RELEASE: CONTACT:

IMMEDIATE Joan Morris 703-383-2465 joan.morris@virginiadot.org Steve Titunik 703 -83-2530

NOVA-NR04-21 May 17, 2004

Mixing Bowl’s I-95 South Bridge Opens May 19

The Springfield Interchange Improvement Project will deliver some long overdue relief to local and long distance motorists Wednesday, May 19 with the opening of the new I-95 South bridge from the Capital Beltway’s inner loop (I-495 West). The mile-long, 100-foot-high flyover bridge will open to traffic in time for the afternoon rush, following a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
“This is a major milestone for the project and one of the most significant improvements for motorists,” said Larry Cloyed, project manager for the Springfield Interchange Improvement Project. “The new bridge will ease a major chokepoint along the I-95 corridor, making it easier and safer for motorists traveling through Springfield.”

The bridge cost approximately $31 million. About 20,000 vehicles a day are expected to use the bridge, 2,200 of them during the busiest hour.

The bridge will significantly improve safety by eliminating the weaving and merging motorists now experience where I-95/395 and the Capital Beltway converge. The flyover bridge has extra-wide emergency shoulders, ranging from 12 to 20 feet, on either side of two 12-foot travel lanes.

Overhead signs, beginning a mile in advance of the new bridge just west of Van Dorn Street, will direct Beltway motorists heading south towards Richmond into the left lanes of the Capital Beltway. VDOT opened one mile of new permanent travel lanes approaching the bridge last week.

The new bridge will carry long-distance motorists over the Mixing Bowl and into the I-95 southbound lanes about a quarter-mile south of the interchange. Motorists heading to the new bridge will temporarily merge into one lane as they approach the bridge until other construction work is completed in the area. Two bridge access lanes will be available by mid-July. In addition, traffic exiting the bridge will temporarily be reduced to one lane until the end of the year.

Motorists heading to Springfield/Route 644 from the inner loop will continue using the existing ramp to Route 644. The ramp will be less congested for local traffic with the opening of the new bridge. Due to the anticipated reduction in exit ramp traffic, the two-lane ramp will be permanently reduced to one-lane.
Motorists who travel the outer loop of the Capital Beltway to I-95 South will also get some much needed relief by Friday, May 21 when a second lane on the ramp opens as a temporary improvement. Once the entire project is completed in 2007, outer-loop motorists heading to I-95 South and Route 644 will have separate ramps.
The Springfield Interchange is one of the nation's busiest interchanges with more than 430,000 vehicles passing through it each day. The $700 million project began in March 1999 and is on schedule for completion in 2007.
Maps and details of the bridge opening are available at www.springfieldinterchange.com.
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