This month, VDOT kicked off the Transform 66 Inside the Beltway Project, which will involve adding tolls to that section of I-66
Work crews will install eight overhead toll-collecting gantries and about 125 signs on I-66 and local roads approaching the highway.
This will not impact the Custis Trail. It will only allow tolling on drivers who currently can't use I-66 at all - those driving SOVs during rush hour. It might reduce Custis Trail traffic, but if so, not by much.
One goal of the larger Inside the Beltway project is to improve multi-modal transportation (that's us) and some examples of what that might involve are trail improvements and bike facilities that make bike commuting easier. Recently 10 projects, worth just under $10 million, were approved as part of the FY2017 Transform 66 Multimodal Project including $500,000 for bike share. This is just the first round of funding, but I'm not sure if it will be an annual thing or not.
A later part of the project, widening 4 miles of I-66 eastbound from the Dulles Connector Road to Ballston, is just starting the Environmental Assessment process and aims to open the new lanes in 2020. It also doesn't appear that that project will impact either the Custis or W&OD trails.
So the Inside the Beltway Project will invest in cycling, but through toll-funded projects that will be determined later.
The Outside the Beltway Project, on the other hand, will build the I-66 trail which will extend from the Custis trail all the way to Haymarket. It will also add other bike facilities. Specifically, Phase I of that project will consist of
Adding new park-and-ride facilities with pedestrian/bike facilities and connections along with roadway improvements at the following locations:
- Gainesville in the northwest quadrant of the University Boulevard overpass
- Manassas along Balls Ford Road, west of Route 234 Business
- Fairfax County Government Center surface lot near Monument Drive (southeast quadrant)
Enhanced bicycle and pedestrian access in Fairfax County and Prince William County by adding new parallel corridor-wide bikeway, trail, and sidewalk improvements. In Fairfax County the parallel shared-use paths (SUP) are to connect the following:
- Route 650 (Gallows Road) to Route 243 (Nutley Street)
- Blake Lane to Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road)
- Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road) to Jermantown Road
- Jermantown Road to US 50 (Lee Jackson Memorial Highway)
- Route 608 (West Ox Road) to Fairfax County Parkway
- Fairfax County Parkway to Route 645 (Stringfellow Road)
- Route 645 (Stringfellow Road) to Route 28 (Sully Road)
It will also widen I-66.
I don't think Phase 2 has been defined yet.
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