Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, Northern Virginia (Under Construction)

Fully electronic tolling at the HOT lanes will allow customers to pay tolls with E-Z pass - eliminating the need to stop or slow down at toll booths. Source: http://www.virginiahotlanes.com/documents/Capital%20Beltway%20HOT%20Lanes%20project%20fact%20sheet.pdf

The Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia is in need of improvements to increase its capacity to accommodate expected growth in daily traffic volumes and remedy current congestion, operation, and safety problems on this critical link in the region's transportation system.

To provide congestion relief to all drivers, keep traffic moving on the Capital Beltway and reduce cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), in cooperation with the FHWA, is planning to improve its transportation infrastructure in Northern Virginia by enhancing the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway in Fairfax County, Virginia, between the Springfield Interchange and Old Dominion Drive, just past the Dulles Toll Road.

This project will add two new lanes in each direction between the Springfield Interchange and just north of the Dulles Toll Road for High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV), buses, and tolling for non-HOV.

Tolls will be based on demand, also called congestion pricing. They will change throughout the day according to real-time traffic conditions to manage the number of cars in the HOV/Bus/HOT lanes and keep them free of congestion - even during rush hour.

In addition to improvements to the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway, this project includes construction of a flyover and other improvements at the intersection with Interstate 66 which will further enhance traffic mobility.

The Virginia HOV/Bus/HOT lanes projects are being developed as a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Fluor-Transurban. Fluor-Transurban will operate the two HOT lanes and collect tolls for 75 years under the proposed agreement.

To learn more about the Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes project, please visit www.virginiadot.org/projects/HOT_495.asp.

To learn about other major highway projects in the United States, please visit FHWA's Major Project website.