The latest changes to the Interstate 66 toll lane construction project include a ramp shift and speed limit change at Virginia Route 123/Chain Bridge Road.
A new temporary exit ramp from I-66 west to Route 123 North opened this week and is expected to be in place for the next three months or so. The speed limit on Route 123 through the I-66 interchange has been lowered to 35 mph past the new traffic signal.
The changes are part of roadway and interchange widening to make room for the two High Occupancy Vehicle or toll lanes in each direction between the Capital Beltway and Gainesville. They follow related traffic shifts that began earlier this year.
Additional detours and changes are expected for the next three to four years of toll lane construction.
Virginia Route 234 Business/Sudley Road is scheduled to close overnight the rest of this week and part of next week for bridge construction. The ramp from I-66 west to southbound Sudley Road will also close between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Other major ongoing work includes retaining wall construction, tree clearing, park and ride construction, bridge construction at spots like the Beltway, Virginia Route 28, and Bull Run Drive, and promised fixes to gouges and pavement marking problems along the corridor.
There are some significant overnight lane closures and temporary stoppages for blasting.
Like the 495 Express Lanes, the toll lanes on I-66 outside the Beltway will require three people in the car and an E-ZPass Flex in HOV mode to ride free, with the rules effective 24/7.
The lanes are separate from the rush-hour-only HOV or toll rules inside the Beltway on I-66. Those rules are scheduled to change from HOV-2 to HOV-3 for a free ride though when the toll lanes outside the Beltway open around the end of 2022.
