At an estimated cost of $6 billion the Virginia Department of Transportation's mega-projects may be the biggest infrastructure improvement program in the country when grouped together.
VDOT offered an update on the projects Thursday.
The HOT lanes that will connect Interstate 95 at Springfield near the Beltway to the Dulless Access Road are half done.
"They will not be phased in," spokesman Steve Tutnik said. "They will open like a restaurant in Decmeber 2012."
The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is due to open from Washington to Tysons Corner and on to Reston in 2013. Phase One "is 35 percent complete," Marcia McAlister said.
Then there’s BRAC, which is expected to crowd I-95 with cars going to Ft. Belvoir and the Mark Center off Seminary Road as Deparment of Defense Employees are reassigned in September.
"The issue is that the Department of Defense hasn't made any road improvements," VDOT BRAC Coordinator Tom Fahrney said. "VDOT has a short-term and medium-term fix, but VDOT expects two new bottlenecks to be created on I-95."
Commuters are urged to be patient. Traffic is bad and drivers have to take different routes to get around the construction, Susan Chada said. Joe Pawelchak hopes once construction is complete "it makes commutes shorter."
