Published: November 24, 2009 09:52 pm      

West Virginia Turnpike gears up for holiday traffic

You might say this holiday weekend is built around the four ’Ts’ ’ Thanksgiving, turkey, touchdowns and traffic.

There’s little it can do as far as the first three are concerned, but the West Virginia Turnpike is geared up to keep traffic flowing as best as humanly possible.

Well in advance of the busiest time of the year on the 88-mile toll road, crews have been laying plans, tolls director Steve Maynard said.

’We look at it as starting early Tuesday, it picks up a little bit, and Wednesday ’ well, that’s the hammer day,’ he said Tuesday.

’We get our traffic earlier in the morning and it will run sometimes up until 1 a.m. People are leaving at different intervals.’

Thanksgiving Day slows to a trickle, and Friday and Saturday are considered ’very manageable,’ and then the onslaught comes on Sunday as holiday travelers are homeward bound.

’Sunday is our big day and that causes all the issues,’ Maynard said.

’All that traffic that flows from Wednesday at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. is coming back on Sunday. What we’re getting in 14 or 16 hours, we’re getting back in seven hours. That’s where we have some issues at the gates.’

For instance, Barrier C in Chelyan normally can deal with 2,100 to 2,200 cars in an hour with all lanes open and tandem booths open.

’You may have 3,000 vehicles coming into that plaza,’ Maynard said.

’There’s nothing you can do. You’re going to have that backup. The last couple of years, we’ve been lucky. Traffic dissipated a little better coming into the gate throughout that eight hours. We’ve dealt with minimum backups compared to the five or six years prior to the last two years.’

Tandem booths set up for anticipated huge volumes of traffic have proved to a lifesaver, Maynard said.

’They have been one of the big helps,’ he said.

’Barrier C has three booths to be prepared to be put in place (today). They definitely will be in place Sunday. Barrier B (at Pax) has two running.’

Normally, that barrier, a few miles north of Beckley, doesn’t suffer backups since it swallows traffic sent southward by Barrier C and moves at a more steady pace, he said. Barrier A at Ghent has but one tandem, but it actually consists of two separate plazas with six lanes on each side.

Variable message boards will be operational during the holiday period, alerting travelers about high peak traffic times, and Maynard said directors and supervisors will be out on high priority days to ensure a smooth operation. Personnel will be on standby, ready to be pressed into service in the event of an illness.

Thanksgiving week is considered the period of peak travel on the turnpike, but Maynard suggested the Fourth of July and Christmas aren’t far behind. The variable is that those two holidays don’t fall on the same day of the week. This year, for instance, Christmas and New Year’s Day come on a Friday.

’On Christmas, you don’t see the backups,’ he said.

’We’re running 2,200 to 2,300 vehicles maybe southbound, and northbound we’re running 1,200. We flip-flop lanes at the main lines. We’re able to run six lanes one way and four the other way.’

By maintaining a traffic count over recent years, the turnpike can look at the volume experienced on a Christmas that fell on a Friday and get a good read for that day, he explained.

’It’s funny,’ he said. ’You can look at these traffic counts year to year and run with just a percent or two right down to the hour. You can know at 10 a.m. that your traffic is getting ready to pick up.’

’ E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com