Earlier today, we told you about some Virginia Railway Express riders who were left out in the cold as they tried to make it home during yesterday’s snowstorm.
The commuter railroad released a statement about why that happened. And now OmniRide, the region’s commuter bus service provider, says it also fell short yesterday in its efforts to provide bus service to federal workers who live in Prince William and Stafford counties.
Some Virginia Railway Express riders were turned away yesterday, leaving them searching for another way home in the snow.
VRE email | The early release by the Office of Personnel Management yesterday created extreme crowding on the first southbound trains on both lines. While we moved our longest (8-car) train sets to operate on the earliest schedules, the demand was greater than we could accommodate. This resulted in the need to deny boarding to some and created crowded conditions on board the trains. The midday trains made slower than normal trips because of the extra time needed to allow passengers to detrain at their destination stations.
Is daytime roadwork and all of those construction zones keeping you from getting where you’re going?
Newly-elected Delegate Joshua Cole (D-28, Fredericksburg, Stafford) think so, and he’s introduced a new bill that would require the Virginia Department of Transportation to do all of their work at night.
4 p.m. | We just received an update from Virginia State Police on this morning’s fatal crash near Quantico.
Virginia State Police press release |Trooper J.D. Capra is investigating two crashes that occurred early Wednesday morning (Jan. 8) on Interstate 95 at the 149 mile marker in Prince William County.
Those free fares riders on the very first OmniRide bus ever to serve Stafford County came to an end Tuesday.
Those buses are the Stafford-Washington route (Route 543) and the Stafford-Pentagon route (Route 942). Service on the new routes began Oct. 28, 2019, as part of an effort to get more people out of their cars and onto buses along the Interstate 95 and 395 corridor, just as the newly tolled E-ZPass Express Lanes on I-395 were opening.
After receiving a reader tip about a new traffic pattern on Route 1 at Route 123 in Woodbridge put in place on Dec. 20, we’re checking with the Virginia Department of Transportation and with police to get more information.
Here’s the reader’s tip:
A Woodbridge man was killed today while traveling on Purcell Road near Dale City.
A Prince William police press release states:
(Press Release) The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy today released results of a Mason-Dixon poll showing that the glowing benefits of a proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative are supported by a majority of Virginians.
But that Virginians equally oppose the measure when voters learn it will mean a major new carbon tax on gasoline and diesel sold here.
Some long-serving members of the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board — some of whom date back to the founding of the commuter railroad in 1991 — said goodbye.
Sharon Bulova, who represents Fairfax County on the commission, and who is the retiring Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman, served decades on the commission. She described how it took an act of congress to create the commuter railroad, explaining how the host railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX demanded to be let off the hook an accident were to happen on the tracks used by VRE trains.
(Press Release) All four travel lanes on Route 630 (Courthouse Road) in Stafford County are now open to traffic from west of Austin Ridge Drive to the Winding Creek Road and Ramoth Church Road intersection.
Traffic began traveling on all four eastbound and westbound lanes after crews removed construction barrels and signs.
