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Fairfax County backs expansion of 495 Express Lanes to the Maryland state line

April 13, 2021 at 4:12 p.m. EDT
The Beltway express lanes near Tysons. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Fairfax County is giving Virginia its blessing to proceed with the expansion of the 495 Express Lanes to the American Legion Bridge, a project that will add nearly three miles to the state’s system of high-occupancy toll lanes and provide a critical link to the region’s growing toll network.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 8 to 2 Tuesday to endorse the $550 million project, backing the state’s goal of widening the section of the Capital Beltway as early as next year. The board also urged the state to work closely with Maryland to ensure toll lanes planned over the bridge and across the Potomac River are built without delay.

“The project will improve mobility throughout the Washington Metropolitan region as it connects to a planned system of managed lanes in Maryland,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff C. McKay (D-At Large) wrote in a letter to Virginia Transportation Secretary Shannon Valentine. “The continuation of an express lanes system into Maryland over the [bridge] remains a critical priority to realize the full anticipated benefit of the I-495 [Express Lanes] project.”

The plan would add express lanes from the current terminus of the 495 Express Lanes near the Dulles Toll Road interchange to the George Washington Memorial Parkway interchange near the American Legion Bridge, which Maryland and Virginia have agreed to rebuild and widen.

The highway widening would complete the last leg of a tolling system on Northern Virginia’s portion of the Beltway and connect to Maryland’s proposed toll lanes on the Beltway and Interstate 270. When complete, four general-purpose lanes and two new express lanes would run in each direction of the Beltway along that stretch.

Environmental studies for the expansion began three years ago and are nearing completion. The state is expecting a decision from the Federal Highway Administration on the environmental analysis before the end of the month and is planning to finalize agreements with Australian toll operator Transurban — which was selected two years ago to build and manage the lanes — before the end of the year.

The new express lanes would open to traffic in 2024, according to the project’s schedule.

Transurban already operates the Beltway’s 14 miles of express lanes from McLean to Springfield in Virginia, as well as express lanes on Interstates 95 and 395 — an additional 39 miles. Maryland this year selected Transurban to develop high-occupancy toll lanes for the Capital Beltway and I-270.

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Fairfax supervisors on Tuesday touted the expansion as an important economic development project and a key piece of a plan to ease congestion at the American Legion Bridge.

Supervisor John W. Foust (D-Dranesville), who represents neighborhoods near the bridge, voted against endorsing the project, saying it is premature to advance the Virginia plan when Maryland has not executed a comprehensive agreement to complete its system of managed lanes. Maryland last month delayed a vote on a contract with Transurban and its partner, Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital, to develop a toll lane system on the Beltway and I-270 because the state is considering a protest filed by an unsuccessful bidder.

Without the Maryland improvements, Foust said, extending Virginia’s toll lanes to the bridge will create problems at the state line. It will provide people who can afford to pay the toll a way to cut in line while “adversely impacting everyone else,” he said.

“Without the Maryland project, [the Virginia extension] worsens traffic in the general-purpose lanes,” he said. “It certainly adversely impacts level of service at some intersections in McLean, permanently destroys parks, trees, streets, public and private property, all to accommodate construction.”

Other board members said the county or state can’t control Maryland’s decisions, adding that they are comfortable with progress made so far and that delaying the Virginia project would only stretch the timeline and potentially add to the cost.

Fairfax’s endorsement was not required for the state to proceed, but it gives a vote of confidence to Virginia and Transurban. The county has been negotiating with the state about mitigating the effects on communities along the route, including with regard to storm water, traffic and construction impacts.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said Tuesday that it will continue to collaborate with the county and “address their concerns” as the project moves forward.

“The issues identified by Fairfax County remain important to VDOT and to our efforts to develop and deliver the best possible multimodal transportation solution for the I-495 corridor,” the department said in a statement.

The state recently committed to help fund a plan that would carry passengers across the American Legion Bridge on ­buses. In a letter to the county last month, Valentine pledged $5.2 million for new buses to launch a Tysons-to-Montgomery route and $2.2  million per year for operation of the route.

Transit operations would complement the toll road expansion and the expanded bridge, officials said. Jennifer Mitchell, director of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said recently that the express lanes are important for having reliable transit options at the bridge.

“It really will offer more-
competitive travel times and a better option than sitting alone in your car,” she said in December.

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Some communities in the area have expressed support for the project, citing growing concerns about spillover traffic from Beltway congestion. Others are skeptical that any road widening could successfully reduce traffic.

Some residents say the toll rates would be too expensive, with rates on existing lanes surging as high as $30 for a ride. Opponents were pressuring the county’s elected leaders to postpone the vote of support for the project, while supporters urged the endorsement.

The project, “as it stands and on its merits, does not relieve traffic. It is unjust to those not wealthy. . . . It destroys the environment and threatens the Potomac. There is no mitigation,” resident Debra Butler said in an email Monday to the county supervisors. “What is the rush?”

Jason Stanford, president of the nonprofit Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, urged support, citing more transit funding and the potential to increase carpooling because of the HOT lanes option.

“The benefits of this project are clear,” he said.

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