Virginia and Transurban spend $1bn on infrastructure to improve congestion

The US state of Virginia and road operator Transurban are investing more than $1 billion in four projects to help tackle congestion on the I-495 and I-95. The partners want to establish a 90-mile network of connected Express Lanes throughout Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg by 2022. Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) and Transurban have signed an agreement for the first project, Capital Beltway Express Lanes Northern Extension. The new 2.5-mile area will offer four general purpose lanes and
January 31, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The US state of Virginia and road operator 600 Transurban are investing more than $1 billion in four projects to help tackle congestion on the I-495 and I-95.

The partners want to establish a 90-mile network of connected 8217 Express Lanes throughout Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg by 2022.

1747 Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) and Transurban have signed an agreement for the first project, Capital Beltway Express Lanes Northern Extension. The new 2.5-mile area will offer four general purpose lanes and two new 8217 Express Lanes in each direction from the current terminus near the Dulles Access Road to the American Legion Bridge. The network will be extended to the Maryland border to address bottlenecks in the region and reduce cut-through traffic in local McLean neighbourhoods.

Additionally, a reversible ramp connecting the existing I-95 Express Lanes at Optiz Boulevard is expected to provide better access to Potomac Mills and Sentara Virginia Medical Centre. It will also allow drivers to exit directly onto Optiz Boulevard.

A new southbound auxiliary lane is to be built on I-95 in Woodbridge to address the traffic bottleneck at the Occoquan Bridge. This lane will connect the southbound Route 123 ramp onto I-95 with the off-ramp at Westbound Prince Willian Parkway.

Scott Surovell, member of the Virginia Senate, says: “The Occoquan bottleneck is the worst traffic problem in Virginia and has been one of my top priorities since I was elected to represent Prince William County in 2015.”

The fourth project is a 10-mile extension of the 95 Express Lanes to Fredericksburg.

VDoT is also developing environmental studies to support the projects.

Virginia is also taking steps to bolster its commercial vehicle enforcement systems. Earlier this month, 69 International Road Dynamics won a $4.2 million %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external contract false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/ird-to-maintain-commercial-vehicle-enforcement-systems-in-virginia/ false false%> to use weigh-in-motion technology to help maintain 11 mainline and ramp systems owned by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Only four weeks left to submit papers for ITS Europe and ITS World Congress
    December 16, 2015
    There are only four weeks to the deadline for submission of papers for the ITS Europe 2016 congress in Glasgow 6-9 June and for the ITS World Congress 2016 in Melbourne on 10-14 October. Submit your contribution today to the ITS European Congress in Glasgow to continue the discussion on topics introduced at ITS world Congress in Bordeaux or to introduce new research, deployments and developments in the ITS industry.
    Read More
  • Move New York launches public participation website
    November 24, 2015
    The Move NY team, which came up with a plan to improve New York’s transportation system by making the City’s tolling system fairer, has launched SmartParticipation (link http://nyc.smartparticipation.com/), a website dedicated to gathering public comments on congestion in New York City.
    Read More
  • Waymo gets California green light for public driverless tests
    November 2, 2018
    Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual
    Read More
  • Telegra shows new TopXview ITS platform
    March 20, 2018
    Telegra is unveiling a new generation ITS technologies which are designed to be understandable, safe and future-proof. The company says its new products address two major trends: rapidly evolving technologies for information sourcing, analysis and processing, and to counter growing traffic problems which cost societies worldwide billions of dollars every year.
    Read More

Highlighted Content