A project to widen inside-the-Beltway stretches of Interstate 66 to three lanes will take a step forward this month as the Virginia Department of Transportation presents its design proposal.
The $75 million project, which has been in the works since 2004, would extend a third lane between on-ramps and off-ramps at three westbound sections of the highway.
The new 1- and 2-mile lanes would be exit-only, but would improve safety by providing drivers with more time to merge into and out of through lanes, officials said.
VDOT will hold a public hearing on the preliminary design at Washington and Lee High School in Arlington on Oct. 27.
The project has faced criticism from Arlington and Fairfax county residents who say it will attract more cars to the already congested highway and will create new bottlenecks as drivers dodge out of the extra lanes just before the forced exit.
Congestion could be better alleviated by enforcing HOV restrictions and using the project’s money instead for public transit initiatives, such as building a bus-only lane on the highway’s shoulder, said Alan Muchnick, president of the Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation.
“If you enforce the HOV requirements, I-66 is uncongested,” Muchnick said. “We’d like to see management. Management would do it.”
At public meetings, critics have also expressed concern about higher noise levels and a potential infringement on the Martha Custis bicycle trail that runs near the highway.
VDOT project manager Bud Siegel said the latest design proposal takes into account the public’s comments, but that it is still being revised and won’t be available for viewing until shortly before the Oct. 27 public meeting.
“We’re making sure that everything passes the common-sense test,” he said.
The Custis trail will not be impacted by the project, Siegel said.
