Road work, traffic shift on Capital Beltway in Tysons-McLean area

Drivers traveling on the Capital Beltway in the Tysons and McLean areas will be met with some road work over the weekend. Here’s what you need to know.

Starting Friday night, Virginia Department of Transportation crews plan the first of two traffic shifts on all four lanes on southbound Interstate 495 within the I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension project area. The area affected happens just north of the George Washington Parkway to just south of Georgetown Pike.

VDOT says the section of the Capital Beltway is expected to be reopened by 10 a.m. Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday nights will serve as backup dates in case of inclement weather or other work delays, VDOT said.

After the traffic shift, drivers will use two separate exits from southbound I-495 to access Exit 43 for the George Washing Parkway and Exit 44 for Georgetown Pike.

Here’s what drivers can expect, according to VDOT:

Traffic on all four general-purpose lanes of southbound I-495 from just north of the George Washington Parkway to just south of Georgetown Pike will be shifted onto new lanes built on the outer side of the Beltway.
Implementation of this traffic shift will entail a single mobile lane closure beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday night, a second lane closing at 9 p.m., and three total lanes being closed by 10 p.m., on southbound I-495 between approximately the George Washington Parkway and Lewinsville Road.
One southbound lane on I-495 will remain open to traffic, except when intermittent total traffic stoppages and/or slow-roll traffic operations occur between midnight and 5 a.m. Police will be on hand to assist with directing motorists.
Lanes will begin to reopen at 6 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, with all four southbound lanes in the affected area in their new alignment by 10 a.m.
Additionally, the ramps from southbound I-495 to George Washington Parkway (Exit 43) and Georgetown Pike (Exit 44), the ramp from George Washington Parkway to southbound I-495, and the ramp from Georgetown Pike to southbound I-495 will be closed and detoured from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Saturday.
If rescheduled for Saturday night, lane closures will begin at 8 p.m., with all lanes reopened in their new alignment by 10 a.m., Sunday.
If rescheduled for Sunday night, lane closures will begin at 8 p.m., with all lanes reopened in their new alignment by no later than 6 a.m., Monday.

Here’s a map of the affected area:

The second shifting phase of the southbound Beltway lanes is scheduled Friday, July 11, with the section south of Georgetown Pike to north of the Dulles Interchange near Old Dominion Drive.

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