A new highway lane in Virginia may help unclog a daily traffic jam.
News4 used a drone to get an aerial view of what drivers on Interstate 95 will see soon in Prince William County.
A new travel lane will open in Occoquan, just south of the Occoquan River, at a notorious traffic bottleneck. Crews transformed a southbound shoulder lane into a new travel lane for a mile-and-a-half, from 123 all the way to the Prince William Parkway. They also put in a new paved shoulder, new retaining walls and better lighting. It all should hopefully make for a better driving experience.
“I don’t care what time of day it is — this is this all the time,” driver Linda Bradshaw said as she gestured toward the traffic.
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She’s a Stafford resident whose 23-minute daily commute can take 45 minutes to over an hour because of the backup.
Bradshaw said she hopes the new lane will give people more space in which to merge.
More than 20,000 drivers per day merge on this stretch of highway, according to the state department of transportation. Many drivers don’t do that so well, spokeswoman Ellen Kamilakis said.
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“I live in Northern Virginia as well and, as much as we joke about Maryland drivers, Virginia drivers are terrible as well,” she said.
Drivers’ bad merging has led to a lot of sideswipe crashes, which should improve.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Thursday, though the lanes will not officially open until mid-May. The final cost of the project was about $24 million.
