A nine-mile section of the 66 Express Lanes outside the Beltway will open to traffic as early as Sept. 10, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced Friday, giving drivers traveling through the busy commuter route the option to test the new tolling system that is expected to fully open before the end of the year.
Transportation officials are phasing in the debut of the new lanes, which stretch from the Beltway interchange in Fairfax to Gainesville in Prince William County. The westernmost section, from Route 29 in Gainesville to Route 28 in Centreville, will open on or around Sept. 10, VDOT said. The exact date will be determined in coming days as crews work to complete final preparations, the agency said.
The remaining 13 miles of the 22.5-mile system are expected to open in December. The partial opening should allow drivers to familiarize themselves with new traffic patterns along the route as the fifth year of construction wraps up on the $3.7 billion widening program. The new lanes will be the latest addition to the region’s growing network of express lanes, of which more than 60 miles are in Northern Virginia.
“By opening the western segment of the new 66 Express Lanes early, we are able to start delivering congestion relief to I-66 travelers sooner than originally planned,” VDOT Commissioner Stephen Brich said in a statement.
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State officials say the project will relieve congestion and provide drivers in the Interstate 66 corridor with a more reliable trip. Motorists will be able to choose between the general lanes, which will remain free, or the new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, which buses, carpoolers and motorcyclists can use free.
The project keeps three general-purpose lanes eastbound and westbound, adding two HOT lanes in each direction. Those lanes will connect with 10 miles of rush-hour, peak-direction toll lanes that opened in December 2017 between the Beltway and the District.
The new HOT lanes are the result of a public-private partnership between Virginia and I-66 Express Mobility Partners, a consortium of investors that will maintain and operate the toll lanes under a 50-year concession.
Javier Gutierrez, the group’s chief executive officer, said this month’s opening will “ensure a great customer experience when the full corridor opens at the end of the year,” adding in a statement that it will kick-start “the benefits that the new managed lanes and project enhancements will provide.”
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Other improvements in the corridor include the addition of more than 4,000 new park-and-ride spaces with access to the express lanes, new and enhanced bus service, new ramps and improved interchanges, and 11 miles of new bike and pedestrian trails.
Drivers traveling eastbound on I-66 will be able to merge onto the toll lanes from the general lanes before Route 29 in Gainesville and by using a ramp near Route 234 Business. Westbound traffic will have access before Route 28. Ramps at Route 234/Sudley Road, Route 28, and Braddock and Walney Roads also will carry traffic into the toll lanes, as will ramps from commuter parking lots at University Boulevard in Gainesville and at Century Park Boulevard in Manassas.
The toll system will be a 24-hour operation, which officials say is meant to create an incentive for drivers who want free travel to carpool. The lanes will have a dynamic pricing system, with tolls that rise and fall based on traffic conditions.
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Project officials declined to say what an average toll would be or how much time drivers would save on a trip if taking the toll lanes. When the toll system launched five years ago in the corridors inside the Beltway section, drivers paid up to $40 for the 10-mile trip.
Nancy H. Smith, a spokeswoman for contracting firm FAM Construction, a joint venture of Ferrovial Construction and Allan Myers, said drivers will be able to pay a toll using an E-ZPass or pay online at Ride66express.com. They also can pay by mail, by phone or in person at a customer service center in Manassas.
High-occupancy vehicle rules will change along the corridor when the entire system of toll lanes opens in December. Vehicles will need to have three occupants to qualify for the free ride — a rule that will apply across the I-66 corridor from the D.C. line to Gainesville. Currently, drivers using the 66 Express Lanes inside the Beltway during peak travel periods are required to ride with at least one passenger.
Drivers should expect increased activity and changes in traffic patterns in coming weeks as crews prepare to open the toll lanes. Testing of the toll gantries is ongoing, as is the installation of flexible posts that will divide the toll lanes from the general lanes.
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An extended lane closure went into effect Wednesday on the westbound side between Manassas and Gainesville. That lane will remain closed until Sept. 10, reducing to three the number of travel lanes in that section of the corridor, officials said. There could be other overnight lane closures in the area.
The first new exit ramp at the Beltway opened late last month, a major shift for traffic traveling at that interchange. Traffic from the Beltway’s northbound lanes now takes a new ramp to westbound I-66. Other ramps that recently have opened include those at the Route 123 and Route 234 interchanges.
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