The Virginia Department of Transportation may partially close the Capital Beltway several times this summer while it builds a bridge that would carry Metro trains over the roadway to Tysons Corner. Transportation officials said they may need to stop all northbound or southbound traffic eight times in July and August, four times in each directions, though only at night to reduce the effect on heavily traveled road and major transit point for East Coast traffic. The outer and inner loops would be closed for five hours at a time, between midnight and 5 a.m.
Adding to the traffic headaches, VDOT also will be shutting down lanes on Interstate 66 for an hour at a time this summer while crews build new merge lanes.
VDOT officials are negotiating over the Beltway closings with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is overseeing the rail extension to Washington Dulles International Airport, to determine if at least some lanes could remain open while crews work on the bridge. But engineers are worried about debris falling onto the roadway while crews are working overhead to join sections of the new overpass, according to Marsha McAllister, spokeswoman for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project.
“The easiest thing to do from the engineers side of the table would be to close it down and get the work done,” said VDOT spokesman Steve Titunik. “But looking at it from the public’s side, we’re hopeful that we can at least keep one lane open as a lifeline.”
Short-term lane closures on the Beltway near I-66 are simpler because crews can divert traffic onto I-66 to reduce delays on the Beltway, officials said. But there isn’t another major interstate near Tysons Corner that would allow the traffic to be siphoned off easily and VDOT officials fear the road closings are going to cause severe problems for East Coast traffic, particularly during the heavily traveled summer months.
Officials will make a final decision on planned lane closures at Tysons in a few weeks, Titunik said. Either way, VDOT is prepared to advertise the lane closures as much as possible – officials are already in contact with transportation departments in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and may reach out to beachgoers as far south as South Carolina.
“If that’s the way we’ve got to go, we’ll do it, and we’ll work with all the audiences who need to know,” Titunik said.
