Comment Letter: VDOT’s I-495 Southside Express Lanes Aren’t the Answer

On June 26th, WABA sent comments calling for real alternatives to VDOT's seemingly predetermined plan to add tolled express lanes to I-495 Southside over the Wilson Bridge. Let's add transit and better bike infrastructure instead of more highways NOW.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

June 26, 2025

Re: I-495 Southside HOT Lanes Project

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing on behalf of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and our over 4,000 members throughout Northern Virginia and the Capital region to express our continued opposition to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s preferred alternative of adding privately operated High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes to I-495 Southside between Springfield, VA and Oxon Hill, MD.

For more than fifty years, WABA has worked to transform the Capital region by improving conditions for people who bike. Our work to advocate for dedicated bike infrastructure including trails, pass laws that promote safe roadway behavior, and provide education programming for all road-users has resulted in a drastically different cultural and political approach to bicycling. Biking can and should be an equitable, safe, low-cost, time-saving, and sustainable way to navigate our region for all residents and visitors.

Thanks to local, state, and federal investments, our region is slowly embracing a more active, multimodal transportation future and serving as a model for communities across the nation. Unfortunately, VDOT’s preferred alternative for I-495 does not contribute to that future and instead represents a regression to outdated and disproven thinking regarding congestion and travel.

Simply put, VDOT’s preferred alternative will not solve the issue of congestion on I-495 and any travel time improvements will quickly erode upon opening due to induced demand as more people are incentivized to choose driving. Investing our limited transportation resources into this project will also crowd out and delay potential investments in transit (and bicycle and pedestrian improvements) that have been proven to be more effective at moving people.

While we appreciate the inclusion of additional bicycle and pedestrian trail connections along the corridor as part of the project, we feel that their positive impact as a secondary element is vastly outweighed by the immense financial, environmental, and opportunity costs associated with the primary express lanes component. We continue to question why the lower-cost bicycle and pedestrian network improvements – like the additional transit services also being proposed – can’t be implemented independently of the highway expansion.

We are cognizant that our roadways and transportation networks must balance and serve a variety of modes; alas, this megaproject, like so many before it, overwhelmingly benefits one mode: vehicles. Our region has set ambitious goals to establish world-class transit and active transportation networks; we won’t achieve either if we continue to only invest in transit and bicycling as secondary or tertiary elements to larger vehicle-focused highway projects. We therefore urge VDOT to return to the drawing board and look beyond predetermined solutions to address the challenges along I-495 Southside more creatively, holistically, and effectively.

Sincerely,

Kevin O’Brien, Virginia Organizer

Washington Area Bicyclist Association

More about Complete Streets

Complete Streets are streets designed to accommodate all users, and that prioritize historically underinvested modes of transportation like transit, walking, and biking. An incomplete street might lack adequate sidewalks, low-stress bike infrastructure, or safe and comfortable access to transit.

Effective Complete Streets policies change the way a jurisdiction plans and builds transportation infrastructure—sidewalks, low stress bike infrastructure, and transit should be included in any new or rebuilt street by default, rather than as an add-on when there's space or demand.

While most regional jurisdictions have a Complete Streets policy of some sort, they lack teeth and permit transportation departments to continue to build streets that put cars first and squeeze other modes into the margins.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.