Posted on 07/28/2019 9:40:38 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Extending Virginia’s 495 Express Lanes to the Legion Bridge will require widening the Capital Beltway, but would also bring new sidewalks or bike paths in the area between the Dulles Toll Road and the Potomac River.
The Virginia Department of Transportation will present preliminary designs for the toll lane extension Monday night. The extension is intended to connect to toll lanes Maryland plans to allow a private company to build over a rehabbed Legion Bridge.
Construction on Virginia’s extension could begin late next year and open to traffic in 2023.
Maryland has yet to formally select its toll lane designs though, which complicates the situation.
“We’re doing a standalone project that we believe can be implemented without Maryland, and we’re also making it so it could adapt to whatever rules they have in Maryland,” VDOT Megaprojects Director Susan Shaw said ahead of Monday night’s meeting at Cooper Middle School in McLean.
Among the most crucial issues, Maryland has not committed to following the same toll lane rules that allow HOV-3 and buses to ride free with an E-ZPass Flex.
“We’re trying to make it so that our improvements, whatever we do, will be compatible depending on what their decisions are,” Shaw said.
Virginia’s preliminary designs include continuing the current 495 Express Lanes about 3 miles, with two lanes each way, to the Legion Bridge.
The designs tentatively include a connection to the George Washington Parkway, but VDOT is also considering eliminating those new ramps at the request of the National Park Service.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.