The rain has put off work to replace a drainage pipe scheduled for Monday in Stafford. The work that would have closed a portion of Brooke Road is now scheduled for next Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The section of the road that will be closed is near Eskimo Hill Road, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.

Drivers will want to find an alternate route while the work is being done.

Commuters who use the Virginia Railway Express lot on Brooke Road can instead take Potomac Run Road to get to Deacon or White Oak roads, VDOT said.

Crews will be replacing a pipe that has needed numerous repairs in recent years, according to VDOT.

While ridership figures were down slightly in April, the Virginia Railway Express is planning for future expansion.

Regardless of those numbers, overall ridership figures are up. And trains are overcrowded during peak runs.

VRE could add a new train to handle growing Fredericksburg-area demand.

“We’ve probably outgrown the original model of VRE,” Dale Zehner, the commuter rail service’s CEO, told the operation’s board Friday. “We’re pushing at the edges, let’s put it that way.”

During the meeting, Zehner detailed short-term and long-term plans for handling expected passenger increases, especially with the Spotsylvania station set to open, possibly by the end of 2013. Those plans include adding rail cars and possibly a new train to handle Fredericksburg-area passengers.

April’s ridership figures fell 1.3 percent compared with April 2011, according to VRE’s statistics. But so far this fiscal year ridership has increased 6.9 percent over FY 2010-2011.

And 2011 was a banner year for VRE, when the commuter rail service set all of its top-10 ridership days.

One  of those top-10 marks fell last month, though. On April 17, VRE tallied 20,914 ridership trips. Ridership figures are counted as round trips, so the actual riders comprise half the total.

Zehner told the board that ridership demand stands at 19,600 and that VRE’s capacity is 21,000.

And, he said, VRE expects demand to grow, so they need to plan for it.

He and other members also noted that crowding is an issue already, especially on Fredericksburg-area trains during peak runs.

In an interview after the meeting, Susan Stimpson, a member of the VRE board and the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, agreed.

“I think it already is needed,” she said of added capacity for area VRE trains.

She said the express trains added to the area last year are constantly full.

Zehner detailed some of the things VRE could do to expand.

VRE could increase the “step-up” option, where VRE riders pay an extra $5 to take Amtrak trains. VRE sells 7,500 of these tickets a month, more than they expected, Zehner said.

He suggested that VRE could lower the step-up price to $2 per ticket. VRE would have to eat the cost of doing that, which would amount to $950,000 annually, Zehner said.

Another option would be to add a rail car to train 303, which runs from the Fredericksburg area. That would add 260 seats. This would cost VRE an estimated $120,000 annually. VRE could also add two cars to Manassas trains.

The biggest and most expensive move would be to add another train for VRE service, which could coincide with the opening of the Spotsylvania station.

Such a move would add an estimated 2,200 seats a day. It would cost an estimated $20 million initially and $1.3 million a year in operating costs.

“When Spotsylvania opens,” he said, “we’ll probably need another train.”

Work will close sections of two roads next week, one in Stafford and the other in Fredericksburg.

In Stafford on Monday, a portion of Brooke Road will be closed from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. so crews can replace a drainage pipe.

The section of the road that will be closed is near Eskimo Hill Road, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.

Drivers will want to find an alternate route while the work is being done.

Commuters who use the Virginia Railway Express lot on Brooke Road can instead take Potomac Run Road to get to Deacon or White Oak roads, VDOT said.

Crews will be replacing a pipe that has needed numerous repairs in recent years, according to VDOT.

City Work

In Fredericksburg on Tuesday, utility and traffic signal work is scheduled to shut down parts of College Avenue.

The road, between  Brent and Parcell streets, will be closed from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until the work is finished, according to the Fredericksburg Department of Public Works.

Traffic using College Avenue will be detoured onto Augustine Avenue while the work is being done.

Northbound morning commuters–and any unfortunate travelers heading through the area–experienced big backups on Interstate 95 Thursday.

Donna Harris, who commutes to Washington, left this morning from the Gordon Road/State Route 3 lot in Spotsylvania County and got an unwelcome surprise shortly after 5 a.m. when she reached the Falmouth area and a wall of traffic. The backups continued throughout the morning, as the Virginia Department of Transportation’s 511 alerts reported 9 mile backups at about 7:30.

Harris–and surely many other drivers–wondered why a paving crew would still be doing work during rush hour.

An equipment malfunction in the early morning hours is what kept the contractor, Virginia Paving, from being able to clear out from the interstate before the mandated 4:30 a.m. deadline, according to VDOT spokeswoman Kelly Hannon.

The crews are milling and paving a section of two lanes between milemarkers 141 and 142.1, between the Courthouse Road and Aquia exits.

As the crews were milling the left lane in that area at about 1 a.m., there was a problem with a piece of equipment used to smooth asphalt that needed to be laid on the milled lane. After a consultation with a VDOT inspector, the crews laid the asphalt, even though it couldn’t be smoothed over. For safety reasons, the asphalt had to be put on the milled section because it was 4 inches lower than the untouched lane next to it, Hannon said. Laying the asphalt reduced the lane height difference to 2 inches.

That is what caused the roughly half-hour delay in finishing the work this morning, Hannon said. Crews also were still clearing equipment from the shoulders after that half-hour delay.

Before the weekend, the crews will smooth over that left lane. On Sunday evening, they plan to start the process of completely topping off the lane with more asphalt and smoothing it over.

Hannon said VDOT is sorry of the inconvenience drivers experienced this morning.

On the bright side, drivers will get a break from road work come Memorial Day.

Between Friday, May 25, and noon Tuesday, May 29, VDOT will suspend all work on the interstates.

The Virginia Railway Express Operations Board will take up a few issues this week riders might be interested in: Security, Wi-Fi and the Spotsylvania station and third track.

VRE plans to install security cameras at the Fredericksburg train station.

First, the brief update on the Spotsylvania station and third track notes that everything appears to be going well with the third track, which is on schedule to be finished by the end of 2013. There is no mention of a completion date for the station. The board will talk about it at Friday’s meeting.

On the security front, VRE wants to have cameras set up at four stations, including Fredericksburg’s. There already are security cameras at numerous Northern Virginia VRE stations. The cameras “would be placed on and around train station platforms so that VRE can capture operational and customer activity from the headquarters office,” according to the VRE report for this week’s agenda.

Fredericksburg’s station will get four cameras at a cost of $56,169. A Homeland Security grant covers most of the cost.

The board will vote Friday on a vendor to do the work.

On the Wi-Fi front, VRE has considered having the technology added to trains and stations for some time. This week’s agenda mentions four possible technologies VRE could use, with the preferred one being routers. This issue is not slated for a vote. It is only listed as a discussion item.

See the staff’s explanation below. For the full Wi-Fi document, click here. To see VRE’s full agenda, click here.

For organizations without WiMax or satellite infrastructure already in place, the least costly method to providing wireless communication is a router device that will allow CDMA cards running 3G/4G/LTE cellular services as the Internet source. CDMA routers can currently hold up to 16 CDMA cards subscribed to the same or multiple service providers and can provide redundancy and high availability of services. When signal strength and bandwidth are reduced, the card with the best signal takes over providing service. For VRE train stations, a router with 2 to 4 CDMA cards subscribed to the provider with the best service in that area should be sufficient. For VRE rolling stock, where signals vary due to train movement, 8 to 10 mixed cards from different providers should enable continued wireless communication services.

The CDMA router would be installed in the cab car. Each trailer would require an access point for communication with the router. The access points would provide the wireless signal to the receiving devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc). A caching media server would also work with the router to enable cached content that is accessed by multiple customers at the same time. Since the data is cached or saved in the media server, repeated attempts to download the same data is unnecessary, reserving bandwidth resources for new content such as VPN and corporate secure connections.

Guest Internet with Multimedia

Wireless communication will allow VRE passengers to surf the Internet and access corporate email and files. Additionally, access to low-bandwidth content, such as news and other daily tickers will be allowed. However, large video and audio files that require constant streaming over the Internet will be restricted to maximize the available bandwidth. In order for VRE passengers to enjoy some video and music content, customers will be able to connect to a limited selection of video and music media content that will be uploaded to a media server during non-service hours. This will help reduce the utilization of bandwidth and reserve usage of bandwidth to customers accessing corporate resources and web content that do not require high data streams.

Cost –The following cost estimates are based on pricing for the entire VRE fleet provided by router vendors with Verizon as the Internet Service Provider (as of June 2011).

Total Infrastructure Cost – $1.434 M (non-recurring)

Routers — $630,000

Access Points — $504,000

Network Operating Center — $100,000

Installation — $200,000

Total Annual cost — $230,000

ISP Annual Subscription — $70,000

Equipment Annual Maintenance – $160,000

This week, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Hot Spots, the only new work on area roads will be milling and paving on Route 2 in Caroline County.

Among other area projects, there is continuing work, primarily milling and paving, along the Interstate 95 corridor, so expect delays.

Travel Alert

Interstate 95

(Update) Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.; crews will be performing various types of routine maintenance along the I-95 corridor between the Caroline/Hanover county line and the Stafford/Prince William county line. Mobile work zones may be required, with lane closures as well as lane narrowing on various interstate ramps throughout the week.

Stafford County

Interstate 95

(Update) Sunday, 10 p.m. – 4:30 a.m. and Monday-Thursday, 9 p.m. – 4:30 a.m.; motorists should expect lane closures and delays on I-95 north between Exit 140 (Rt. 630/Stafford) and Exit 143 (Rt. 610/Garrisonville).  Crews will be milling and paving in this area.  All lanes will be open to traffic in time for the morning rush hour.

Caroline County

Interstate 95

(Update) Monday, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; crews will be paving the right lane and shoulder on I-95 north between the Caroline/Hanover county line and Exit 110 (Rt. 639/Ladysmith).  Motorists will be restricted to the left and center lane in the work zone.

(Update) Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; crews will be paving the right lane and shoulder on I-95 south between Exit 110 (Rt. 639/Ladysmith) and the Caroline/Hanover county line. Motorists will be restricted to the left and center lane in the work zone.

Route 2

(New) Wednesday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.; crews will be milling and paving on Route 2 from just north of Rt. 606 to the Spotsylvania county line.  Motorists should expect lane closures and delays in the work zone.

King George County

Route 301

(Update) Monday – Wednesday, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. crews will be paving and restriping on Route 301 south from the north end of the Rappahannock River Bridge to just south of Route 3.   Motorists will encounter alternating lane closures in the work zone.

Under Construction

Stafford County

• Route 610 at Aquia Creek

This bridge rehabilitation project is underway. The bridge is located just west of Joshua Road. Expect single lane closures during daylight hours. In May, temporary traffic signals will be installed to maintain a single lane of traffic across the structure. The project is expected to be complete in August 2012.

• Route 610 at Mine Road

The project will add turn lanes to Mine Road and on Route 610 at this intersection.  Expect periodic delays and lane closures during evening hours. The project is expected to be complete in July 2012.

Spotsylvania County

• Route 208, Spotsylvania Courthouse Bypass, Phase II

Road improvement project from just west of the Ta River to just east of the Po River near Lake Anna. Estimated completion date is February 2013.

• Route 208 Bridge over Lake Anna

Construction continues in the eastbound lane on the Route 208 bridge over Lake Anna. A temporary signal maintains one lane of traffic in the westbound lane on the structure. Estimated completion date is December 2012.

• Mine Road/Lansdowne Road (Spotsylvania County Project)

Construction continues in the vicinity of the Mine Road/Lansdowne Road intersection.  Expect delays and traffic pattern changes during daylight hours.

• Route 3 Widening Project (Spotsylvania County Project)

This widening project of Route 3 is located between Chewing Lane and Gordon Road. Estimated completion date is July 2012.

Caroline County

• Route 207 bridge replacement project

Work is underway to replace the westbound Route 207 bridge over the CSX railroad tracks. Eastbound and westbound traffic has been shifted to the eastbound Rt. 207 bridge. Motorists should be alert to this new traffic pattern. The speed limit has been reduced to 45 mph in the work zone. Estimated completion date is May 2013.

King George County

• Route 301 bridge over the Rappahannock River

Work is underway on the Route 301 bridge over the Rappahannock River. The bridge connects Caroline and King George counties at Port Royal. As the project progresses, all traffic will be shifted to the southbound lanes on the bridge with one lane open to traffic in each direction. Motorists should be alert to construction activity and changes in traffic patterns.

The project is expected to be complete in July 2013.

As many Virginia Railway Express riders know, there were some massive delays during Friday’s commute home.

A switch problem at the Rippon station is what caused the delays–up to 1 hour and 39 minutes–which were further exacerbated when a technician en route to fix the switch got stuck in traffic after an accident on Interstate 95.

Here is an email sent Monday morning by the director or rail operations, Chris Henry:

We sincerely apologize to those Fredericksburg Line riders delayed last Friday because of the switch problem north of the Rippon station.

An explanation:

At approximately 4:20p, the switch, known as the Featherstone switch, was stuck in the crossing position. The first train to reach the switch was a Northbound CSX Freight train. A signal maintainer was immediately dispatched to the location to fix the issue. Normally when switch issues like this occur, the crew can hand throw the switch, get it to straighten out, and move on, experiencing only a 10-15 minute delay. Unfortunately, the freight crew was unable to get the switch to normalize so our crew from 303 tried to assist. When both crews were unable to clear the problem, we had no choice but to wait for the maintainer to arrive. By this time, an Amtrak train was waiting behind 303 and a northbound Amtrak train was stuck behind the original freight train.

The maintainer was then delayed by an auto accident on I-95 near Quantico, further extending the delay.

In the meantime, 305 and 307 had departed Alexandria and were still far enough north that they could be lined up on 3 track and routed around the switch issue. We made the decision to route those trains around 303 so that we could keep some traffic moving on the lines. A southbound train sometimes will knock the switch back into position, temporarily correcting the issue. That did not happen when 305 went through, but 307 freed up the switch enough that we were able to then hand throw it into the correct position. 303 was back on the move at 5:55 pm.

I was on 303 myself and can certainly understand the frustration of thinking you were going to get home early on a nice Friday evening. As I was passing out FRC’s, I was asked a few questions that I thought would be helpful to answer here for everyone:

Why couldn’t we transfer #303 passengers to another train?

If a train breaks down at a station, and another train comes through, that would be our first option because it is a safe place to detrain from the affected equipment and board the next train. Once a train is out on the line, transferring passengers from one train to another is a last resort due to the numerous hazards and potential for injury when stepping down onto the ballast and trying to walk across to the other train. While we strive for perfection in on time performance, safety is our primary objective and out on the railroad line, the safest place to be is on the train.

Why couldn’t #303 reverse to follow the same path as the passing trains?

This would require #303 to back up about 10 miles to use the switch that is just south of Franconia/Springfield. It is easy for VRE trains to do this since we can control our trains from both ends. Unfortunately, Amtrak 125 was directly behind #303 and Amtrak trains can only control from one end. A reversing move for Amtrak requires that they can go only at maximum speed of 15 mph, since the engineer cannot see what is going on and depends on the conductor to notify him of anything awry. That type of move would have taken a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour for the Amtrak train to get past the switch at Franconia/Springfield, and 303 would have been another 15-20 minutes behind that.

In conclusion, what should have been a 10-15 minute switch issue, ended up being an hour and a half delay because the switch could not initially be hand-thrown (which works 95% of the time). Also, the signal maintainer got delayed en route and trains were stacked up on both sides of the switch problem.

While we have been operating in the 95-98% on time for several months, unexpected delays like this do happen from time to time. CSX prides itself on maintaining its infrastructure, especially in our area, so we can achieve this on-time percentage, but even they cannot foresee every problem before it occurs. Please be assured that we will continue to work with CSX and all of our partners to give VRE passengers the service they have come to expect and deserve.

Sincerely,

Chris Henry
Director of Rail Operations

 

Drivers might notice a large group of bicyclists this afternoon on northbound U.S. 1 and Cowan Boulevard. And that means there will be some delays, as well as a lane closure on Cowan.

Expect delays from about 1 p.m. until shortly after 2 p.m.

As part of the Law Enforcement Unity bike ride, some 200 police officers will be riding bicycles, with motorcycle escorts, from U.S. 1 in Caroline to Fredericksburg, where they will turn onto Cowan Boulevard and stop at the Fredericksburg Police Department.

During the ride there will be rolling roadblocks, which will cause “brief delays,” said Natatia Bledsoe, Fredericksburg Police spokeswoman.

The bicyclists are supposed to reach the police station by about 2:15 p.m. The Hospital Drive intersection will be closed briefly when the cyclists and support vehicles arrive.

The right eastbound lane of Cowan will be closed from about noon until the riders leave the station.

Transportation officials are looking for your input on two studies aimed at improving road conditions at Boswell’s Corner and along U.S. 1 from Telegraph Road in Stafford to Joplin and Fuller roads in Prince William County.

A public meeting will be held Thursday at Hilldrup Moving & Storage at 4022 (Click here for a locator map) on U.S. 1. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a presentation at 7 p.m.

The Federal Highway Administration is heading the studies. Stafford County and the Virginia Department of Transportation also are a part of the studies.

One study will cover a six-mile stretch of U.S. 1, from Joplin and Fuller roads to Telegraph Road and will focus on safety and mobility, according to the federal highway department.

The second study will focus on Boswell’s Corner and the west approach of Telegraph Road to U.S. 1, evaluating intersection concepts as well as environmental and historical impacts. The goal of this study is to eventually redo the intersection.

Anyone who can’t attend the meeting and would like to give their opinion on the studies can do so by mail or by filling out a survey online:

• Mail: Route 1/Quantico Study, 11400 Commerce Park Dr., Suite 400, Reston, VA 20191.
• Survey link: Click here.
  

Federal Highway Administration map of the study area. Click to see the meeting information.

A 24-year-old Orange County woman died after a two-vehicle crash Tuesday in Shenandoah County, according to Corinne Geller with the Virginia State Police.

The crash happened shortly before noon on Route 211 near Run Away Lane.

Geller said the westbound 2008 Kia Spectra driven by Amber L. Dove of Rhoadesville crossed the center line and ran head-on into a three-axle feed truck.

Dove was taken to Rockingham Memorial Hospital where she later died.

The driver of the truck, 24-year-old Ricky Thompson, was not injured.

The accident is still being investigated, but Geller said speed “has been determined to have been a factor in the crash.”

An Orange County woman died after a Tuesday crash in Shenandoah County.