Commuters find drive to work incredibly frustrating

One woman says it took 2 hours 46 minutes to get from Stafford County to King Street in Alexandria along Interstates 95 and 395.

Another waits five light cycles at Van Dorn Street and Franconia Road in an attempt to get on the Capital Beltway to take an alternate route into the District.

Another man says he took the back roads from Fredericksburg to Crystal City after hearing about the interstate backups. His commuting time: 3 hours.

One accident in the 5 a.m. hour caused all the problems frustrated Virginia commuters experienced on Interstates 395, 95 and 495 early Thursday. Traffic, at one point, backed up 24 miles into Prince William County.

The District cleared the accident at the entrance to the 3rd Street Tunnel but didn't notify Virginia of the problem until 7:15 a.m. The D.C. Department of Transportation did send an e-mail, urging drivers to "take alternate routes or use Metro as an option."

The Virginia Department of Transportation declined to open the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to all traffic, a move some drivers believed would have alleviated some of the congestion.

But VDOT spokesman Mike Salmon says opening the lanes would not have solved the problem.

It would have created "two big backups" at the Case Bridge, where the main line and the HOV

"It would have caused a huge backup on the HOV and on 395," he says.

"All the people would have gotten on the HOV and that would have backed up at Case Bridge."

WTOP Traffic Reporter Lisa Baden heard from lots of upset people.

"It's still bad. Isn't that amazing?" she said after 10 a.m.

Baden says drivers found "even the favorite back route was saturated as well."

"Last I heard Washington was No. 3 on the list for congestions. On days like today I think we're No. 1. Do we win or do we lose?"

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