VDOT | FFXnow - Part 3

Virginia officials promise traffic relief with new I-495 toll lanes opening this weekend

Published November 21, 2025 at 3:30PM

Officials cut a ribbon to celebrate the impending opening of new I-495 Express Lanes (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

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.

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Expanded Walker Road bridge now open in Great Falls

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 19, 2025 at 10:00AM

The new, two-lane Walker Road bridge over Piney Run in Great Falls (via VDOT)

The Virginia Department of Transportation has completed its overhaul of the Walker Road bridge over Piney Run.

The new bridge between Walker Mill Road and Park Royal Drive in Great Falls features two lanes for traffic with a sidewalk on the south side. It has no weight limit, unlike the previous one-lane bridge, which could only support vehicles up to 10 tons.

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UPDATED: New I-495 toll lanes on track to open before Thanksgiving

By Angela Woolsey

Published October 30, 2025 at 1:45PM | Updated November 10, 2025 at 5:12PM

Construction continues on the new toll lanes on I-495 approaching the George Washington Memorial Parkway interchange (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

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.

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Residents welcome long-awaited pedestrian beacon on Edsall Road

By Angela Woolsey

Published October 24, 2025 at 10:00AM

Pedestrian flashing beacons have been installed at the crosswalk on Edsall Road outside the Bren Pointe neighborhood (photo by Brian Sterling)

Years of advocacy have paid off for residents in Lincolnia’s Bren Mar area with the recent addition of flashing pedestrian beacons at a key intersection.

An estimated 50 to 60 community members gathered last Saturday (Oct. 18) to officially celebrate the beacons’ installation at a crosswalk on Edsall Road that connects dozens of homes to the Bren Mar swimming pool and tennis courts as well as Fairfax County’s Bren Mar Park.

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Lane closures to disrupt traffic on I-495 South in McLean overnight

By Angela Woolsey

Published October 16, 2025 at 3:00PM

Construction area along I-495 at the GW Parkway interchange (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The Virginia Department of Transportation is urging drivers to avoid traveling on southbound I-495 in McLean tonight (Thursday) while its crews finish realigning the highway.

Three southbound lanes will close to traffic, starting at 8:30 p.m. with a single left lane and continuing with two other lanes by 9:30 p.m. The closures will extend from Georgetown Pike to the area just south of the American Legion Bridge.

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Key vote on I-495 Southside express lanes project postponed to 2026 or beyond

By Scott McCaffrey

Published October 15, 2025 at 3:30PM

Traffic heading west on I-495 in Alexandria near South Van Dorn Street (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

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).

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Supervisors back VDOT on Southside Express Lanes, but Md. may have final say

By Scott McCaffrey

Published September 18, 2025 at 2:45PM

Proposed route of I-495 Southside Express Lanes project (via VDOT)

Fairfax supervisors on Tuesday (Sept. 16) informally confirmed their support of the Interstate 495 Southside Express Lanes project as it moves toward a make-or-break regional vote next month.

Despite concerns about specifics of the 11-mile-long toll-lanes proposal across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, even the most skeptical supervisors said they supported keeping the project moving through the review process.

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Fairfax County announces plans for new bike lanes and crosswalk improvements

By Vernon Miles

Published September 17, 2025 at 3:30PM | Updated September 22, 2025 at 11:58AM

Fairfax County is developing a program to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety (staff photo by Scott Fields)

The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) announced yesterday that a series of meetings over the next month will cover plans to add new bike lanes and marked crosswalks around the county.

According to FCDOT, the restriping is scheduled for next year’s repaving season, which typically begins in the spring and ends in November.

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VDOT safety patroller killed in I-95 crash remembered as ‘heart’ of family

By Angela Woolsey

Published September 10, 2025 at 1:45PM

Michael Chandler Freeland, 48, of Vienna (via Legacy.com)

A Vienna family is in mourning after the father was killed in a vehicle crash on I-95 this past Saturday (Sept. 6).

Contracted by the Virginia Department of Transportation as a Safety Service Patrol member, Michael C. Freeland, 48, was helping the driver of a disabled Audi when the driver of a Chrysler 300 sedan “lost control, crossed all lanes of travel, and struck both the patroller and the Audi driver,” the Virginia State Police said.

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Plan for road diet with bike lanes on Huntington Avenue stalls

By Jared Serre

Published August 25, 2025 at 10:30AM

The proposed road diet concept for Huntington Avenue at Telegraph Road (via FCDOT)

A plan to add bike lanes and reconfigure part of Huntington Avenue in the Mount Vernon District has come to a halt without a clear path forward.

The project, which was a joint effort of Virginia’s Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT), has stalled after multiple years of planning, both agencies told FFXnow.