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I-66W widened to six lanes at Gainesville
"Well Hallejuiah, there's more lanes."
Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) underscored the sentiment of western Prince William County commuters after VDOT opened six westbound lanes of Interstate 66 on April 2.
Three lanes are designated for through traffic, eventually merging into two lanes along the way toward Haymarket.
Two lanes are for Exit 43A, which leads motorists south on U.S. 29 into Gainesville toward Warrenton.
The furthest right lane for Exit 43B is for northbound traffic heading toward U.S. 29 and Heathcote Boulevard.
The new westbound lanes mean more than just a quicker commute near Gainesville.
Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, called the project "another important missing link in the system in terms of of widening (I-66) out to Gainesville and ultimately beyond.”
"It allows people to get to north-south alternatives faster," he said, particularly pointing out Sudley Road and Route 28.
Chase cautioned that the extra lanes do not mean that "at 6 o'clock there's no backup," but they will allow people "who are going on the main line to get where they're going faster because there are fewer cars in front of them."
He added that the lanes are a boon for bus lines that "can take advantage of the HOV lanes."
Before something like Bus Rapid Transit can come on line though, Chase mentioned that there probably will need to be an extra lane east of Route 28 in Centreville.
According to Avtar Singh, the area construction engineer overseeing the I-66/U.S. 29 project for VDOT, all the eastbound lanes are due to open as early as next month.
All work on the west and east roads should be wrapping up by late July, which would put the project just ahead of its scheduled Aug. 2 completion date.
A project report for the I-66 widening released by VDOT on April 1 showed the department already spent $73.44 million out of its $75.88 million contract with the construction company Shirley Contracting, which set up shop more than three years ago.
Marshall said the completion of the widening shows VDOT's "seriousness" in "improving the traffic out here" and that such a project "comes from the complete support of all the legislators in the area to get this done."
He specifically cited a message crafted by himself, state Sen. Chuck Colgan (D-29th) and the late Del. Harry Parrish (R-50th) to then-Gov. Mark Warner (D) encouraging him to divide the I-66 projects into smaller subsets so they would each be easier to fund.
Since then, crews separately widened the interstate at the Prince William Parkway interchange and then moved on to Gainesville.
During the last three years, "money has been allocated and not siphoned off," said Marshall. "We have the money to finish this."
That comes even after VDOT lost 60 work days during the winter due to rain and snow, according to Singh.
"We were ahead of schedule going into that period," he said.
VDOT is due to exit the project under budget and with more improvements than meet the eye.
For example, VDOT entirely replaced the beams on one of the 25-year-old support bridges. Singh explained that while refurbishing an old bridge would cost $425,000, VDOT could just buy a new one for $500,000.
"It was kind of a no-brainer," he said.
Most of the total cost goes into paving. VDOT ran into a mixed bag of sorts as the economic downturn meant they were working with lower contract bids than normal, but asphalt also increased in price from $330 to more than $800 per ton.
Tens of thousands of tons of pavement have been poured so far, Singh said.
Next up for VDOT is the Linton Hall Road interchange. Singh said crews should begin working on the detour lane from I-66 to the road at the end of May and will begin the main project in earnest next year.
"We're doing great," he said. "We have an excellent contractor."
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