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Construction on the Georgetown Pike bridge over Interstate 495 in McLean is approaching a major milestone, though drivers should expect overnight closures and possible delays as crews shift traffic onto a newly built section.
Beginning at 10 p.m. Monday, multiple Georgetown Pike lanes will close until 5 a.m. Tuesday. Eastbound traffic will move onto the new southern portion of the bridge.
Traffic will continue in both directions under a flagging operation, with police helping direct drivers through the work zone.
Two interchange ramps will also close overnight: northbound I-495 to Georgetown Pike and Georgetown Pike to southbound I-495.
Drivers traveling from northbound I-495 to Georgetown Pike should take Exit 46B for northbound Route 123, also known as Chain Bridge Road, and continue to the Georgetown Pike intersection.
Those heading from Georgetown Pike to southbound I-495 should travel to southbound Route 123, or Dolley Madison Boulevard, and use the entrance ramp to the Beltway’s Outer Loop.
The Virginia Department of Transportation urged motorists to use caution and prepare for potential delays.
After the traffic shift, crews will build the bridge’s center median and pedestrian facilities on both sides. Remaining work will include paving, lane markings, permanent traffic signals and road signs.
The bridge is expected to be finished by the end of spring. It will have six travel lanes, with three in each direction, a 6.5-foot-wide sidewalk on the north side and a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists on the south side.
The Georgetown Pike span is among seven bridges built or rehabilitated through 495 NEXT, the project that extended the I-495 Express Lanes about 2.5 miles north from the Dulles Toll Road in Tysons to a point in McLean just short of the American Legion Bridge.
The $660 million project, led by VDOT and Express Lanes operator Transurban, is intended to ease congestion along the only corridor directly linking Fairfax County with Montgomery County, Maryland. Construction began in March 2022, and the overall project remains scheduled for completion around the middle of this year.
Work still pending includes a 25-space parking lot near the southeast corner of the Georgetown Pike and I-495 interchange. Located beside Balls Hill Road and across from Cooper Middle School, the lot will serve visitors to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve and users of the new shared-use trail.
Crews must also finish the trail between Lewinsville Road and Live Oak Drive, complete paving along Balls Hill Road and Georgetown Pike, rehabilitate existing I-495 overpasses connecting with the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and restore vegetation throughout the corridor.
Separately, the Trump administration received more than 100 comments over the winter after requesting ideas for accelerating an updated American Legion Bridge. Residents, community groups and several contractors responded, with some companies expressing interest in working with Maryland and the Federal Highway Administration to rebuild the decades-old bridge.
The federal government is expected to decide this spring on Maryland’s request for an $800 million grant for that project.