To advance the fast track towards completion, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will be closing the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes every weekend starting on Friday nights and keeping them closed until Sunday afternoons in September and Monday mornings in October for 95 Express Lanes construction. These closures are scheduled to begin on Friday night, Sept. 13 and continue each weekend until late October. The lanes will be closed from just north of I-495 to Dumfries.

Each weekend in September, the HOV lanes will reopen by 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon. In October the lanes will remain closed until Monday morning at 4 a.m. VDOT waited until after the summer for this closure schedule as a way to avoid disruption to vacationers.

“These closures will be necessary in order to advance construction for the late 2014 completion date,” said VDOT spokesperson Steve Titunik. “We will look at other opportunities outside the HOV lanes to keep traffic moving on I-95, such as coordinating construction in other areas, or alternating from the north and southbound sides.”

The 95 Express Lanes project began just over a year ago and they are already halfway through construction. As the new flyover ramps and access points are completed, the traffic disruption will not be as severe.

“This past summer was the worst of it,” Titunik added.

The spring/summer activities of I-95 included:

• Demolition of Telegraph Road bridge in Quantico, April 2013

• Dumfries/Joplin Road flyover steel beam lift, July 2013

• Steel placement for the new Telegraph Rd. bridge in Quantico, July 18 and July 23

• Fairfax County Parkway beam hanging, Aug. 23, 2013

In the coming weeks, crews will hang steel beams over I-95 south near Route 610 in Stafford and just north of Edsall Road inside the Capital Beltway. There will be complete closures of I-95 and I-395 associated with those two construction activities. Following work for the new overpasses, placing steel beams over the lanes of I-95 will be minimal.

During the upcoming closure of HOV lanes on Saturdays for construction of the new I-95/395 Express Lane, the VA Megaprojects (VDOT) will provide free, MetroDirect service on Saturdays connecting the Potomac Mills shopping center and the PRTC Transit Center in Prince William County to the Franconia/Springfield Metro station. This service will run between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays between Sept. 14 and Dec. 28.

For more information, go to VAMegaprojects.com or PRTCtransit.org.