American Legion Bridge Corridor Multimodal Recommendations Shared

MCLEAN, VA — After draft transit recommendations for the Interstate 495 American Legion Bridge Transit and Transportation Demand Management study were shared, a virtual public meeting will be held on Jan. 12.

Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration are studying potential multimodal improvements in the corridor, as the American Legion Bridge between the states has one of the region's worst traffic chokepoints. The study is in progress after Virginia and Maryland came to an agreement in 2019 to rebuild and widen the bridge, adding express lanes between George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia to the vicinity of River Road in Maryland and new bicycle and pedestrian paths. The bridge connects the region's most populous counties, Fairfax County in Virginia and Montgomery County in Maryland, both of which have populations over 1 million. Daily traffic over the bridge is estimated to be around 235,000 vehicles and could increase to 280,000 by 2040.

According to the study website, it aims to find "multimodal solutions that can be implemented to reduce congestion, improve trip reliability and regional connections, and enhance existing and planned multimodal mobility and connectivity." The study area covers the American Legion Bridge as well as I-495 south of the MD Route 97 interchange in Maryland and north of the I-495/I-95/I-395 interchange in Virginia.

Draft recommendations were first shared in December. The study team developed potential routes based on travel demand, met with stakeholders, and received feedback through two public surveys and through I-495 Virginia and Maryland projects.

Draft recommendations include these potential transit routes:

• Bethesda to Tysons
• Germantown to Tysons
• Silver Spring to Tysons
• Gaithersburg to Tysons
• Frederick to Tysons
• Bethesda to Reston
• Bethesda to Dunn Loring via Tysons
• Frederick to L’Enfant via Arlington

A Metrobus route between Tysons and Bethesda had operated from 1998 to 2003 but was discontinued. Bottlenecks on the bridge and the ability of buses to use shoulders on I-495 in Maryland but not Virginia led to the bus experiencing long delays, exacerbated by the high number of stops on the route.