RICHMOND, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin yesterday celebrated the opening of the 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension, known as 495 NEXT, at a ceremonial ribbon cutting in Tysons. The new Express Lanes extension will open ahead of schedule on Sunday, November 23, ahead of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday travel period.

“Yesterday, we celebrated more travel options and more travel reliability on one of our nation’s busiest corridors,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “This expansion is a testament to the success of public-private partnerships that boost quality of life and support a growing economy. Once again, Virginia is leading the way by delivering much-needed transportation improvements today—not years or decades from now—that improve mobility for Virginians and all travelers in the National Capital Region.”

Governor Youngkin was joined by the Commonwealth’s private partner, Transurban, and the design-build contractor led by Lane Construction. He was also joined by Federal Highway Administration Associate Administrator Tony Frye, Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III, Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen C. Brich, and other federal, state, and local officials.

“On behalf of the Trump Administration, Secretary Sean Duffy and the U.S. Department of Transportation, we’re proud to join our partners in Virginia to celebrate the opening of new 495 Express Lanes,” said FHWA Associate Administrator for Highway Policy and External Affairs Tony Frye. “The Trump Administration is getting America building again with projects like this one that enhances safety while connecting our country and our people.”

“495 NEXT will provide new options to travelers in this highly congested and busy area,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III. “The opening of this important project—which includes improved access to vital business and residential corridors in Northern Virginia—expands the benefits of the Express Lanes network to more people in the region while bringing new infrastructure and multimodal improvements to the local community.”

The 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension includes two new dynamically tolled Express Lanes in each direction on I-495 (the Capital Beltway) between the Dulles Corridor interchange and the George Washington Memorial Parkway interchange before the American Legion Bridge into Maryland. The new two-and-a-half-mile extension connects with the existing 14-mile 495 Express Lanes, which has seamless connectivity with Northern Virginia’s other Express Lanes facilities on I-66, I-95 and I-395.

The new extension will provide faster and more reliable travel choices, reducing travel times for both Express Lanes and general-purpose lane users by up to 50%, including HOV 3+ and bus riders, who can travel the Express Lanes toll-free. The corridor will also benefit from improved roadway safety by reducing crashes and cut-through traffic in residential communities.

“I want to thank and acknowledge the continued innovative public-private partnership and collaboration that made the 495 Express Lanes extension possible,” said VDOT Commissioner Stephen C. Brich. “Together, we’ve successfully delivered yet another critical Express Lanes facility, all of which continue to be game changers for improving travel and moving more people through our busy corridors in Northern Virginia. This newest enhancement benefits the entire region, while also providing features that specifically serve the local community including new bridges, noise walls and a paved trail for bicyclists and pedestrians that will open in 2026.”

“What we have accomplished through the power of partnership in Virginia is demonstrated with this latest extension of Transurban’s Express Lanes. Now spanning 58 miles from McLean to Fredericksburg to the Pentagon, the 95, 395, and 495 Express Lanes represent the longest managed lanes corridor in the United States,” said Beau Memory, President, Transurban North America. “I am so proud of the teams that collaborated to bring such a complex and innovative project to bear, and I look forward to continuing our partnerships in the Commonwealth for decades to come.”

The 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension project includes additional features such as:

  • New bridges across the Beltway at Live Oak Drive, Old Dominion Drive and Georgetown Pike.
  • Rehabilitation of four other bridges including the Lewinsville Road Bridge and bridges and ramps at the George Washington Memorial Parkway interchange.
  • New, upgraded noise walls to protect nearby neighborhoods.
  • New stormwater management systems and environmental commitments to stabilize stream banks along Scotts Run to mitigate erosion.
  • Four miles of new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, including sidewalks on bridges and a shared-use trail parallel to I-495. These improvements will provide new connections for cyclists and pedestrians to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve and Fairfax County Park Authority’s trail system.
  • Construction of a new Scott’s Run Nature Preserve parking lot that will connect the Preserve to the new shared-use trail.
  • Interstate express bus service connecting Tysons, Virginia, and Bethesda, Maryland, by way of the American Legion Bridge.
  • The Fairfax Connector Route 798 Express Bus Service, which travels the 495 Express Lanes toll-free, launched in September 2024. The new transit service was made possible through an early commitment of $5.2 million by the Commonwealth to purchase the buses and $2 million from the 495 NEXT project to begin operations during construction. Annual transit payments from Transurban, starting at $2.2 million, will fund continued operations of this important transit service.

Some of these project elements remain in progress, including the new Beltway bridges at Georgetown Pike and the shared-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians. Construction efforts on these and other final project details will continue in the coming months, with lane closures happening during non-peak travel times.

The approximately $660 million 495 NEXT project is a public-private partnership between the Commonwealth of Virginia and Transurban, private partner and operator of the existing 95, 395, and 495 Express Lanes. Lane Construction is the lead design-build contractor, with Shirley Contracting Company building improvements and Express Lanes access at the I-495 and Dulles Corridor interchange. Construction on this critical improvement project began in March 2022. Final project completion is anticipated to occur by mid-2026.