I-95 Construction in Virginia

[WDWisTheBest]

In other posts, I-95 at the so-called "mixing bowl" in Springfield VA has been discussed.

What are your comments?

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Here is updated information on the I-95 construction at Springfield, VA: Excerpted from a column by Robert Thomson Washington Post Staff Writer on 8/22/03

The Virginia Department of Transportation will try again Saturday night to hoist several 100-ton beams into place for a new overpass high above the Springfield Mixing Bowl interchange, a complex and delicate task that was thwarted by lightning and rain last weekend.

To make way for the trucks, girders and construction cranes, VDOT will close off a stretch of I-95 northbound and create a seven-mile detour for drivers headed toward Washington or Tysons Corner. The detour is scheduled to be in place at 8 p.m. Saturday. If the work goes well, the rerouting will be over by 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Last weekend, when the detour was in place for the first time, cars and trucks slowed to a crawl as the detour squeezed them to the right and onto the Capital Beltway ramp.

Saturday evening's northbound traffic is likely to be a combination of long-distance vacationers, weekend shoppers, truckers and Redskins fans, bound for the preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens at FedEx Field in Landover.

"If you don't need to go there, just don't do it," said Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. Anderson advised motorists heading north on I-95 to get off well before the affected area if they want to avoid sitting in miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic. One alternative route into the region, he said, is to take Route 123.