Huge Changes Coming to I-66 in Arlington, Va. Governor Says

With a steady stream of traffic on Interstate 66 acting as a backdrop behind him, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe stood in the parking lot of Washington-Lee High School near Ballston on Monday and unveiled a major project to completely transform the I-66 corridor beginning this summer.

Tolling equipment will be installed as part of the initial phase of the project, along with new signage on local streets approaching the highway. The interstate will soon feature "dynamic tolling on all lanes during peak-period traffic, keeping traffic moving at highway speeds by adjusting toll prices based on traffic volume," according to a statement from the governor's office.

“Since the beginning of our administration, we made it our top transportation priority to improve Virginia’s infrastructure and unclog the bottlenecks on our most congested highways,” McAuliffe said in the statement. “This project is a big step forward in our work to transform one of the most important corridors in Northern Virginia, and it will ensure that drivers have faster, safer and more reliable commutes every day. This initiative, coupled with Virginia’s new SMARTSCALE transportation prioritization process, will unlock Northern Virginia from the traffic congestion that was strangling this region’s economic potential.”

The revenues from these tolls will then be used to fund "multimodal" improvements, "giving commuters expanded options for travel," the statement added.

One improvement involves widening a four-mile segment of eastbound I-66 from the Dulles Connector Road to Fairfax Drive to reduce congestion issues.

"Contracts totaling $60 million were awarded to Fort Myer Construction for tolling infrastructure construction and to TransCore for tolling equipment installation," the statement reads. "The project includes eight overhead electronic toll collection gantries on I-66 and approximately 125 signs along I-66 and local roads approaching the highway. The work will require periodic lane closures on local roads approaching I-66 interchanges, ramp closures and night-time lane closures along I-66 itself. Brief, occasional total closures of I-66 will occur during overnight construction to install the overhead gantries. Construction will conclude next year."

More information can be found at www.Transform66.org.

Image via the official Twitter account of Va. Gov. Terry McAuliffe