Virginia Transportation Modeling Program

Regional characteristics

The model area includes the entire George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC) planning district as well as the Fredericksburg Area MPO (FAMPO). The model region overlaps the Washington, DC Regional model area to the north and borders the Richmond/Tri-Cities Regional model to the south. The Rappahannock River bisects the model region.

Travel characteristics

The Fredericksburg region is a bedroom community of Northern, VA with 40% of the commute trips destined there. The area has a significant usage of car-poolers (the commute trip at 1.4 persons per vehicle is one of the highest in the nation) as well as non-auto travel associated with the D.C. area commute. A significant number of buses run between Fredericksburg and D.C. and several park-and-ride lots exist in the area and experience heavy use. In addition a significant number of commuters utilize the Virginia Rail Express (VRE), enough to reduce travel on I-95 the equivalent of one lane. A unique characteristic of the Fredericksburg commute to D.C. is the slug method of travel whereby commuters pick up passengers at park-and-ride lots in order to qualify for use of the HOV lanes on I-95. Although no HOV lanes exist in the region their utilization north of the region for the D.C. commute heavily influences travel characteristics of workers traveling from the Fredericksburg region. Interstate 95 is a heavily traveled facility with a large number of trucks (20% south of Route 17). Some major regional trip generators in the region include Quantico military base (Stafford County) and Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County. The Dahlgren installation in King George County, although a civilian facility, employs a large number (~5,000) of commuters originating throughout the region. Various Toll, HOV, and Express lane projects and studies have been proposed and/or conducted in the region.

Model Contact
Nelson Newton, Paul Agnello

Model request form