A Look Back at I-66

Like many Fairfax residents or workers, you probably make frequent use of Interstate 66 (I-66). But do you know when it was built, or that it used to be a wooded area popular among walkers and other nature lovers?

Indeed, what we know now as I-66 was previously part of the former route of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad. In 1956, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT; known then as the Virginia Department of Highways) acquired two sections of this route and sought to provide a right-of-way through Arlington as part of the new highway. However, the Arlington Coalition on Transportation (ACT), a citizens group formed to oppose the construction of I-66 through Arlington, filed a federal lawsuit expressing their complaints in 1971. The group was concerned that construction of the highway would destroy the route's natural beauty, negatively impact the animal population and cause disruption in the community. An appeals court ruled in favor of the group, and in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling in favor of ACT.

Eventually, both parties agreed that experts would perform air quality and noise studies for VDOT and that the width of the proposed highway would be reduced and a transit system added. I-66 opened in 1982.

I-66 as we know it today runs from Middletown, Va. at its western point to Washington, D.C. at its eastern point and spans approximately 76 miles. Upcoming changes to I-66 include the Gainesville Interchange Project between Route 29 in Gainesville and the Route 234 Bypass, which involves interchanges at other heavily traveled area roads as a result of rapid development in Gainesville and Haymarket. VDOT will widen 2.5 miles of I-66 and add two lanes in each direction, one regular and one HOV lane. Plans are also underway to widen Lee Highway.

According to the VDOT website, "I-66 carries 57,000 vehicles per day between Routes 15 and 29. VDOT projects nearly 100,000 vehicles a day will travel this section of interstate by 2028. I-66 carries 87,000 vehicles a day between Route 29 and the Route 234 Bypass. The number of vehicles is expected to exceed 175,000 by 2028."

For more information on I-66 projects, visitwww.virginiadot.org/projects/corridors/interstate_66_projects.asp.