New Lanes Open Permanently On Va. Side Of Beltway | News

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A long-awaited milestone arrives for drivers on the Capital Beltway with the permanent opening of new lanes on the Virginia side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. 

Monday, the highway opens in its new configuration with five lanes each direction between the Wilson Bridge and Springfield.

The work is part of the decade-long Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project. The old Wilson Bridge had only three lanes in each direction and was a bottleneck on the Beltway and Interstate 95. During construction the Virginia lanes west of the bridge have had only three lanes each way.

When the I-495 Express Lanes open at the end of the year between Springfield and the American Legion Bridge, the entire Virginia portion of the Beltway will have a minimum of five lanes each way.