If you’re thinking about taking the Capital Beltway near McLean this weekend, you might want to reconsider that plan.
Starting on the night of Friday, Jan. 24, four of the six northbound lanes on I-495 will be shut down for one mile from the Route 7 interchange (Leesburg Pike) in Tysons to Lewinsville Road in McLean to accommodate construction.
While they’re still expected to “significantly” affect traffic, the impact on workday commutes will ideally be limited with the closures lasting until 5 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 27, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.
“Motorists are urged to stay away from northbound I-495 in Virginia the entire weekend of January 24-27 and should choose alternate routes,” VDOT said in a press release. “If travel through the area is unavoidable, drivers should expect delays and traffic backups.”
The lane closures will allow construction crews to install five, 295-foot steel bridge girders over the Beltway’s Inner Loop at the Dulles Corridor interchange. This phase of construction is the “largest girder operation” of the 495 NEXT project, according to VDOT.
The 495 NEXT project began construction in 2022 at a cost of $660 million to extend the I-495 Express Lanes roughly 3 miles north from the Dulles Toll Road in Tysons past McLean’s George Washington Memorial Parkway.
During a previous stage of construction, the installation of concrete girders for a new Old Dominion Drive bridge required shutdowns of multiple lanes on I-495 for about a month last fall.
For the upcoming closures, which have been dubbed “Big Beam Weekend,” the ramp from eastbound Dulles Toll Road/Dulles Airport Access Highway to northbound I-495 will be impacted, as will the westbound lanes of Dulles Toll Road that run under I-495.
In both cases, detours will be set up to guide drivers around the closures, VDOT said.
While the Dulles Airport Access Highway will remain open, those traveling to Dulles International Airport are encouraged to take additional time to make it to their destination.
The expanded toll lanes are expected to open later this year, allowing the project to conclude by the middle of 2026, according to VDOT’s schedule.
