I-95 North Bridge at Springfield Interchange Opens Thursday Morning, January 19th
Note: Originally scheduled for Wednesday morning, postponed due to inclement weather.
Springfield - The morning crawl on I-95/395 North through Springfield will get a major jump start next week when the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) opens the new I-95 North bridge to the Outer Loop of the Capital Beltway. VDOT will open the bridge Thursday morning, January 19th, weather permitting.
"The new bridge will give drivers heading north on I-95 a smooth and easy transition towards the Wilson Bridge, easing the weaving, merging and slowing that clogs the highway daily," said Acting VDOT Commissioner Greg Whirley. "The drive through the Mixing Bowl will be easier, safer and much less stressful. Motorists heading to the Wilson Bridge will get out of the mix a half-mile sooner and clear the way for motorists heading towards Washington or Tysons Corner."
The $24 million flyover bridge is 80 feet tall, three-quarters of a mile long, and has extra-wide shoulders on either side of two 12-foot travel lanes. Overhead signs, beginning a mile in advance of the new bridge will direct I-95 motorists heading north towards Baltimore into the left lanes of I-95. The entrance to the new bridge is located about a half-mile prior to the exit motorists currently use.
On a typical weekday morning between 6 and 9 a.m., the I-95 northbound lanes at Springfield carry about 30,000 vehicles. Of those vehicles, approximately 7,500 head toward the Wilson Bridge and the remainder head north on 395 toward D.C. or take the Inner Loop of the Beltway toward Tysons. About 113,000 vehicles travel north on 95 between Route 644 and the Beltway each day.
VDOT is on track to deliver the final phase of the Mixing Bowl by mid-2007 as scheduled. Last summer, Archer Western Contractors, the contractor for the final two phases of the project, failed to meet certain project milestones. Working closely with VDOT, Archer Western committed to a recovery schedule with revised completion dates that would put the project back on schedule by June 2006.
The contractor met its October 2005 milestones which included the opening of a new flyover bridge from I-395 South to the Beltway's Outer Loop, and the initial separation of traffic heading south toward Springfield from those heading toward Richmond.
This summer, the four-lane flyover bridge connecting I-95 North to the Inner Loop toward Tysons will open. In fall 2006, a major and final improvement occurs with the opening of a new bridge connecting I-495 South to I-95 South.
The Springfield Interchange is one of the nation's busiest interchanges with more than 430,000 vehicles passing through it each day. The project to separate local and long distance traffic began in March 1999 and is on schedule for completion in mid-2007. The entire project is now approximately 85 percent complete; with the final two phases more than 50 percent complete. The project is within its $700 million budget.