HOT lanes are combination HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) and toll lanes. The idea is that to get better utilization out of the lanes (when not full of HOV commuters), single-occupancy vehicles can pay a toll and use the HOV lane to scoot by traffic. By pricing the toll according to traffic in real time, VDOT keeps the lane from getting congested and maximizes their revenue.


One of the casualties of construction is sign quality, at least in modern times. That's as close to a US 241 shield as it is to VA 241.


Since I took these photos at the same time, they're here even though they're unrelated (or at least I don't see the connection). This is a rebuild of Eisenhower Ave. just to the north of the Beltway at VA 241.


To fit HOT lanes in between Exits 176 and 173, I-495 is getting widened to the north, where the only constraint is railroad tracks. Presumably the centerline will be shifted slightly so that there's no need to widen on the residential south side.


The HOT lanes will come down the median, through the new Springfield interchange, and under the I-95 flyover.


HOT lane construction will also include connections to I-395, as seen in the last photo. The Beltway lanes will continue toward Maryland, at least out to I-66, where I have some more photos (click).


Continuing abutment and pier work in the center of the interchange as the DC Road Meet (see link below) passes through it in a long loop to the outside of I-95 SB (where Exit 169 can be accessed). The fourth photo is the exception - the stub ramp is not for the future, but a relic of the past when this was the left exit to I-395 NB. (Now that's been relocated to a longer, gentler ramp that leaves from the right side of the road.)

East with the DC Road Meet to walk the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge
General I-95/495 photos
Continue south on I-95 alone
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Into Maryland on I-95/495
(Exit 176) to VA 241
Exit 170B to I-395
11/21/09 DC Road Meet main page
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