Project in works to reduce American Legion Bridge congestion

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Commuters who endure one of the worst bottle necks in Northern Virginia -- the beltway at the American Legion Bridge, are about to get some relief with an aggressive billion-dollar plan to reduce congestion.

Commuters using the American Legion Bridge to get over the Potomac River have been cursing it for years. Virtually every rush hour traffic slows to a crawl from Tyson's Corner to the river.

The current hot lanes are no help -- they end about two and a half miles before the bridge.

It's a a bottleneck Virginia Governor Ralph Northam hopes to eliminate with a new deal signed with a private company based in Australia, Transurban.

"I don't live in McLean obviously, but I have heard a lot of individuals that say that people get off the road to go through neighborhoods and so I think this will really help alleviate some of that but as we were talking about earlier the next bottle neck is the american legion bridge and so we are going to really have to collaborate with Maryland," said Gov. Northam.

in Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan has already announced plans for toll lanes on 270 as well as the beltway up to the bridge.

But it's an idea still in the planning stages.

"We are going to have to work with Maryland, as you know they own the bridge--whatever goes over the potomac river so we are doing everything we can to get up to the potomac river and then work with maryland and hopefully encourage them -- and they see it as an issue too and its a matter of how to move forward and pay for it all these things are important questions," he said.

Transurban has committed to spending 500 million dollars to expand the hot lanes 2.5 miles up to the bridge and build exit ramps to the dulles toll road and the george washington parkway.

The billion dollar agreement includes other projects as well.