Fairfax County leaders have reacted favorably to a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) proposal for expanding Express Lanes on I-95 to reduce traffic bottlenecks.
VDOT officials sketched out their plan on Tuesday (Sept. 22) for converting the existing reversible I-95 Express Lanes, which can be used only in one direction at a time, into a bidirectional network running 45 miles from Fairfax south to Spotsylvania County.
State transportation leaders are back with a new plan for extending the I-495 Express Lanes on the highway’s south side that they hope will win buy-in from leaders on both sides of the Potomac River.
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials briefed the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Transportation Committee on Tuesday (Sept. 22) on a revamped design that would allow both for Express Lanes and future Metrorail service on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The community-organized carpooling tradition known as slugging will soon expand to one of Fairfax County’s busiest commuting corridors.
Slugging, a form of carpooling that connects drivers and passengers on a common route, will have a September kickoff in the I-66 corridor. The initiative is being led by the I-66 Slugging Network, a coalition of residential groups and public agencies who want to create a slugging community along the interstate.
Lower-than-projected use and revenue could trigger rate increases on the Dulles Toll Road in advance of the previously anticipated 2028 time frame.
Total toll road revenue for 2025 was down 2.3% year-over-year to $198.4 million in 2025, according to figures presented yesterday (Wednesday) to a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board of directors committee.
After more than three years of construction, the new Capital Beltway toll lanes in McLean will welcome their first drivers on Sunday (Nov. 23), just in time for next week’s Thanksgiving travel rush.
Though the start of tolling operations has been delayed by a day due to expected rain tonight (Friday), Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay and other officials gathered this morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in anticipation of the occasion at the Hyatt Regency hotel at Tysons Corner Center.
Update — The new I-495 Express Lanes are on track to open ahead of schedule on Saturday, Nov. 22, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced on Nov. 10.
In addition to two toll lanes in each direction, the opening will include dedicated ramps from the Dulles Toll Road to the northbound express lanes and between the express lanes and the GW Parkway.
A key regional planning body voted today (Wednesday) to defer until at least 2026 any further consideration of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s plan to extend express lanes on the south side of the Capital Beltway (I-495) across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into Maryland.
“The project is simply not ready,” said Eric Olson, a member of the Prince George’s County Council who sits on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Transportation Planning Board (TPB).
Despite a full-court press from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the future of its plan to extend express lanes on the south side of the Capital Beltway (I-495) remains up in the air as the deadline for a decision looms.
The project to add 11 miles of toll roads connecting Springfield with Prince George’s County over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is a “critical” piece of transportation planning, a top VDOT official told members of the D.C. region’s Transportation Planning Board (TPB) on July 16.
Back-to-office directives and increased enforcement targeting “backtracking” through the airport have led to higher-than-projected use of the Dulles Toll Road in recent months, after a rocky start to the year.
“Not just the money, but the cars going through is improving,” Kate Hanley, a Virginia representative on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board of directors, said.
Fairfax County leaders remain uneasy about the Virginia Department of Transportation’s proposed I-495 Southside Express Lanes project and the possible impact of widening the highway on residents of neighboring communities.
The Board of Supervisors agreed to send a five-page letter to Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III on Tuesday (June 24) detailing its concerns.
