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Virginia HOV Expansion Begins Next Month On I-95

By: Sharon Rae // July 31, 2012
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Construction on expanded high occupancy toll lanes is expected to begin within a few months.
Pete Thompson
Construction on expanded high occupancy toll lanes is expected to begin within a few months.

Transportation officials have made plans to expand and improve high occupancy vehicle lanes in Northern Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday.

An extra 29 miles of express lanes on Interstate 95 will be added from Garrisonville in Stafford County to Edsall Rd. in Fairfax County.

"Travelers in Northern Virginia will have better transportation choices than they do today to travel in the heavily-congested corridor of I-95," says Tamara Rollison, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

After the planned upgrade, cars with fewer than three passengers may pay a toll to use the express lanes.

"This toll rate, and the revenues raised by the toll, will help to pay for this much needed transportation facility," says Rollison.

Work on the lanes will begin next month, and is expected to take about two and a half years to complete.

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