The region’s most anticipated road closure began Friday evening and will continue through Monday morning as construction crews began rerouting the Outer Loop of Interstate 495 onto the new span of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The Outer Loop was squeezed down to a single lane at 8 p.m. Friday, along with the ramps to I-495 in Virginia and the Maryland ramps from I-495 North to I-295 North and MD 210 South, and the ramp from I-295 South to I-495 North.
In Virginia, motorists will be detoured to the Telegraph Road interchange, where they will be able to loop back to I-95 North. In Maryland, drivers will be detoured to the MD 210 and MD 414 interchanges.
Bridge officials expect, depending on construction progress, that a single lane of the Outer Loop will be shifted onto the new Wilson Bridge sometime Saturday afternoon. Ramps from I-495 North to I-295 North and MD 210 South will reopen once the lane is open, officials said.
At 9 p.m. Saturday, all lanes on the Outer and Inner Loops of the Beltway at the MD 210 interchange will be closed. Traffic will be rerouted to nearby ramps with clearly marked detours. In Maryland, ramps from I-295 South to I-495 North and from MD 210 North to I-95/I-495 South will also be closed with clearly marked detours.
All lanes on the Beltway at the MD 210 interchange and all Maryland ramps are scheduled to reopen by 8 a.m. Sunday, officials said. And all three lanes of I-95/I-495 North will be traveling on the new bridge and the remaining closed ramps at Route 1 interchange in Virginia will reopen.
