New Beltway Ramps Should Ease Traffic

For the second time in a month, some significant things are happening to ease traffic congestion on the southern part of the Capital Beltway in Virginia. New ramps opening after 9:30 this morning are designed to allow direct access between the Beltway's Thru Lanes and Alexandria's Eisenhower Valley.

One ramp is for drivers coming from the Inner Loop Thru Lanes to Mill Road/Eisenhower Avenue. Another ramp will take traffic the opposite way, from Mill Road/Eisenhower Avenue to the Outer Loop Thru Lanes.

The ramps are about halfway between the Route 1 and Telegraph Road interchanges. So it should provide relief for drivers who had been using those two interchanges to connect with Eisenhower Valley, now a busy area, thanks to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a U.S. District Court and new housing and commercial development.

Two weeks ago, several new ramps opened at the Telegraph Road interchange. Some drivers found that hard to deal with, and tried to make left turns that were no longer necessary.

What's happening today is a bit different, because it's creating a completely new access point beyond the interchanges, but it probably still will take some getting used to. The same type of improvement happened last year, on the Prince George's County side of the Potomac, when new access opened for National Harbor.

All this work is part of the Wilson Bridge Project, which now is concentrated on the area around the Telegraph Road interchange.