About 3400 commuters slug out off the Pentagon

May 21, 2019, Officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Department of Defense’s Washington Headquarters Services and Transurban, gathered today to open the newly reconfigured and improved Pentagon South Parking Lot. Currently, more than 1,800 buses and about 3,400 “sluggers” (2010 Survery) on average pass through the South Parking Lot each day. The Pentagon South Parking Lot improvements cost approximately $10 million, and are funded by a federal “Fast Lane” grant, as well as a combination of VDOT and federal funds.

The Pentagon is the heart of slugging, it is said that the uniformed officers started slugging in the mid seventies when I-395 bus only Shirley Highway was changed to reversible bus and HOV lanes. Since then the Pentagon leadership have been a big supporter of sluggers. The Pentagon, leadership continues to support the slugging community knowing that less than 50% of sluggers work at the Pentagon. Slugging also helps the Pentagon lead the region in reducing single occupancy vehicle (SOV) trips with just 34% of the population commuting via SOV compared to 54% for federal and 73% for the region.

The Pentagon has 8 slug pickup stations all going to destinations along I-95 corridor. Four of the slug pickup stations to Staffford are located at the intersection of North Rotary Rd. and Fern St. that serves Route 17 Stafford, Route 3 Gordan Road, Route 610 Mine Road, and Route 610 Stafford. The other four are located along the north end of the southeast parking lot also known as pork chop that serves Burke/Springfield, Tackett’s Mill/Lorton/VRE, Montclair/Route 234, and Horner Road/Potomac Mills. Based on the 2010 Survey, the following is the break down of the number of vehicles and riders who slugged from the Pentagon.

Source: http://www.virginiadot.org/newsroom/northern-virginia/2019/new-bus-and-slug-lanes-open-at-pentagon-south-parking-lot05-21-2019.asp

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Relocation plan for Springfield-Bobs sluglines parking lot

Bob’s Sluglines Parking Lot tentatively to be closed in November 2019 for garage construction. slugs will lose about 278 spaces and slug pickup stations during construction for about 2 years. Fairfax County is working with the commuters to find alternative space for parking and pickup locations.

Below is the update from Caijun L, Senior Transportation Planner, Fairfax County.

 

Thanks for your patience while Fairfax County Department of Transportation develops the commuter parking relocation plan. The county is still in negotiations with property owners and nothing is final until the leases are signed, but we are confident the agreements will be completed soon.

 

Here is the relocation plan:

1) Relocate one slug line to the Springfield United Methodist Church parking lot (https://goo.gl/maps/jQJ89o1RB2P6ehQW8). The church currently provides 54 commuter parking spaces within their lot. In addition to those spaces, the church slug line would also serve the commuter parking located across the street at Springfield Plaza as well as the commuter parking at the American Legion.

 

2) Relocate one slug line and provide an additional 300 commuter parking spaces at the Springfield Town Center Frontier Garage ( https://goo.gl/maps/5guWhR3q3Ghpc7D28 ). In total, 800 commuter parking spaces would be located at the Frontier Garage on levels 2, 4, and 6.

The VDOT Saratoga Park-and-Ride Lot will serve as a back-up option in case something falls through with the church or town center.

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Highway Breakdown? Call #77

If you ever run out of gas or have a flat tire immediately note your mile marker and call #77 they will dispatch a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) truck to give you gas or change a tire all for free. It’s about your safety so stay in the car and be safe. This goes for any major highway in Virginia.

List of service from VDOT (All services are FREE)

Tire  change if you have a good spare and you must know where the lug lock is if you have one. 

 Water for over heated car but only water no coolant. 

 Gas if you run out 

Jumpstart for dead battery 

Traffic control for accident scenes. 

If you happen to have a cool driver they may have a cellphone cable you can use but that goes by the discretion of the VDOT driver. Put your hazards on VDOT is suppose to stop out with all vehicles they see but sometime they miss them. They are just making loops and will return.

Link to page for verification: https://www.virginiadot.org/travel/safetypatrol.asp

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