Motorists passing through the Springfield Interchange known as the “Mixing Bowl” soon will travel a new route to Interstate 95 South.
The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to open a new exit ramp by Thursday morning that will connect the Capital Beltway’s Outer Loop with southbound I-95.
The ramp eventually will separate long-distance drivers going to I-95 South from local traffic heading to Springfield destinations. For the next six months, however, local and long-distance vehicles will share the new ramp while improvements are made to the ramp that will eventually handle only local traffic.
“There have been problems there for 20 years,” VDOT spokesman Steve Titunik said. “People going to I-95 South try to get to the left and the local traffic tries to get to the right, and there are a lot of drivers who get confused and go back and forth.
“We are detangling traffic there with this new ramp,” he said.
VDOT wanted to open the ramp last week, but cold temperatures kept work crews from painting the lane stripes. Temperatures must be at least 45 degrees for the markings to stick to the pavement.
About 430,000 vehicles each day pass through the Springfield Interchange, according to VDOT. The Beltway, I-95 and I-395 intersect there, which has earned the interchange its “Mixing Bowl” nickname and made it, according to VDOT, one of the area’s most accident-prone locations.
