495 NEXT NEWS
I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) Project Update
| |
In This Issue...
- 495 NEXT Work Zone Safety
- The Big Lift: New Georgetown Pike Bridge Girders Installed this Spring
- Reaching the Community: 495 NEXT Team to Offer Drop-in Public Hours this Summer
- Transurban's 495 NEXT Community Grant Program
| |
495 NEXT Work Zone Safety | |
Work zone safety is the top priority for VDOT and its 495 NEXT project partners, as construction intensifies throughout the 2.5-mile project corridor. To keep construction moving forward, work activities will continue to occur during day and nighttime hours. | |
Keeping workers and drivers safe is everyone’s responsibility. Drivers are urged to slow down, use caution, and stay alert when traveling through the busy 495 NEXT work zone. The constrained area will continue to have reduced shoulders, lane closures and traffic shifts as workers continue to build the extended express lanes and surrounding improvements. | |
Active construction is underway in the 495 NEXT work zone (Spring 2024). | |
|
Work zone safety received national attention earlier this spring during National Work Zone Awareness Week on April 15-19. This year's theme, “Work zones are temporary. Actions behind the wheel can last forever,” highlights the need for both drivers and workers to uphold work zone safety. In 2022, 891 people were killed and 37,701 people were injured in work zone crashes, according to the National Safety Council.
April was also Distracted Drivers Awareness Month. The need to stay focused while driving is critical, especially through any construction work zone. Distractions, including cellphone use, adjusting the radio, eating, and drinking, can have fatal consequences. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported 3,308 people were killed and nearly 290,000 people were injured in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2022.
If you are in the driver’s seat, focus on the road ahead. Please do your part in keeping roadways safe for everyone.
| |
The Big Lift: New Georgetown Pike Bridge Girders Installed this Spring | |
Equal parts of power and precision go into lifting massive steel girders and placing them in exact locations on bridge abutments and support piers. Girders whose total weight exceeded 750 tons were installed this spring to support the new Georgetown Pike Bridge that is under construction. The sequence of photos below shows the very first girder segment being lifted and placed. The second to last photo shows all girders in place, awaiting the installation of deck pans and steel rebar for the concrete bridge deck. | |
Reaching the Local Community | |
|
495 NEXT Project Update Meetings Held in Spring; Project Update Information Available
VDOT, along with project partner, Transurban, and contractor, Lane Construction, held public meetings on April 8 and 11, 2024 (virtual and in-person respectively) to provide the latest updates and information related to the 495 NEXT project to the public. Information that was shared included construction updates and an overview of the project’s conceptual revegetation plan, which is under development.
Meeting materials including the formal presentation and exhibit boards, as well as a recording of the virtual meeting, are available for review on the project website.
| |
|
495 NEXT Public Hours
VDOT and its 495 NEXT project partners will hold drop-in public hours this summer to provide the public opportunities to interact with project staff individually to learn more and ask questions about the 495 NEXT project. These sessions will be held at the McLean Governmental Center’s Community Room and no appointment is necessary. A virtual option will be available as well. Please visit the project’s website to access the links.
| |
|
2024 Public Hours Dates and Times:
.
- Thursday, June 20 | 4-6 p.m.
- Thursday, June 27 | 1-3 p.m.
- Thursday, July 18 | 4-6 p.m.
- Thursday, July 25 | 1-3 p.m.
- Thursday, August 15 | 4-6 p.m.
- Thursday, August 22 | 1-3 p.m.
- Thursday, September 19 | 4-6 p.m.
- Thursday, September 26 | 1-3 p.m.
| |
|
Join In-Person
McLean Governmental Center
1437 Balls Hill Road
McLean, VA 22101
| |
|
Join Virtually
Visit 495NEXT.vdot.virginia.gov for links to individual sessions and details on how to participate virtually.
| |
Applications Invited for Transurban's 495 NEXT Community Grant Program | |
|
Groups dedicated to improving communities along the 495 NEXT corridor are invited to submit applications for Transurban's 495 NEXT Community Grant program.
Transurban, the developer and operator of the 495, 95 and 395 Express Lanes, is seeking opportunities to respond to the needs of local organizations and direct impact neighborhoods located within the 495 NEXT Express Lanes corridor in the following categories:
- Environment – projects that enhance or protect the environment.
- Community – projects that support health, economic development or well-being.
- Safety – projects that support safety initiatives.
The next deadline to apply for a community grant is June 30, 2024.
Click here to learn more about Transurban’s Express Lanes Community Grant programs and how to apply.
| |
The 495 NEXT project team recently gathered for a volunteer day at Churchill Road Park, one of the Transurban 495 NEXT Community Grant recipients. |
Project Background
The I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) project is extending the existing 495 Express Lanes north by two-and-a-half miles from the Dulles Corridor interchange to the George Washington Memorial Parkway interchange in the vicinity of the American Legion Bridge. The project is providing new and improved connections at the Dulles Corridor and George Washington Memorial Parkway.
495 NEXT is a public-private partnership project between the Commonwealth of Virginia and Transurban, operator of the existing 495 Express Lanes. Lane Construction is the design-build contractor for the project. The new extended lanes are scheduled to open in 2025.
| |
Learn More About the Project | |
|
Email: 495NorthernExtension@vdot.virginia.gov
Call: Construction Inquiry Line, 703-592-6430
Virginia Department of Transportation, Michelle Holland, 703-586-0487
Transurban, Amanda Allen, 571-249-8784
Lane Construction, John Undeland, 703-785-3461
| | | | |
