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It was a rough commute for hundreds of thousands of Northern Virginia drivers Thursday morning.
From the 14th Street Bridge to Dale City, commuters trying to go north were delayed for hours along Interstates 395 and 95 due to an early morning accident that closed all lanes in Washington’s 3rd Street Tunnel, said Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Salmon.
John Lisle, spokesman with the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, said the crash was reported at 6:23 a.m., and D.C. officials notified VDOT about 20 minutes later.
But Salmon said it wasn’t until after 7 a.m. that they were notified of the crash, and by then it was too late.
“We were aware traffic was starting to back up at 6:15 but we didn’t know why at that point, so we programmed the variable message signs back around Springfield to divert traffic from 395,” said Salmon in an e-mail.
By 8 a.m. both interstates were nothing more than parking lots, while drivers on the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes were sailing along with no delays.
Salmon said DDOT could have done a better job communicating information to VDOT about the crash.
Lisle said they did the best they could do considering the circumstances.
“Anytime you have a crash that closes all the lanes of a highway, no matter what time you report it, it is going to cause a backup,” said Lisle.
Many commuters spent their time stuck in traffic wondering why the HOV lanes weren’t opened to all cars, but, Salmon said that would have caused even more problems.
“We were concerned that if we opened the HOV when we were aware of the accident in D.C., it would have flooded the HOV and that back up would have started around the Case Bridge, where the HOV merges,” Salmon’s e-mail stated.
But the problems on the road were of no concern to riders on Virginia Railway Express or OmniRide commuter buses.
“Since the HOV lanes were never opened, our operations really weren’t affected by it, aside from a few buses that got caught in some traffic while they were in downtown Washington,” said OmniRide spokeswoman Christine Rodrigo.
The delays began to ease as the HOV lanes opened to regular traffic at the regularly scheduled time of 9 a.m.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
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