I-95 Express Lanes Project Accelerates this Summer

By William Callahan

Construction on the I-95 Express Lanes, a 29 mile stretch of HOV lanes from Garrisonville Road in Stafford County to Edsall Road in Fairfax County, will get more serious this summer, John Lynch, Virginia Department of Transportation’s regional transportation director, said at the fifth annual Keep Tysons Moving conference.

“We’ve got construction intensifying in our region,” Lynch said. “This summer will be the busiest time for the project.”

Commuters should expect to see workers out on the roads both day and night. They should also get ready for lane closures, Lynch said.

“One big disadvantage if you live south and commute on 95 and 495, you’re going to get hit again,” he said.

But once construction is over in 2014, commuters will have a new set of toll lanes to connect them to the 495 Express Lanes and get them where they’re going faster, Lynch said.

“[Construction is] kind of like bearing children,” Lynch said. “You go through a lot of pain and agony. Once it’s over, you get a nice child – or facility – and then you say, ‘Well that’s not so bad, let’s do it again.’”

Work on the 95 Express Lanes is currently about 35 percent complete, he said.

Lynch and other officials urged drivers to stay alert in construction zones.

“Construction zones are very dangerous,” Lynch said.

AAA Mid-Atlantic and Transurban conducted a study that found 56 percent of I-95 divers are distracted by cell phone use.

Kevin Ginnerty, director of project delivery at Transurban, urged drivers to stay off of their phones when behind the wheel in the coming months.