Transportation experts call it the silver bullet, the game-changer, the home run: something that will solve traffic on Interstate 66 in Prince William and Fairfax counties. And it should be running early next year.

WASHINGTON — Transportation experts call it the silver bullet, the

game-changer, the home run: something that will solve traffic on Interstate 66

in Prince William and

Fairfax counties. And it should be running early next year.

The Virginia Department of Transportation will begin a project this weekend to

install an “Active Traffic Management” system between the Capital

Beltway

and

Route 29 in Centreville. Over the next four

months, VDOT will install 36 overhead gantries that will serve as the basis of

the

system.

ATM is a relatively new concept in managing traffic in the United States,

although it’s popular in Europe. The theory is that with sensors, traffic

cameras and overhead signs, VDOT can give drivers more information miles away

about upcoming traffic, crashes or other bottlenecks. It’ll offer drivers

more information to decide whether to bail from I-66 or how to prepare for the

slower traffic.

Some of the symbols will be familiar to I-66 commuters: If there is

a crash ahead, VDOT can change the signs in real time miles away. If lanes are

shut down, VDOT can change green arrows to a red X or an arrow to advise

merging to another lane. VDOT hopes that getting people out of closed lanes

before they reach incidents will make the slowdowns less abrupt and less

severe.

If there is standard traffic, VDOT could change the signs to give drivers a

warning about exactly how far away the congestion begins.

How an ATM system on I-66 will look by wtopweb

VDOT could also change the speed limit from 55 to, say, 45

when there is traffic.

Everything is controlled with computers at VDOT headquarters in Fairfax, can

be changed with the click of a mouse, and is monitored 24-7 in real time.

“These strategies are intended to optimize mobility along the I-66 corridor by

more effectively managing the congested conditions. While our traffic woes

won’t

suddenly go away, the hope is that the length of time that travelers need to

complete a trip will become more reliable or predictable,” VDOT writes on its website.

Eventually, VDOT expects to deploy the ATM system on the entire 34-mile

stretch from the D.C. border to US-15 in Haymarket.

Weather permitting, construction will begin in the overnights on eastbound I-

66

at mile marker 53 in Centreville. Crews could shut down all lanes for up to 30

minutes. Crews will focus first on the stretch between Route 29 in Centreville

and Route 50 in Fairfax in

both directions.

The ATM system could be operational in the late winter or early spring of

2015.

VDOT has posted a

video to show

drivers what to expect when the ATM system is fully installed.

Watch the video below:

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