High Occupancy Toll lanes are scheduled to open by the end of the year, leaving transportation officials with the task of educating drivers about what they are and how to use them.
They started this week with a new name for the lanes. Instead of HOT lanes, the 14-mile stretch of the Capital Beltway between Springfield at Dulles Toll Road will simply be called 495 Express Lanes.
The lanes currently under construction on Interstate 495 are aimed at giving driver’s more choices to beat congestion in and out of the busy Tysons Corner area. Not only will drivers be able to pay a toll to get out of congestion on I-495’s travel lanes, carpoolers with three or more occupants inside their vehicles and bus riders will be able to use the lanes for free, according to officials.
A new website, 495expesslanes.com, has been created to educate drivers on how to the use the lanes and about the EZPass transponders they will need when passing through automated toll booths.
The Beltway express lanes project comes as transportation officials are still working to reach a principle agreement on similar toll lanes on I-95 between North Stafford and Edsall Road in Alexandria.
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