New Beltway lanes seek to break gridlock in DC - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

New Beltway lanes seek to break gridlock in DC

The Capital Beltway, notorious both as a symbol of our political gridlock and traffic gridlock, is getting a major makeover.

The 495 Express Lanes will open Saturday on a 14-mile stretch of the Beltway in northern Virginia. The four new Express Lanes -- two in each direction -- will supplement the existing lanes. (continued below)



Drivers who want to use the new lanes, though, will have to either pay a toll or join a carpool of three or more.

The lanes were built as part of a $2 billion public-private partnership and are part of a growing trend across the nation of so-called High Occupancy Toll lanes, or HOT lanes.

Once derided as "Lexus lanes" that would only benefit the wealthy, many early opponents of the project have come to support it.