Santa will be the first to drive 495 Express Lanes

WASHINGTON – Keep your eyes peeled for Santa on the Capital Beltway Friday morning.

Kris Kringle will kick off the opening of Virginia’s 495 Express Lanes, as well as the start of the holiday shopping season, when he travels to Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va.

But don’t look for his reindeer. Santa instead will be making his trek and arriving in a white 2.5 Tesla Roadster convertible.

While the Express Lanes will open to the public on Saturday, Santa gets an advance pass to ensure that he makes it to work on time Friday. He’ll drive from Braddock Road to the new Express Lanes exit at Westpark Drive on the way to his winter wonderland house inside Tysons Corner Center.

Santa is tentatively scheduled to arrive at the Westpark Bridge at 8:40 a.m.

The two new high occupancy toll lanes on the Beltway run in each direction on the Virginia side of the Beltway from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road.

A new Tesla Motors showroom also is opening at Tysons Corner Center Nov. 30.

Follow WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up