Updated at 6:40 p.m. on 8/13/2023 — Fairfax County police have determined that the crash on Route 50 started when the driver of a 2007 Jeep Laredo rear-ended a 2023 Lexus. The driver then hit a Land Rover and a guardrail, drove across the grass median and went airborne, striking a 2009 Ford U-Haul Truck.
The Jeep and U-Haul drivers were hospitalized with injuries initially considered life-threatening, but their condition has since been changed to non-life-threatening.
Police are still investigating whether alcohol, drugs or speed were a factor in the crash.
Updated at 3:30 p.m. — Route 50 has reopened to traffic, according to police.
Earlier: Two people have been taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle four-vehicle crash at the Route 50 and I-66 interchange near Fair Oaks Mall.
Eastbound Route 50 has been shut down at West Ox Road as officers investigate the crash, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. The eastbound I-66 ramp to eastbound Route 50 and the I-66 West ramp to westbound Route 50 have also been closed.
Police initially reported that one person had been transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, but a later update stated that both drivers were in critical condition.
A Fairfax Alert on the road closure described the crash as “significant.”
The Virginia Department of Transportation advises drivers to expect delays. Its traffic camera system indicates that the east left and right shoulders of Route 50 are closed.
Officers are on scene of a two vehicle crash on Rt. 50 near I-66. I-66 EB ramp to Rt. 50 EB is shutdown for the crash investigation. One patient is being transported with injuries considered to be life-threatening. Expect delays. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/PNsyqL8mTT
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) August 11, 2023
According to scanner traffic on OpenMHz, the incident involved two separate crash scenes with a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a U-Haul mini truck found overturned about a quarter-mile apart.
“We have a report of a Jeep Cherokee that flipped over the median with a female occupant still inside the vehicle,” a dispatcher told responders with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department at 11:11 a.m.
Per scanner traffic, the Jeep occupant had a broken arm and needed to be extricated.
The person who suffered life-threatening injuries was trapped in the driver’s front seat of the U-Haul. FCFRD responders reported that they had extricated the person around 11:35 a.m.
At least two other vehicles were reportedly involved in the crash, including an SUV that got flipped onto its driver’s side. The dispatcher reported at 11:38 a.m. that they got a call from someone who had pulled off at Route 50 and Waples Mill Road with two people in need of medical attention.
Map via Google Maps
The new Nutley Street interchange at I-66 just south of Vienna is about to achieve its final form.
Lanes that will let drivers going from Nutley to I-66 bypass the dreaded roundabouts are scheduled to open tomorrow (Wednesday), the Virginia Department of Transportation recently announced.
With the added bypass lanes, the interchange will be in its “permanent configuration,” VDOT said.
The area has been under construction since 2019 as part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which added 22.5 miles of toll lanes on I-66 from the Capital Beltway in Dunn Loring to Route 29 in Gainesville.
In preparation for the bypass lanes, there have been some lane closures on Nutley Street so crews can finish paving the roadway.
Starting at 9 p.m. today (Tuesday) until 5 a.m. tomorrow, the northbound lanes from Saintsbury Drive to the bridge and the southbound lanes from Virginia Center Blvd to the bridge will be closed.
Northbound drivers will be detoured left onto Saintsbury Drive and then right onto Vaden Drive and Virginia Center Boulevard to get to Nutley, while southbound drivers will be directed along the same route in the opposite direction.
“Drivers should expect delays if traveling in this area and are encouraged to use alternate routes,” VDOT said. “All work is weather dependent and will be rescheduled to the following day should inclement conditions occur.”
Though community members have called the roundabouts “dangerous” and a “mess,” VDOT said the new configuration will provide “safer, more efficient travel” for vehicles entering and exiting I-66, as well as drivers and pedestrians on Nutley.
Compared to straight-on intersections, roundabouts reduce serious crashes by slowing vehicles down and minimizing points of conflict, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
As part of the Transform 66 project, VDOT has also been constructing a shared-use path along I-66, opening the first completed section on May 17. Crossings at the Nutley interchange are slated to open in the middle of this month.
Fairfax Connector is shaking up its service along the I-66 corridor in anticipation of two major parking facilities finishing construction later this year.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation has proposed adding or revising almost 30 routes in Tysons, Vienna, Springfield, Chantilly and Centreville, as it seeks to incorporate the upcoming Springfield and Monument Drive garages into its bus system.
According to FCDOT, the changes will improve travel throughout the D.C. region, with the Monument Commuter Parking Garage and Transit Center in particular supporting new connections between the eastern and western sides of the county.
“By creating a transfer point at the new Monument Park-and-Ride facility, riders will have the opportunity to transfer between local routes, access regional routes, and connect to the Vienna Metrorail Station, Franconia Metrorail Station, Tysons, or…D.C.,” FCDOT said in a news release.
Shaped by two previous rounds of public engagement, the proposed service plan will be presented today (Monday) at a 7 p.m. community meeting in the Franconia Government Center (6121 Franconia Road). Virtual meetings are also scheduled for 7 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) and Thursday (May 25).
The public can also provide input through an online survey until June 5.
Monument Drive
The $43 million Monument facility will boast 820 parking spaces, eight bus bays, a pick-up and drop-off area, and bicycle racks and storage. Located at the Government Center Parkway intersection next to Fairfax Corner, it broke ground in November 2021 as part of the I-66 widening.
FCDOT has proposed adding the facility as a stop on Route 660, a cross-county connector from the Stone Road Park & Ride in Centreville to the Tysons Metro station that launched in February.
Other notable changes involving the Monument facility include:
- Route 605: Reston Town Center Metro station to Fair Oaks Mall
- Route 622: Fairfax Towne Center circulator with more local links and new weekend service
- Route 625: New route to Random Hills Road and Pender Drive
- Route 651: New seven-day service to the Westfields, Chantilly, and Fair Ridge areas
- Route 663: Stringfellow Road Park and Ride to the Vienna Metro station
- Route 670: New peak express service between Chantilly and the Franconia-Springfield
Metro station - Route 671: New peak service from Chantilly to the Dunn Loring Metro station
The first segment of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s planned shared-use trail along I-66 has been completed.
State and Fairfax County officials will celebrate the milestone today (Wednesday) with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m., followed by an inaugural bicycle ride or walk on the finished section, which starts east of the Vienna Metro station and extends to Cedar Lane near Merrifield.
The segment includes a tunnel under Nutley Street, one of several below-grade crossings planned for the 11-mile, mostly 10-foot-wide trail being built from Gallows Road in Dunn Loring to Route 29 in Centreville.
More portions are expected to be finished later this month, including a crossing at an I-66 entry ramp at the Nutley Street interchange and a segment from Blake Lane to Route 123 in Oakton.
“The 66 Parallel Trail and new bike and pedestrian access across the I-66 bridges supports VDOT’s commitment to providing multimodal travel options to ‘move more people — not just vehicles,'” VDOT said in a statement to FFXnow.
VDOT’s private partner I-66 Express Mobility Partners (I-66 EMP) and construction contractor FAM Construction built the 66 Parallel Trail — a name chosen by a Fairfax County survey — as part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which added 22 miles to the I-66 Express Lanes.
Including sidewalks being added on bridge crossings over I-66, the project will deliver 18 miles of new pedestrian and bicycle facilities, according to VDOT.
The trail’s inclusion in the highway widening project came after a campaign by local pedestrian and bicycling advocates, including the nonprofit Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB).
“The new 66 Trail will significantly improve east-west connectivity for people walking and biking in the corridor that does not exist today,” said former FABB President Sonya Breehey, who’s now the Northern Virginia advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “The trail opens up the opportunity to walk, bike, roll to the Metro, schools, parks, restaurants, retail, and other places throughout the corridor.”
The design process for the trail was contentious, as cycling advocates pushed to keep it outside the I-66 soundwalls. However, adjacent homeowners objected to giving up part of their backyards, fearing a loss of privacy and green space.
The final design placed approximately three miles directly next to the highway, while about eight miles will be behind a noise barrier or have no noise barrier.
Breehey calls the trail’s placement inside the soundwalls an “unfortunate compromise,” but VDOT mitigated some concerns by elevating some portions above the highway and putting others behind a 50-inch concrete barrier. Read More
The toll lanes on I-66 outside the Capital Beltway have been open for over three months now, but some drivers are still getting tripped up by the accompanying signage.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed staff on Tuesday (March 7) to prepare a letter asking the Virginia Department of Transportation to clarify the information on its signs about toll prices and exit locations.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, who requested the move, said his office has continued to receive complaints from confused constituents.
“The signage used on these newly opened Express Lanes is not as clear as the signs on I-495 and I-95 Express Lanes,” Herrity said. “The signage does not provide total cost information for the entire length, and it does not give clear information to drivers on locations of exit ramps to general purpose lanes, which is important for drivers deciding whether to pay additional tolls.”
Covering 22.5 miles from the Beltway (I-495) in Dunn Loring to Route 29 in Gainesville, the westward extension of the I-66 Express Lanes became fully operational on Nov. 22, though portions of the overall $3.7 billion project are still under construction.
The signage was developed in accordance with federal guidelines and approved by the Federal Highway Administration, but both VDOT and I-66 Express Mobility Partners (I-66 EMP), the private company that operates the toll lanes, acknowledged that this is “a learning period” as drivers adjust to new signs and traffic patterns.
“We are looking at areas in the corridor where we might enhance or clarify the signage in an effort to help drivers,” VDOT Northern Virginia’s megaprojects section said in a statement.
Because of their length, the new lanes are split up into three eastbound segments and four westbound segments, charging drivers for each segment they take. Signs for the lanes currently show only toll prices for specific sections, rather than the whole corridor.
Nancy Smith, the corporate affairs director for I-66 EMP, says the operator is “aware” that this approach “may present particular confusion” at spots like the I-495 interchange that are complicated to navigate, but it’s ultimately more effective.
“This system provides our drivers with the most accurate rates as well as greater flexibility to determine when to get on and off the lanes,” Smith said. “An end-to-end rate wouldn’t accurately reflect conditions in the furthest segment by the time a driver gets there. Again, it will take time for all drivers to completely familiarize themselves with our segmental tolling system.”
According to I-66 EMP, the average weekly toll lanes usage increased from about 3% to 5% of I-66 users over the past month, suggesting drivers becoming more accustomed to the lanes.
“That’s a very encouraging growth trend,” Smith said.
I-66 EMP has an online trip planning tool that provides toll estimates. Its customer service center at 1-833-643-2867 will also answer questions, Smith said.
Despite his concerns about the signage, Herrity called the I-66 Express Lanes project an “impressive feat” that provides new transportation choices and “a quicker commute due to the additional capacity from the toll lanes.”
“I thought a letter from the board might help VDOT encourage the contractor to get that signage done,” Herrity said.
A 26-year-old man from Vienna died on Saturday (March 3) after crashing in the Rosslyn tunnel on I-66.
Virginia State Police are now investigating the single-vehicle crash in Arlington County, including to determine whether “excessive speed” was a contributing factor, according to a news release.
The driver, Talaat Hamooh, died while being transported to a hospital. A passenger identified as Hussain Aljahdali sustained minor injuries.
The full VSP news release is below.
At 3:37 a.m. on Saturday (March 3), Virginia State Police responded to a single-vehicle crash on westbound I-66 at the Rosslyn Tunnel.
A 2018 Range Rover was traveling west on I-66 when it ran off the right side of the road and struck a jersey wall just before the tunnel. It then traveled into the tunnel and overturned.
The driver, Talaat B. Hamooh, 26, of Vienna, Va., died during transport. He was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.
A passenger, Hussain A. Aljahdali, 29, of Arlington, Va., sustained minor injuries in the crash. He was wearing a seatbelt.
Excessive speed is being investigated as a contributing factor in the crash. The crash remains under investigation.
The overhaul of the Nutley Street and I-66 interchange is nearing completion, promising an end to the unpredictability that has characterized trips near the Vienna Metro station over the past three years.
Two new roundabouts at the interchange are scheduled to open tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, the Virginia Department of Transportation recently announced, cautioning drivers to yield to traffic in the loops when entering.
“As part of this traffic pattern change, the temporary traffic signals allowing left turns from the ramps from I-66 West to Nutley Street South and from I-66 East to Nutley Street North will be removed,” VDOT said. “Drivers will instead use the roundabouts to make these movements onto Nutley Street. This is the permanent routing for these movements.”
Drivers in the area are no strangers to changing traffic patterns, but this time, the new arrangement is mostly here to stay.
Traveling from I-66 East to Nutley Street North
- Drivers traveling from I-66 East to northbound Nutley Street will take Exit 62 to Nutley Street North and stay to the left on the ramp. They will yield to southbound traffic, then use the roundabout to join northbound Nutley Street toward Vienna.
Traveling from I-66 West to Nutley Street South
- Drivers traveling from I-66 West to southbound Nutley Street will take Exit 62B to Nutley Street South and stay to the left on the ramp. They will yield to northbound traffic, then use the roundabout to join southbound Nutley Street toward Fairfax.
One temporary condition will still be in place. Drivers going from Nutley Street North to I-66 West and from Nutley South to I-66 East must use one of the new roundabouts to access the exit ramps.
“This is a temporary configuration for these movements while ‘bypass’ lanes are completed that will give direct access from Nutley Street North to I-66 West and from Nutley Street South to I-66 East without entering the roundabouts,” VDOT said.
The bypass lanes are expected to open late this spring.
The interchange reconfiguration is part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which added 22.5 miles of new toll lanes on the interstate from the Capital Beltway in Dunn Loring to Gainesville.
Under construction since 2020, the new design for the Nutley Street interchange will be safer and more efficient for vehicles and pedestrians, according to VDOT.
A new grade-separated shared-use path will also be added. It will link to other pedestrian improvements planned around the Vienna Metro station as well as a multipurpose path proposed on the west side of Nutley into the Town of Vienna.
The Virginia State Police is seeking the public’s help to identify a driver who died after crashing an allegedly stolen car into a cement wall on the I-495 Express Lanes near I-66 this morning (Friday).
The black 2018 Maserati Quattroporte sedan was headed “the wrong way at an excessive rate of speed” when it hit the cement jersey wall in the northbound express lanes at Exit 49 at 4:30 a.m., police said.
“The impact of the crash caused the vehicle to immediately catch fire,” VSP said. “The driver did not survive the crash and the body is being transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Manassas for autopsy, examination and positive identification.”
The driver was the only occupant of the sedan, which had been reported stolen in Prince George’s County, according to police.
The state police asks anyone who might’ve seen the Maserati driving south in the northbound toll lanes before the crash or who has information on the driver’s potential identity to call 703-803-0026 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov.
Updated at 11:40 a.m. on 12/9/2022 — The Virginia State Police says it located the Chevrolet Malibu involved in the I-66 hit-and-run in a local public parking garage after receiving a phone tip last night (Thursday).
“The Malibu has been seized as evidence and is being processed,” police said. “The temporary tags displayed on the vehicle do not belong to the vehicle. The investigation into identifying and locating the driver of the Malibu remains ongoing at this time.”
Earlier: A construction worker was killed on I-66 early this morning after a passing vehicle hit him while he was checking on drivers involved in a separate, two-vehicle crash, Virginia State Police said.
Police are currently asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating a maroon vehicle that drove through an I-66 work zone just east of the Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road) exit in Oakton around 1 a.m.
The vehicle was traveling “at a high rate of speed” when it hit the construction worker, who has been identified as 32-year-old Culpeper resident Jonathan W. Franzell, the VSP said.
According to police, the fatal crash was preceded by a collision between two other vehicles at approximately 12:58 a.m.
At approximately 12:58 a.m., a Honda Accord and Ford Taurus collided in the eastbound lanes of I-66 near Exit 60. The driver of the Ford Taurus fled the scene on foot. State police is investigating that crash and working to locate the driver. The driver of the Honda Accord suffered minor injuries and was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital.
This crash occurred in an active highway work zone and was witnessed by one of the workers. The worker reported to his supervisor that he was going to check on the drivers, exited his work vehicle and ran over to the crash scene.
While checking on the driver of the Honda, a maroon vehicle came through the work zone at a high rate of speed and struck the worker. The vehicle then fled the scene.
Franzell died from his injuries at the crash scene.
. @ffxnow https://t.co/5l3TmjgEOT pic.twitter.com/53lYE0IqH4
— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) December 8, 2022
The VSP says debris from the maroon vehicle collected at the scene suggests it was a 2013-2015 maroon or burgundy Chevrolet Malibu.
“The Malibu will be missing its driver’s side mirror and have substantial damage to the front driver’s side,” police said.
VSP advises anyone who may have witnessed the crash or have other information about the Chevrolet to call 703-803-0026 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov. An investigation into the crash is ongoing.
Franzell is the 28th pedestrian killed by a vehicle crash in Fairfax County this year, by FFXnow’s count. Virginia crash data shows 25 fatalities for this year, but it has recorded only one so far in November, when there were at least three fatal pedestrian crashes, and none yet for December.
This is the second fatal pedestrian crash in the county this week, following the death of 66-year-old Falls Church resident Kamrul Hassan on Route 50 on Sunday (Dec. 4).
If you’re driving along the highways in Northern Virginia, do you usually hop into an express lane or do you prefer to tough it out in the normal lanes with the rest of the proletariat?
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced last week that the new I-66 Express Lanes running from the Beltway down to Centreville are set to fully open today (Tuesday).
“[VDOT and partners] announced today that the westbound direction of the new 66 Express Lanes from I-495 (Capital Beltway) to Route 28 in Centreville remains on schedule to open on or about this Saturday, Nov. 19,” VDOT said in a release. “The eastbound direction of this same 13-mile section of express lanes is expected to open by the end of November and could open as early as next Tuesday, Nov. 22, depending on weather and other factors.”
Along with the expansion, this month marks the 10-year anniversary of the express lanes opened on I-495. Since Express Lanes started being added to the highways around Northern Virginia, they’ve become largely ubiquitous along I-495, I-95 and I-395.
Intended to allow faster travel, the lanes charge vehicles based on demand, which can lead to eye-popping tolls. In two weeks, drivers will need to have at least two passengers to use the I-66 lanes for free, an increase from the current HOV-2 requirement.
