Decision looms on future of I-495 express lanes across Woodrow Wilson Bridge

On Wednesday the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Transportation Planning Board is expected to decide whether a proposal to bring express lanes to the southern side of Interstate should remain on the table The project which has been pushed by the Virginia Department of Transportation since would add miles of new express lanes from the Springfield Interchange in Fairfax County Virginia traversing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and ending at the Maryland Journey interchange in Prince George s County Maryland The proposal has drawn mixed reactions from board members whose approval is needed Among those weighing in is David Snyder a longtime board member and Falls Church City Council member who mentioned everyone agrees improvements are needed The question is what is the something and when Snyder declared He added that while VDOT s inclusion of transit components such as a proposed bus path was encouraging more clarity is needed It makes no sense to expand the highway in Virginia if it just creates a bottleneck right across the bridge in Maryland Snyder reported Speaking at a meeting in July VDOT mega projects Director Michelle Shropshire declared the project which would be a public-private partnership would pour millions of dollars into vital transit and transportation improvement projects According to planners the express lanes would be roughly minutes faster than the general-purpose lanes and help commuters as peak journey times are expected to at least double by Supporters also believe the lanes would improve job access by speeding up commutes and would include a new bus highway between the Branch Avenue Metro station and Tysons But the project has faced multiple concerns from local leaders especially in Maryland Among them are air quality impacts in Prince George s County and whether the express lanes could block a future Metro extension across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge which was originally built with rail expansion in mind VDOT has mentioned space would remain available for rail Others have questioned whether the project is worth the high cost Neil Harris vice chair of the transportation planning board and a Gaithersburg City Council member announced it doesn t appear the endorsement especially in Maryland is there for the project The environmental piece is really minimal Harris stated But the local people who are closest to the situation are very adamantly against it Maryland lawmakers and residents also raised concerns about safety on Maryland Trail equity and a lack of public engagement all of which were prominent themes in society comments While the vote could remove the project from the region s long-range transportation plan Harris announced it wouldn t necessarily be the end as Maryland and Virginia could continue discussions in the coming months Any project could unfailingly come back at a later date Harris noted Source