfax
1.5
8
I-66 – City of Arlington
7.1
4
I-95 – Prince William County
12.7
8
I-95 – Fairfax County
11.0
8
I-95 – City of Alexandria
4.7
8
Virginia maintains a statewide vehicle count program on its major highways, including
collection and/or estimation of truck counts and percentages. Figure 11 displays the
average Virginia AADT (all vehicle types) as columns, and the corresponding average
truck percentages as points.
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Figure 11. Average AADT and Truck Percentages
180,000
9%
160,000
8%
140,000
7%
120,000
6%
100,000
5%
80,000
4%
60,000
3%
40,000
2%
20,000
1%
0
0%
U..S 29 –
Arlington
County
U..S 29 –
City of
Falls
Church
U.S. 29 Fairfax
County
U.S. 29 –
City of
Fairfax
U.S. 29 –
Prince
William
County
I-66 –
Arlington
County
I-66 –
Fairfax
County
I-66 –
Prince
William
County
I-95 –
Fairfax
County
I-95 –
Prince
William
County
Total CU Truck Percent
Weighted AADT
Table 7 describes average bridge and pavement condition and performance across selected
Northern Virginia highway segments. The reference “IRI” stands for the International
Roughness Index. It measures the cumulative deviation from a smooth surface in inches
per mile – in other words, the sum of all the up-and-down road imperfections, from
potholes to barely noticeable bumps or road roughness, which a vehicle will encounter
over one mile. The ranges of values correspond to the pavement condition as follows:
very good (0 to 85); good (86 to 110); fair (111 to 140); poor (141 to 175); very poor (more
than 175). There also are road condition measures that apply to bridges; as presented in
the National Bridge Inventory, “red” is the lowest of the three levels of “General Condition
Ratings” that can be assigned to a bridge.
Table 7. Northern Virginia Subregion Road Condition
by Jurisdiction
Route – Jurisdiction
2003 Weighted IRI
Percent of Bridges in “Red”
Condition
U.S. 29 – Prince William County
96
0%
U.S. 29 – Fairfax County
143
0%
U.S. 29 – Arlington County
200
0%
U.S. 29 – City of Fairfax
191
0%
U.S. 29 – City of Falls Church
176
0%
I-66 – Prince William County
92
0%
I-66 – Fairfax County
103
0%
I-66 – Arlington County
105
0%
I-95 – Prince William County
97
0%
I-95 – Fairfax County
102
0%
I-95 – City of Alexandria
165
0%
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Another important aspect of a freight transportation system is its intermodal terminal
network. These facilities provide the interface between freight rail and other transportation modes, including highway and water, and permit the transfer of goods from one
mode to another. The figure below displays the rail-highway intermodal terminals within
Northern Virginia, as well as additional system facilities.
Figure 12. Northern Virginia Intermodal Facilities
Rail
The Commonwealth of Virginia’s rail system is operated by 10 freight railroads and two
passenger operators. Of the 9 freight railroads, two are Class I national railroads and the
remaining eight are Class III or terminal/switching railroads (see Table 8).
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Table 8. Virginia’s Freight Railroads
Freight Railroad Name
Class I
Class III
Terminal/
Switching
Miles Operated
in Virginia
Norfolk Southern Corporation
√
2,100
CSX Transportation
√
1,051
Buckingham Branch Railroad
√
278
Bay Coast Railroad
√
68
Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad
√
29
Winchester and Western Railroad
√
26
Commonwealth Railway, Inc.
√
17
North Carolina and Virginia Railroad
√
4
Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line
√
4
The majority of Virginia’s freight rail track infrastructure is in the possession of the two
Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern (approximately 60 percent) and CSX (approximately
30 percent). Important rail connections for the Northern Virginia Subregion include CSX’s
north-south main line (National Gateway) that generally parallels I-95 from Alexandria to
Emporia and points south, and Norfolk Southern’s Piedmont line (Crescent Corridor) that
runs from Alexandria to Danville and south to Atlanta.
Bottlenecks
Virginia’s freight transportation system contains segments that are stressed or over capacity
to the point that they are defined as bottlenecks. Bottlenecks – whether existing or
emerging – prohibit the efficient flow of freight through the system and across the
Commonwealth. Currently, Virginia’s primary freight transportation bottlenecks generally
correspond to:
•
Major urbanized regions with high levels of congestion;
•
Intersections of major highway arteries; and
•
Rail system points where infrastructure provides inadequate freight transportation
capacity or dimension, especially where growing freight and passenger needs must be
accommodated over shared infrastructure.
All of the Interstate highways in the Northern Virginia Subregion are considered freight
transportation bottlenecks as is the CSX north-south main line within the Subregion.
These are shown in red and blue respectively in Figure 13.
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Figure 13. Northern Virginia Freight Transportation Bottlenecks
Waterways and Ports
There are no major port facilities located within the Northern Virginia Subregion.
Distribution Centers
Virginia has experienced marked growth in large-scale warehousing development often
associated with high-volume, or “big box” importers. These importers’ supply chains are
highly dependent upon the uninterrupted flow of cargo – primarily containerized –
through Virginia’s ports, and subsequently through its highways and rail connections.
While no major distribution centers are located directly within the Northern Virginia
Subregion, it is served by a constellation of distribution centers located south along the
I-95 Corridor and west along the I-81 Corridor. Distribution facilities serving this
Subregion also are located in Maryland along the I-95 Corridor north of Washington, D.C.
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Air Cargo
Two cargo airports are located within the Northern Virginia Subregion. Dulles
International Airport is the largest cargo airport in the Commonwealth and combined with
Washington Reagan National Airport handled over 82 million pounds of freight in 2006 as
shown in Table 9.
Table 9. Cargo Airport Performance
Airports
2006 Freight Pounds
Percent Change versus 2005
Dulles International Airport (IAD)
80,861,753
+13.80%
Washington Reagan National
Airport (DCA)
2,088,966
+6.9%
Alternative Scenarios
The Virginia Statewide Model (VSM) was run several times to estimate future freight
transportation activities through Virginia. Each run used the same algorithm to process a
different set of input parameters. These runs included a “base case” which estimated
freight transportation activity in 2035 assuming no improvements in the highway or rail
network. The output from this run provides a baseline to which the results of the
remaining runs are compared. The final three runs, Scenarios A, B, and C, each represent
different sets of roadway, rail, and marine improvements as well as travel pattern adjustments. Scenario A generally reflects the situation in the year 2035 given that only certain
projects identified in the six-year improvement program are implemented. Scenario B
includes everything from Scenario A plus key improvements from the Virginia 2025 State
Highway Plan and a draft version of the 2035 State Highway Plan. Scenario C included
everything from Scenario B plus implementation of other important freight transportation
related projects and policies. Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA) projects are
included in the scenarios as well. A description of the types of improvements included in
each scenario is provided below.
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Scenario A
• Highway – Improvements
identified in the Virginia Six-Year
Plan dated February 2009 that:
(1) Add significant capacity
(generally those that add at least
one-lane mile to the facility); and
(2) Are located on any of the 11
freight corridors. No distinction
was made between projects funded
for preliminary engineering, rightof-way, or construction.
• Rail – Improvements to:
(1) Completion of Heartland Corridor
project.
(2) Relocate Commonwealth Railway
mainline tracks to the medians of
I-664 and the Western Freeway
(Route 164); and
(3) Other Virginia Port Authority
CIP projects.
Scenario B
• Highway – All highway
improvements in Scenario A plus
selected improvements from the
VDOT 2025 State Highway Plan
and from a preliminary draft
version of the VDOT 2035 State
Highway Plan that:
(1) Add significant capacity
(generally those that add at least
one-lane mile to the facility); and
(2) Are located on any of the 11
freight corridors.
• Rail – All rail improvements
from Scenario A.
• Port – All port improvements
from Scenario A.
• Airport – None.
• Port – Miscellaneous improvements
by the Virginia
Port Authority to support
anticipated growth.
• Airport – None.
Scenario C
• Highway – All highway
improvements in Scenarios A
and B plus the following:
(1) Hampton Roads Third Crossing;
(2) U.S. 460 Expressway between
U.S. 58 Bypass
and I-295;
(3) Capacity improvements on U.S. 17
and U.S. 29 near Warrenton;
(4) U.S. 58 “Hillsville Bypass”; and
(5) Tolling/pricing actions to shift
time-of-day and/or mode choice
decisions (also impacts rail mode).
• Rail – All rail improvements
in Scenarios A and B plus the
following:
(1) Crescent Corridor and National
Gateway projects;
(2) Short-haul rail projects to relieve
Hampton Roads congestion;
(3) Highway tolling/pricing actions to
shift mode choice decisions; and
(4) Craney Island on-dock rail and
connection projects (also impacts
port mode).
• Port – All port improvements in
Scenarios A and B plus the
following:
(1) Short-haul barge projects to relieve
Hampton Roads congestion; and
(2) Craney Island on-dock rail and
connection projects (also impacts
rail mode).
• Airport – Full build-out of the
airports’ master plans and
implementation of the Virginia Air
Transportation System Plan
recommendations.1
The projects included in Scenarios A, B, and C are highlighted in Figure 14.
1
Improvements to the Dulles Loop and improvements to Dulles International Airport as
recommended by the FAA’s Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) are included.
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Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
Figure 14. Future Improvements to Selected Facilities in the Northern Virginia
Subregion
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Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
Key Project Recommendations
Key recommendations for projects located within the Northern Virginia Subregion
include:
High-Priority Projects:
•
•
Widen and add HOV lanes to I-66 from U.S. 29 to I-495. I-66 is a major east-west
freight route connecting the I-95 Corridor and the Northern Virginia Subregion to
the I-81 Corridor. Traffic volumes range from 85,000 to 125,000 on these segments
with combination-unit truck percentages in the 8.5 to 9.0 percent range. Widening
this roadway will accommodate economic expansion and improve safety.
•
Widen I-95 and add HOV/HOT lanes throughout the Subregion. This portion of
I-95 experiences very high levels of background traffic and very high levels of congestion. It also is, along with I-81 to the west, a major north-south freight transportation artery along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Not only is it an
important roadway for delivery of goods to consumers within the Subregion, it also
is a crucial link in the national freight transportation network. Increasing the capacity of I-95 through Northern Virginia is critical to maintaining efficient freight
movement within and through the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation.
•
Add HOT lanes on I-495 from Old Dominion Drive (VA 123) to I-95 (Springfield
Interchange). I-495 is a major freight transportation route around Washington, D.C.
Traffic volumes are in the 200,000 AADT level with combination-unit truck percentages in the 3.0 percent range. Widening this roadway will promote economic
expansion and improve safety.
•
Implement CSX’s National Gateway project. The National Gateway is a coordinated program of multistate improvements to CSX rail lines aimed at improving
double-stack rail connections between Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern markets.
•
Complete Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor project. This project will allow for
the diversion of truck traffic to rail from numerous interstates, including Virginia’s
I-81, I-95, I-77, and I-85.
A more detailed description of the freight transportation projects identified for the
Northern Virginia Subregion is provided in Table 10.
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Table 10. Northern Virginia Subregion Project List
Impact on Freight
Transportation
Activitya
Scenario
Included in
Freight
Plan?
Route
Project Description
From
To
Distance
(Miles)
U.S. 29
Urban 6 Lane with
Median
Fauquier CL
Route 55
4.130
Medium
B
U.S. 29
Urban 6 Lane with
Median
0.7 Mile East Prince
William
CL Route 28
3.310
Low
B
U.S. 29
Urban 6 Lane with
Median
Route 28
WCL Fairfax
5.530
Low
B
U.S. 29
Urban 6 Lane with
Median
ECL Fairfax
SCL Falls Church
5.050
Low
B
U.S. 29
Urban 6 Lane with
Median
Old Dominion Drive
Kenmore Street
1.080
Low
B
I-66
Widen to 8 Lanes
1.554 KM West
Southbound Route 29
3.716 KM East
Southbound Route 29
3.270
High
A
I-66
Add 2 HOV Lanes
Route 15
Route 29
2.550
Medium
B
I-66
Widen to 6 Lanes + 2
Reversible HOV
Route 29
Route 234
2.340
High
B
Yes
I-66
Widen to 8 Lanes + 2
Reversible HOV
Route 234
Route 50 East
10.510
High
B
Yes
I-66
Widen to 8 Lanes + 2
Reversible HOV
Route 50 East
I-495
6.900
High
B
Yes
I-95
Add 2 Lane CD Road
each Direction
Route 610
Route 234
9.260
High
B
Yes
I-95
Add 1 Lane to each
Direction
Route 234
Route 123
7.700
High
B
Yes
I-95
3 Reversible Hot Lanes
0.600 Mile South
Route 234 HOV
Route 123
8.920
High
B
Yes
I-95
3 Reversible Hot Lanes
Route 123
I-495
9.860
High
B
Yes
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Project Description
From
To
Distance
(Miles)
Scenario
Included in
Freight
Plan?
I-95
Rural 8 Lane with
Median
Route 123
Route 644
9.010
High
B
Yes
I-95
Widen to Add a 4th Lane
0.015 Mile South
Route 123
0.154 Mile North
Route 7100
6.452
High
A
Yes
I-95
Add 2 Lane CD Road
each Direction
I-495
Route 613
2.060
High
B
Yes
I-95
Add 2 Lane CD Road
and HOV Lanes
Route 613
Maryland SL
5.460
High
B
Yes
I-95
Widen to Add Additional
Lanes
2.1 Mile West Telegraph
Road
0.45 Mile East Telegraph
Road
1.700
High
A
Yes
I-95
Widen to Add Additional
Lanes
0.880 Mile West Route 1
Woodrow Wilson
Bridge
2.550
High
A
Yes
I-495
Hot Lanes
Route 123 (Old Dominion
Drive)
Springfield – I-95
High
A
Yes
BRT and Hot Lanes
14th Street Bridge
Massapanox
Route
I-95/I-395
Impact on Freight
Transportation
Activitya
High
A
Yes
National Gateway
High
C
Yes
Crescent Corridor
High
C
Yes
Short Haul “Sprint
Trains”
High
C
Yes
Marine Highway Service
Expansion
High
C
Yes
a: The impact on freight transportation activity column indicates the relative impact a given project has on freight mobility as compared to
the relative impact it has on mobility in general. It consists of three categories:
High – these projects provide a greater relative impact to the important activity of moving freight than other projects considered.
Medium – these projects benefit both freight and non-freight transportation activity to an important degree.
Low – while valuable to both freight and non-freight transportation activity, these projects have a lower relative impact on freight
transportation activity than those in the medium- or high-level categories.
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Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
Conclusions
The primary conclusions of the Northern Virginia Subregion freight profile are:
•
The highest priority freight transportation infrastructure recommendations for the
Subregion are the widening and addition of HOV lanes on I-66, the widening and
addition of HOV/HOT lanes on I-95, and the completion of the National Gateway and
Crescent Corridor projects (see recommendations section for details).
•
I-95, I-395, I-495, and I-66 are freight transportation bottlenecks throughout the
Northern Virginia Subregion.
•
The CSX Virginia north-south mainline (National Gateway) is a bottleneck south of
Alexandria.
•
Dulles International is the largest cargo airport in the Commonwealth handling over 80
million pounds of freight in 2006.
•
Northern Virginia’s defining economic characteristic compared to the nation and the
rest of Virginia is the relative size of its professional and business services sector (e.g.,
engineering, research, consulting, advertising, legal, etc.), and to a lesser extent, the size
of its information services (e.g., communications, Internet, publishing, and broadcasting)
industries.
•
The goods movement industry, while a smaller proportion of overall employment in
the Subregion compared to that of the Commonwealth as a whole, employed over
41,000 people in Northern Virginia in 2005.
•
Combined, the freight-intensive, retail, and goods movement industries account for
25 percent of total Northern Virginia employment, significantly lower than the
31 percent average for Virginia overall.
•
Nearly 87 percent of the total freight tonnage (inbound, outbound, internal, and
through) moving within the Subregion is hauled by truck with just under 13 percent
hauled by rail. Over 65 percent of the total freight tonnage moving within the
Subregion is through traffic. The Subregion is a major consumer of goods with over
26 percent of overall freight tonnage classified as inbound and only about five percent
classified as outbound.
•
The key highway freight transportation corridors within the Subregion are I-66, I-95,
and U.S. 29. The pavement conditions on these roadways are described below.
•
I-66 is in good condition throughout the Subregion.
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Virginia Statewide Multimodal Freight Study, Final Report, 2010
2
•
I-95 is in good condition in Prince William and Fairfax Counties and in poor condition in the City of Alexandria.2
•
U.S. 29 is in good condition in Prince William County, in poor condition in Fairfax
County, and in very poor condition in the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.
2007 data – the recent reconstruction of I-95 has improved the IRI score through Alexandria.
Part III – Northern Virginia - Page 24
Cambridge Systematics, Inc.