Virginia transportation officials are planning a spate of lane closures along Interstate 95 over the next two months as they widen the heavily-congested highway.
The evening closures include complete — though brief — shutdowns of all lanes of I-95 between Route 1 and Lorton Road to replace overhead signs.
Tonight, crews will erect steel at the Furnace Road overpass, which will close the intestate’s right northbound lane all night. Furnace Road will also be closed tonight for a few short intervals.
VDOT plans to continue closures along the interstate through mid-October, occasionally delaying commuters by up to 30 minutes. Officials are predicting major backups when traffic is completely halted on I-95 for half hour intervals Sept. 21 and 22.
The $123 million widening project will install a fourth lane in each direction of the interstate between the Fairfax County Parkway in Newington and Route 123 south of Occoquan.
Officials expect the new lanes to be in place by 2011 and plan to have the fourth northbound lane completed from the Route 1 on-ramp to Springfield this year.
When complete, the widening will “make the ride in the morning and afternoon much better” for commuters, said VDOT spokesman Steve Titunik.
It is one of several “megaprojects” planned or underway in Northern Virginia aimed at easing bottlenecks.
The I-95 widening project has received relatively little attention, with both the 23-mile expansion of Metro to Dulles and new high-occupancy toll lanes on the Capital Beltway under construction.
A second HOT lanes project along Interstate 95/395 was recently delayed due to financing problems and community concerns.
