DC Metro Region Leaders Exclude I-495 Express Lanes Project From Long-Term Plan

Washington, D.C. metropolitan region leaders on Wednesday voted unanimously to exclude the I-495 Southside Express Lanes construction project from its long-range strategic plan, which had been proposed as a way to ease traffic congestion between Maryland and Virginia.

The pitch to extend 11 miles of express lanes — stretching from the Springfield interchange in Fairfax County, across the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, to the MD 210 interchange in Prince George’s County, Maryland — could return in the future, because the board directed the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to improve it and report back next year on the status and outcomes of its work with all relevant jurisdictions.

Regional leaders on the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, an independent body of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, were required to vote on adding the project to the board’s long-term strategic plan, Visualize 2050, which would be required for the project to receive federal funding.

On Dec. 17, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments will take a final vote on the plan to submit to the Federal Highway and Transit Administrations under the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“The project is not dead,” said board Chair Walter Alcorn, who replaced former chair U.S. Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Fairfax, after he was elected to Congress in September.

Alcorn said the board could add the project at a later time, but first, Virginia, Maryland and D.C. have to agree on the specific aspects of the expressway extension that advocates and opponents say will create significant impacts.

“The problem with this project is there’s not an agreement and consensus by the different jurisdictions through which the project would go,” Alcorn said. “There still needs to be more work to be done, but we’ll see. In my opinion, there does need to be some sort of project that would improve traffic now and in the future on the Beltway, and provide those transit options that we need all over the region.”

Fairfax County Supervisor Walter Alcorn listening to a fellow board member at the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board meeting on Oct. 15, 2025. (Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury)

In a statement, VDOT said the board’s decision will allow the agency to continue its work with its development of the project, and to resubmit it in 2026 for inclusion in the region’s long-range transportation plan.

“These transportation improvements will provide near-term benefits and improve the lives of the hundreds of thousands of travelers who rely on the I-495 Southside corridor each day, as well as the surrounding residents and communities,” VDOT stated.

Since 2022, Virginia has been conducting a study on adding the express lanes, which public speakers at Wednesday’s meeting referenced. About 13 people spoke at the meeting, many in opposition to the project, with some noting that the state’s study lacked cost estimates for decommissioning private toll lanes in hopes of building a Metrorail line. Others said the express lanes would lead to an increase in vehicles and air pollution levels.

“Only by clearly weaving out the preferred alternative can the region ensure that there’s collaboration among jurisdictions to explore alternatives,” said Bill Pugh, transportation and climate director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, emphasizing the need for sustainable transportation alternatives and what he called the negative environmental and social impacts of the project.

The project’s supporters say the express lanes would reduce travel times and provide more reliable arrival estimates for drivers. The express lanes would minimize vehicle idling and ultimately decrease pollution, those in favor of the project suggested.

“It’s been said that what we need now is a 21st-century multimodal solution, and this project delivers exactly that solution,” said Richard Parsons, a representative of the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance. “It outperforms all other options in terms of expanding person throughput and reducing congestion delays, while preserving the right of way for future rail.”

Although Jason Stanford, a representative from the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, supports the project that provides “the greatest congestion relief,” he added that deferring the project would be a “wise decision” because “the stakes are too high to do nothing.”

Board members, including Virginia Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, voted unanimously to keep the project out of the long-term plan. She added that if the item had come down to an up-or-down vote, it would have failed due to concerns about the project’s environmental and community impacts.

“We feel this is a very important issue,” Boysko said. “We need to build consensus with the entire region.”

Other members, including Prince George’s County Councilmember Eric Olson, said they were pleased the board voted to exclude the project from the plan.

“I think we, as a region, came together and understood that this was not the right thing for the region and certainly not now,” Olson said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of things that need to be looked at as far as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge corridor. We do need better transportation. We do need to look at alternatives — like transit, like transportation demand management — but it was not even close to being ready to be put into a regional plan to advance.”

Editor’s note: The Coalition for Smarter Growth is a past donor to States Newsroom, the Mercury’s parent organization. Reader and organization donations help the Mercury cover costs for staff and freelancers, but donors have no input on editorial decisions. For more information on States Newsroom’s funding click here. See here for our ethics policy.

by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury

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