The upcoming rehabilitation of the George Washington Parkway will put the Nationwide Park Service “one step nearer” to real-time site visitors cameras to assist monitor circumstances alongside the busy commuter route.
Actual-time site visitors cameras assist drivers know what site visitors circumstances are like earlier than beginning a visit, and are a software that helps WTOP Site visitors present the knowledge drivers want.
Whereas lots of the main commuter routes in Virginia and all through the DC area are outfitted with site visitors monitoring cameras, most roads maintained by the Nationwide Park Service, together with George Washington Parkway, Clara Barton Parkway, Suitland Parkway and Rock Creek Parkway lack them.
WTOP has realized that an upcoming main rehabilitation of the northern part of the George Washington Parkway will actually lay the groundwork for dwell site visitors cameras alongside a 7-mile stretch of freeway from the Capital Beltway to Spout Run. Floor was damaged for the venture on Monday.
“What this venture will do is carry us one step nearer to that,” mentioned Charles Cuvelier, superintendent of GW Parkway. “We are able to transfer in that path.”
Cuvelier mentioned the venture will lay the infrastructure that may home the utility cables wanted to help the site visitors cameras alongside the route.
“Every time we construct a highway in a park, we need to be delicate to the unique design and adapt it for contemporary use,” Cuvelier mentioned. “Among the security measures we’re introducing … the substitute of stone partitions and railings mirror that.”
The subsequent venture, anticipated to begin this summer time, is the primary main rehabilitation venture because the parkway was accomplished 60 years in the past.
It consists of changing the freeway’s asphalt pavement and drainage system, redesigning parts of the Virginia Route 123 interchange, repairing stormwater administration methods, and lengthening entry and exit lanes at some interchanges.
Whereas a traffic-monitoring digicam system would require extra funding, Cuvelier mentioned the park service is open to putting in it alongside scenic park roads, which incorporates trails alongside the Potomac River.
“We do not foresee a huge effect, a number of infrastructure, by way of enormous indicators, that is not what parks and avenues are about, however sure, it is doable, it is attainable to do it in a smart approach.” Cuvelier mentioned.
George Washington Parkway transports about 70,000 drivers day by day. The north part is the busiest of the avenue and serves 26 million drivers a yr.
The NPS and the Federal Freeway Administration awarded the $161 million contract, one of many largest infrastructure investments funded by the Nice American Out of doors Act of 2020, in December.
Like WTOP on Fb and comply with WTOP on Twitter and Instagram to strike up a dialog about this text and others.
Get breaking information and day by day headlines delivered to your e mail inbox by signing up right here.
© 2022 UNWTO. All rights reserved. This web site shouldn’t be supposed for customers situated inside the European Financial Space.
