Starting at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, there will be a triple-lane closure on the Outer Loop of the Capital Beltway, south of the American Legion Bridge due to overnight roadwork.
Your nighttime commute on the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia is going to get more tricky on Wednesday.
Starting at 10 p.m., there will be a triple-lane closure on the Outer Loop, south of the American Legion Bridge due to overnight roadwork as part of the 2.5-mile northern extension of the 495 Express Lanes.
Those closures will go from Georgetown Pike to midway between Old Dominion Drive and Lewinsville Road until 6 a.m. on Thursday. Only one lane will be open for drivers during that time.
“We do expect there to be backups, you know, that could extend across the American Legion bridge into Maryland,” said Michell Holland, a communications manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
There will also be intermittent total stoppages on the single lane that is open between midnight and 5 a.m., VDOT said.
“If there was an impact scale for rating overnight work zones, this one would probably be at the highest category,” WTOP Traffic Reporter Dave Dildine said.
VDOT said they are working with partners in Maryland to make sure that the lane closures and the traffic impacts are displayed on the electronic message signs, so drivers know what to expect.
During these closures, crews will shift traffic to four southbound lanes in their new alignment, which will open by 6 a.m. for Thursday morning commuters.
The Inner Loop lanes were shifted in early May, and some drivers were stuck on the 2.5 mile stretch for hours.
“The first phase caused an extreme midnight backup on the Outer Loop, with some drivers sitting in bumper to bumper for up to three hours.” said Dildine. “Some callers reported sitting at a standstill for over three hours, and the backup lasted well into the daylight hours as well.”
VDOT warns commuters to try to avoid the area and choose another route if possible while they’re implementing the traffic shift.
During work, the ramp from northbound George Washington Memorial Parkway to southbound I-495 and both the on- and off-ramps at Georgetown Pike will be closed and detoured from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. on Thursday.
The express lane extensions is on track to open by the end of this year. Final project completion is scheduled for mid-2026.
Read more about the closures on VDOT’s website.
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