WORK WE'RE DOING

I-66 Outside the Beltway

Overview

The Commonwealth selected Express Mobility Partners in November 2016 to build new Express Lanes on Interstate 66 Outside the Beltway, between the I-495 Capital Beltway and Gainesville, with the goal of increasing person throughput by highway and transit improvements in this congested corridor.

As part of the agreement, Express Mobility Providers provided an advance concession payment to the Commonwealth for use on projects that will benefit users of the corridor, including:

Virginia Railway Express improvements to enhance commuter rail service on the Manassas Line
Median widening to accommodate any future westward expansion of the WMATA Orange Line
Construction of a new commuter parking structure at Fairfax Corner
Construction of a new western maintenance and bus storage facility for OmniRide
Expansion of bus bays at the East Falls Church Metrorail station

Program Website

Process

DRPT directs the expenditure of the I-66 Outside the Beltway Annual Transit Payment. These funds are not part of the Commuter Choice programs administered by NVTC. The first Annual Transit Payment was transferred to DRPT for programming in FY22 and Annual Transit Payments will continue through 2066.

All of the new commuter bus services funded by the Annual Transit Payments will directly utilize the I-66 Express Lanes and all are scheduled to begin service after the Express Lanes become fully operational in December 2022.

Key Updates

FY22 and FY23 funding from the Annual Transit Payments will be allocated to OmniRide and Fairfax Connector for new Commuter Bus services that will directly utilize the new Express Lanes, and to VRE to support a future expansion on VRE’s Manassas Line.

In FY22, DRPT provided $5.1 million to Fairfax County for the purchase of eight new commuter coaches. In FY23, DRPT will provide $4.6 million to Fairfax County for the start-up and operation of new commuter bus services between Centreville and Tysons and between Chantilly and Franconia-Springfield, as well as for the extension of an existing Vienna to Pentagon service to become Centreville to Pentagon.
In FY22, DRPT provided $2.5 million to OmniRide for the purchase of four new commuter coaches. In FY23, DRPT will provide $2.6 million to OmniRide for the start-up and operation of a new commuter bus service between Gainesville and Reston.
In FY22, DRPT programmed $8.6 million to support the creation of a VRE daily round trip on the Manassas Line. In FY23, DRPT will program an additional $7 million for the daily round trip.

WORK WE'RE DOING

I-66 Outside the Beltway

Overview

Process

Key Updates

See Related Work We've Done

Coordinated Human Services Mobility Plan

Southeast Corridor Commission