Virginia Transportation officials announced upcoming changes to the HOV lanes on Interstate 95.
Starting Aug. 5, they’ll close to northbound drivers an hour earlier in the mornings and open to southbound drivers one hour earlier each weekday.
More in a press release from Virginia Megaprojects:
Beginning August 5,the reversible high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on northbound I-395/95 will close during the week at 10 a.m. rather than 11 a.m., and the southbound HOV lanes will open at noon rather than 1 p.m.
According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, the change is in effect until mid-October to help ease southbound congestion during construction of the 95 Express Lanes, the 95 Shoulder Lane project in Prince William County, and BRAC related work in the I-395/Seminary Road area along with routine summer road maintenance.
The new operational hours for the lanes comes as construction are working on the 95 Express Lanes, which should open to drivers late 2014 or early 2015.
During the hour that the HOV facility is closed each weekday, transportation crews check the reversible lanes between Dumfries and the Pentagon to ensure all of the northbound traffic has cleared the lanes, to make way for southbound drivers for the afternoon commute.
