Plans for widening the Capital Beltway calls for adding two additional outside lanes in each direction, and then dedicating the two inside lanes as “High Occupancy Toll” Lanes, or HOT Lanes. These expanded lanes will function in part like the HOV lanes and will be free for carpools with three or more people in the vehicles. The HOT lanes will also be open to private cars with one or two passengers for a fee.

The addition of high-occupancy toll lanes on the Capital Beltway will bring with it the replacement of dozens of deteriorating overpasses, bridges and ramps, much of it for the first time since the Beltway’s opening four decades ago, officials say.

The HOT lanes project will bring 59 new structures with the replacement of four bridges, 19 overpasses and four ramps, and the addition of 17 completely new overpasses and 15 new ramps, said VDOT spokesman Steve Titunik.

Local officials have long worried that the HOT lanes, coupled with a bevy of other large scale improvements throughout Northern Virginia, will worsen an already intolerable traffic problem during their construction. The impact of the construction will have on traffic is unknown.

Source: Examiner.com

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