I-66 Express Lanes Open Ahead Of Schedule In Northern Virginia

FAIRFAX, VA — The I-66 Express Lanes outside the Capital Beltway are open as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other officials celebrated Tuesday with a ribbon cutting. It was the second time in two weeks a major transportation project opened in Northern Virginia, as Metro's Silver Line extension opened on Nov. 15.

The new Express Lanes run 22.5 miles between the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County and Route 29 in Prince William County. The project began in late 2017 and was fully open ahead of schedule. The section of the Express Lanes between Route 28 and Route 29 opened in September, while the remaining section opened in the westbound and eastbound direction, Nov. 19 and Nov. 22, respectively.

Drivers can use the lanes by paying a toll through EZ Pass and other options. The lanes are toll-free for motorcycles, school buses, and drivers carpooling with two or more and an EZ Pass Flex set to HOV mode. Starting Monday, Dec. 5, the requirement will be three or more people in a vehicle to travel the Express Lanes toll-free. Tolls are dynamically priced and displayed on signs before drivers enter the Express Lanes.

Youngkin praised the project team for getting the lanes open ahead of schedule and gave credit to past governors — Gov. Bob McDonnell, Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam — for their vision to move the project forward.

At Tuesday's ribbon cutting, Youngkin said the Express Lanes can help busy families get to school, work and other extracurricular activities.

"We need a best-in-class corridor to deliver needed capacity upgrades, to expand choices for drivers, to enhance pedestrian and bike trails, to deliver real improvements for the hundreds of thousands of people, Virginians mostly, who rely on I-66 for their daily commute," said Youngkin at Tuesday's ribbon cutting.

The governor praised the effectiveness of the project's public-private partnership between the Commonwealth and I-66 Express Mobility Partners, a group of infrastructure companies including Cintra, Meridiam and APG. Under the public-private partnership, I-66 Express Mobility Partners designed, constructed and will operate the lanes, financing a total of $3.7 billion in transportation improvements in the I-66 corridor.

Virginia's Secretary of Transportation, Shep Miller, said the project replaces aging infrastructure on the nearly 50-year-old roadway. There were 63 new bridges constructed in the I-66 corridor, including 13 at the Route 28 interchange and 11 at the I-495 interchange.

Twelve interchanges have been modified or rebuilt during the project. The new Express Lanes have connections at major interchanges — Route 28, Route 50, Route 123 and I-495, as well as new connections from the west at Monument Drive and Vaden Drive. Ramps at Monument Drive and Stringfellow Road are now Express Lanes-only ramps.

"The new Express Lanes are really a game changer for a corridor that has faced daily gridlock, unreliable travel and limited connections for many years," said Miller. "This project adds lanes and capacity, offers new choices for faster and more reliable trips, provides new connections to local roads and adds a host of multimodal options all within a very tight corridor."

According to Miller, the new Express Lanes are among 90 miles planned in Northern Virginia. Express Lanes are already present on portions of I-495 and I-95, and extensions of those Express Lanes are underway.

"The opening of this important project is a major accomplishment," said Miller. "It demonstrates Virginia's commitment to having a first-class transportation system. It moves more people, meets current and future traffic demands. It supports the continued growth of the commonwealth."

In addition to the roadway improvements, the project includes 18 miles of shared-use paths being constructed along and near the interstate.

Local leaders highlighted the benefits of the Express Lanes on different kinds of commuters.

Jeff McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said the opening of the I-66 Express Lanes and Silver Line extension within the last two weeks is "life-changing" for residents.

The chairman said he used the Express Lanes this past weekend to get to his son's soccer game on time. McKay highlighted the benefits of the new lanes not just for toll-paying drivers but other transit users, bicyclists, and drivers on local roads who will see intersection improvements.

"As I tell folks all the time about tolls...it's not a question of whether or not you support tolls," said McKay. "It's a question of whether or not you support options for people to get around."

Ann Wheeler, chair-at-large of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said the county has experienced some of the worst commutes to DC for decades.

"That actually changes today. This is a game-changer for Prince William County," said Wheeler. "As the second-largest jurisdiction [in Virginia] with half a million people, we are finally fully connected to our neighbors in the rest of Northern Virginia, and I can't tell you how much of a difference that makes for our community."

For commuters who choose to carpool or use transit along I-66, three new park-and-ride lots are being added with the project. A Monument Drive Commuter parking garage and transit center with 820 parking spaces is expected to open in late 2023. A new University Boulevard park-and-ride lot in Gainesville opened its first portion in 2019 and will include a total of 2,000 parking spaces when fully open in 2023. The third park-and-ride lot on Century Park Drive in Manassas partially opened in September and will have a total of approximately 1,300 parking spaces by summer 2023.

The I-66 Express Lanes outside the Beltway run alongside regular lanes, similar to the I-495 and I-95 Express Lanes. That setup is different than I-66 inside the Beltway, which runs all lanes with tolling during rush hour.

While the Express Lanes are open, other project components like interchange improvements and construction of the shared-use path will continue into mid-2023. In Prince William County, additional OmniRide commuter bus service is planned to begin in December.

To learn more about the Express Lanes, visit ride66express.com.