tysons update
by Mike Salmon
T
his summer, Northern Virginia motorists will see big improvements in the way they travel as work on the Virginia Megaprojects approaches the finish line. This includes the I-495 express lanes, Telegraph Road Interchange and the Fairfax County Parkway extension.
To get there, construction will continue to accelerate this summer, particularly on several locations along the Capital Beltway. “Drivers on 495 will see a lot of work this summer on I-66, Braddock Road, and Route 7, but much of the work over the past few months has moved into the center lanes, so the regular travel lanes are being impacted less and less. By the end of the summer, conditions will improve substantially,” said John D. Lynch, Virginia Department of Transportation’s regional program director. The 495 express lanes from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road will provide faster, more direct options for high occupancy vehicles and toll-paying customers. Work on the 495 express lanes has made tremendous progress in 2011 – having just completed its third year of construction. The $1.4 billion beltway expansion project is on schedule for completion by late 2012. Motorists are now traveling on the new highway configuration in many areas along the beltway as well. These lanes are outside of the original configuration so crews can work on the actual express lanes in the middle of the beltway. At I-66, the left exit from the northbound lanes of the beltway to I-66 west was closed permanently. That exit has been a congestion point in years past, so it was closed and motorists heading to I-66 west are now using the right, two-lane exit. That left exit will be a 495 express lanes exit in the future. Also at I-66, new flyover ramps were opened from I-66 east to I-495 north bringing northbound traffic down to the right side on the beltway eliminating the left merge across the roadway to access Routes 7 and 123 and I-66 west to I-495 south, which eliminated the left merge onto the beltway.
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Express From Gallows/Picture by Joe Romeo. Looking south from Gallows Road, the 495 Express Lanes carve a path down the center of the Capital Beltway.
Over the past year, new overpasses opened at Lewinsville Road, Leesburg Pike, Idylwood Road, I-66, Gallows Road, Little River Turnpike and Braddock Road. These new overpasses are wider, many with sidewalks and bike lanes that the old overpasses lacked, so it was a welcome addition to many Fairfax County residents. At the Telegraph Road Interchange, in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County, links to the busy Eisenhower Avenue business corridor and the City of Alexandria will greatly improve transportation in that part of the region. As part of that project, two overpasses are being rebuilt over the Metrorail tracks and Cameron Run. One portion of the new bridge over the railroad will be completed in the late spring, and the new Telegraph Road lanes over Cameron Run will be open this summer. The Telegraph Road Interchange, the final part of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, includes a section of through lanes for interstate traffic. In the coming year, the through lanes in the center of the beltway will be completed, greatly improving interstate traffic in this area. The project is expected to be completed in the late 2012-early 2013 timeframe. Just south of the Capital Beltway is the Fairfax County Parkway Extension Project, the final link of the 35-mile road in Fairfax County that goes from Leesburg Pike (Route 7) in the north, down to Route One in the southern part of the county. The last phase of the project, realigning Rolling Road, is scheduled to be completed this summer. In April, the Rolling Road overpass was completed and the Donegal Lane intersection closed, eliminating a traffic signal on the parkway. In November 2012, a 535-space commuter lot will open in a spot near the Barta RoadRolling Road intersection. Last July, the ribbon was cut on the I-95 Widening Project, which was the first Megaproject officially completed. This project added another lane on both sides of I-95 through a six-mile stretch of highway from the Fairfax County Parkway overpass to Occoquan. This new lane saves drivers 10-20 minutes traveling through that corridor.
VivaTysons | MAY-JUNE 2012 vivatysons.com