Virginia built 86 miles of express lanes. Will Maryland follow?

The drive on Virginia’s northern stretch of the Capital Beltway can be painful. Approaching the chronically congested Potomac River crossing, drivers meet a construction zone with shoulder barriers, overnight lane closures and the cutting of trees to make way for new highway lanes and ramps. The temporary work is advancing a 2.5-mile extension of the 495 Express Lanes, a widening project that will bring the state’s growing network of high occupancy toll lanes to the foot of the American Legion Bridge. Those lanes, set to open in 2025, are planned to connect to an expanded bridge and a toll system in Maryland, providing congestion relief at one of the biggest traffic chokepoints in the Washington region.