Friday, February 22, 2013
Survey results also reveal barriers preventing commuters from using the lanes, which opened in November 2012.
More than 80 percent of I-495 Express Lanes users reported reduced trip times, according to the results of a survey of more than 1,700 frequent Capital Beltway drivers conducted by Express Lanes management. Eighty-two percent of users of the Express Lanes polled in the survey “estimated a real time savings on their trip,” according to the results released Wednesday. The lanes opened in November 2012 on the Virginia side of the Beltway promising easier but pricier trips to commuters. All drivers must have an E-ZPass or E-ZPass FlexSM to pay the fares to use the Express Lanes. The survey also revealed some of the barriers preventing people from using the lanes: 46 percent of travelers polled said they don’t have an E-ZPass. Forty-one percent…
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Commuters who buy transponders in September 2012 could win two free weeks of travel in January.
Commuters who sign up for an E-ZPass transponder during September will be eligible for two weeks of free travel when the I-495 Express Lanes open later this year. All travelers who wish to use the express lanes when they open will need an E-ZPass or an E-ZPass Flex, said Pierce Coffee, marketing director at Transurban-Fluor, and the promotion is an incentive for new users to get their tags before the lanes are operational. "People are busy with their daily lives, so they wait until the last minute to get their E-ZPass, and then they might not be able to get it in time for [the lanes'] opening," she said. “So what we want to do is entice people to get their EZ-Pass before the road is open later this year so that they have it — it's in their…
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Landscaping is set to begin in Spring 2013.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is beginning to formulate a $5 million landscaping plan that will restore about 500 acres that were cleared of trees as the construction of the I-495 Express Lanes Project nears completion. The plan covers the entire 14-mile Express Lanes Project corridor from Springfield to just north of the Dulles Toll Road in McLean. For McLean residents in particular, the expansion of the Lewinsville Bridge over 495 deforested a large number of trees within the McLean Hamlet and Timberly Lane neighborhoods. Hillsides flanking 495 were cleared of trees so that the Beltway could be widened to accommodate the new Express Lanes built down the middle of 495. According to Virginia Megaprojects officials, …
Dave Fuller
6:50 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
Will motorcycles have to pay to use the new lanes? more ›