FALLS CHURCH, Va. — New transportation choices are coming to the I-66 corridor to help tame the traffic in the area.
“This is, as you know, one of the most congested roads in the United States of America. And for too long, we kicked the can down the road. No longer are we kicking that can down the road,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Wednesday at a ceremonial ribbon-cutting in Falls Church.
“We’re taking a significant step to add many new travel choices,” he added.
The rollout of the first 10 so-called Commuter Choice projects is meant to coincide with December’s launch of new tolls for solo rush-hour drivers on I-66 inside the Beltway, who will be able to use the road for the first time.
The new projects include Fairfax Connector Express Service from the Government Center to the State Department and Foggy Bottom; a 300-space park-and-ride lot in Aldie, and 16 new Capital Bikeshare stations, all but one of which will be in Falls Church.
“Together, these 10 projects will move as many as 5,000 additional people daily through the I-66 corridor,” said McAuliffe, wearing a button that read “I-66; do you?”
The Commonwealth kicked in $10 million to fund these initial projects.
More multimodal projects will be coming, but future toll revenue from I-66 inside the Beltway will be used to pay for them.
The process of choosing the next batch of projects is scheduled to start in the fall.
