WASHINGTON — Heads up, Maryland drivers. A busy ramp on the Capital Beltway in Prince George’s County is set to close this week as part of a major effort to build newer, wider bridges over Md. 214/Central Avenue in Largo.
The ramp is expected to stay closed with detours in place for the next 2 1/2 years.
The ramp from southbound Interstate 95/Interstate 495 to eastbound Maryland 214 will close at 10 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9. Traffic will detour using southbound I-95/I-495 to southbound Md. 202/Largo Road, from which drivers will be guided back to eastbound Md. 214.
Later this month, crews are expected to close the ramp from eastbound Md. 214 to northbound I-95/I-495.
The ramps, which each carry about 10,000 vehicles each day, are not expected to reopen until the summer of 2021, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration.
SHA has released maps detailing both the ramp closures and detour routes.
Crews will re-time traffic signals on Md. 202 and Md. 214 to accommodate for the ramp closures by providing additional through-time.
The ramp closures are needed to replace the Capital Beltway bridges over Central Avenue in Largo, SHA said. The bridges were originally built in 1963 and widened in 1971. They’re still safe for travel, SHA said, but need to be replaced.
The new Beltway bridges over Md. 214 will allow for future widening of the Capital Beltway, including through planned toll lanes, allow for an extension of the left turn lane from westbound 214 to the Capital Beltway, allow for the possibility of sidewalks being added to Central Avenue in the future, and provide a new, five-foot shoulder on Central Avenue.
Construction of the bridges is expected to cost $26 million.
The Largo project is one of a series of ongoing Capital Beltway bridge projects in Prince George’s County, including at Suitland Road, Suitland Parkway and Temple Hill Road.
(WTOP’s Max Smith contributed to this report.)
