Drivers beware, authorities warn

Vacationers, Redskins fans and other motorists around the region can expect major backups over the next two weekends when road crews will shut down parts of the Mixing Bowl where Interstates 95, 495 and 395 intersect in Fairfax County.

Redskins fans from Virginia, in particular, should be prepared to face delays on the Capital Beltway or I-95 after Saturday night’s game against the New England Patriots at FedEx Field in Prince George’s County.

Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials said this week road crews will shut down parts of the interchange between 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday to install several steel beams above the junction to form a bridge that will connect westbound I-495 to an exit ramp onto southbound I-95.

As a result, motorists traveling north from I-95 to the Beltway will be detoured for seven miles east for the next two weekends. The construction will affect one of the busiest corridors on the East Coast.

“There is the potential for a world class gridlock,” said Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic motor club. “If you are contemplating being in that area, don’t do it.”

The detour will add 45 minutes of traveling time for motorists going north to the District or west on the Beltway toward Tysons Corner and Montgomery County.

VDOT officials said they had no choice but to shut down the northbound highways and re-route traffic for safety reasons. During each closure, three giant cranes will lift three 100-ton, 286-foot-long steel beams nearly 100 feet above the road to build a bridge connecting westbound I-495 to an exit ramp onto southbound I-95, VDOT spokesman Steve Titunik said.

Each beam consists of two girders that are “spiked together on the ground,” Mr. Titunik said. After the beams are lifted into position, workers will install 290 bolts to hold them in place.

Builders didn’t want to take a chance that the beams or other construction material would fall on any cars, or add additional dangers for the 15 to 20 workers on the job, Mr. Titunik said.

To bypass the closure, Mr. Anderson urged motorists to take Route 123 to Interstate 66, which will lead motorists to the Beltway.

The bridge, which is expected to open in November 2004, is one of 50 being built at the Mixing Bowl. When finished in 2007, the new interchange will have 24 lanes at its widest point, 30 ramps, 41 miles of roadway and 50 bridges. The cost of the project is estimated at $676 million.

The weekend construction will have little effect on southbound traffic. About 430,000 vehicles pass through the interchange each day. As many as 60,000 cars would normally travel through the closed-off area during those hours on a typical Saturday night and early Sunday morning, VDOT officials said.

The Mixing Bowl is one of the reasons why the Washington area has the third-worst traffic congestion in the country, according to a report published by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) last year. Los Angeles and San Francisco-Oakland in California had the worst congestion.

“We haven’t completed our study this year, but it seems unlikely that the Washington area has improved,” TTI researcher David Schrank said.

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