A history of roads in Virginia: Transit makes its mark

Northern Virginia’s I-66 was completed in 1982 as a four-lane limited access highway. It’s among
Virginia’s first projects to incorporate multimodal connectivity. It featured Metrorail in the median.

When funds for highway construction doubled, so did funds for public transportation services. Increasing pressures for these services were felt in all sections of Virginia.

Public transportation service includes a lot more than buses in the cities or the Metrorail subway in the Washington, D.C., area. It includes ridesharing efforts with car and van pools, park-and-ride lots, special high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on congested highways for vehicles carrying at least two and sometimes three people, special transportation for elderly and handicapped persons, and development of commuter rail service.

By the late 1980s, public transportation was making its mark. More than two-thirds of the people crossing the Potomac River between Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., during rush hours traveled either by public transit or car pool. But many more innovations beyond public transportation would be required to keep Virginia moving in the last decade of the century.

Produced by the
Virginia Department of Transportation
Office of Public Affairs
1401 E. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
VirginiaDOT.org