[ngg_images gallery_ids=”505″ display_type=”ds-nextgen_royalslider”]
A new interchange to be built in Haymarket will be radically different from anything else in the region.
A “diverging diamond interchange,” or DDI, will be constructed at the intersection of Route 15 and Interstate 66.
What’s different about this interchange? Traffic will travel on the left side of road when passing through it.
“For a second, it feels like you’re driving in Brittain,” said Virginia Transportation spokesman Mike Murphy.
The DDI, will cost $59 million to build. It will eliminate the need for left turns, reducing the number of cars that line up at a signal light to enter I-66 east or west.
Traffic will move through the intersection in two phases, with vehicles traveling north on Route 15 getting a green light to move. When the light turns red, vehicles traveling south on Route 15 into Haymarket will then get a green light and then proceed.
Here’s a video of what the project will look like when completed:
Two new, longer bridges will be a part of the DDI, as well as new ramp improvements to include a spur ramp to ease traffic congestion for vehicles exiting I-66 west to Route 15 north.
Intersections at Route 15 and Route 55 in on the south side of the DDI in Haymarket, and at Route 15 and Heathcote Boulevard on the north side will be widened.
A 10-foot shared-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians will also be added on the east side of Route 15.
Construction on the DDI will begin this fall. It should take one year to build.
This will be the first interchange of its kind in Northern Virginia, and second along Route 15. Virginia’s first DDI opened at the intersection of Route 15 and I-64 near Charlottesville.
There are also plans to build a DDI at the intersection of I-95 and Courthouse Road in Stafford County. A public hearing on that project will be held in late September, according to VDOT spokeswoman Kelly Hannon.
Two more DDIs are planned in Roanoke and Blacksburg.
