I-95 4th lane to extend to Prince William Parkway

Drivers on Interstate 95 south will get some relief at the Occoquan River.

A new fourth lane will be built at one of the biggest bottlenecks in the region, where four lanes of traffic condense into three at the Purple Heart Bridge. The nearly three-mile lane will cost $14.6 million to construct and will run from Route 123 to the Prince William County Parkway.

Work in the project will begin this spring and will wrap up in Fall 2022. About 92,000 cars per day travel through this area.

Former Prince William County Supervisor Ruth Anderson advocated for this project and worked with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to initiate a study to determine the feasibility of the new lane. She represented the Occoquan District on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors from 2015 to 2019.

In 2011, Virginia extended the 4th lane on I-95 north and south six miles from Fairfax County Parkway to the Occoquan River, at a cost of $86 million.

More in VDOT’s press release:

At its monthly meeting March 17, the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) awarded a $14.6 million contract for an operational project to create an auxiliary lane on southbound Interstate 95 from Gordon Boulevard (state Route 123) to the Prince William Parkway (state Route 294) in Woodbridge.

The project will convert about a mile and a half of the existing shoulder to a travel lane, from the end of the existing entrance ramp from Route 123 to the beginning of the exit ramp to the Prince William Parkway. The auxiliary lane will make it easier for drivers to merge into and out of traffic between the ramps and free up additional room for through-drivers.

Southbound I-95 averages about 92,000 vehicles a day in this area.

Corman Kokosing Construction Co. of Annapolis Junction, Maryland, received the contract for the project, which will also provide a new paved shoulder, relocate noise walls as needed, replace impacted roadway lighting, install or upgrade guardrails and build new retaining walls.

Work will begin later this spring and is expected to be complete in fall 2022. All work will be done within the existing right of way and mostly beyond concrete barriers, with few traffic impacts expected.

The project is being completed as part of the I-95 Corridor Improvement Plan, and is financed with a portion of the concession fee provided under the 95 Express Lanes Project Comprehensive Agreement.

Visit the VDOT project page for more details, including a video simulation of the new lane.