Tuesday, April 2, 2013
A special promotion is in effect April 6 and 7 to encourage travelers to try out the new express lanes.
Drivers this upcoming weekend can use the I-495 Beltway Express Lanes for free—no E-ZPass required. The free weekend, April 6 and 7, is part of an educational campaign to encourage Beltway drivers to try the new travel option on the Virginia side of the Capital Beltway and see how the Express Lanes can work for them, according to the 495 Express Lanes project. In addition to two full days of free travel, the Express Lanes will also lift the E-ZPass requirement. Drivers can travel on the Express Lanes with or without an E-ZPass and will not be charged a toll. At all other times, drivers are required to travel with an E-ZPass; carpoolers must have an E-ZPass Flex. Free Express Lanes travel is only available April 6 and 7 to two-axle …
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Survey results also reveal barriers preventing commuters from using the lanes, which opened in November 2012.
More than 80 percent of I-495 Express Lanes users reported reduced trip times, according to the results of a survey of more than 1,700 frequent Capital Beltway drivers conducted by Express Lanes management. Eighty-two percent of users of the Express Lanes polled in the survey “estimated a real time savings on their trip,” according to the results released Wednesday. The lanes opened in November 2012 on the Virginia side of the Beltway promising easier but pricier trips to commuters. All drivers must have an E-ZPass or E-ZPass FlexSM to pay the fares to use the Express Lanes. The survey also revealed some of the barriers preventing people from using the lanes: 46 percent of travelers polled said they don’t have an E-ZPass. Figuring out how …
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Commuters who buy transponders in September 2012 could win two free weeks of travel in January.
Commuters who sign up for an E-ZPass transponder during September will be eligible for two weeks of free travel when the I-495 Express Lanes open later this year. All travelers who wish to use the express lanes when they open will need an E-ZPass or an E-ZPass Flex, said Pierce Coffee, marketing director at Transurban-Fluor, and the promotion is an incentive for new users to get their tags before the lanes are operational. "People are busy with their daily lives, so they wait until the last minute to get their E-ZPass, and then they might not be able to get it in time for [the lanes'] opening," she said. “So what we want to do is entice people to get their EZ-Pass before the road is open later this year so that they have it — it's in their…
Dave Fuller
6:50 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
Will motorcycles have to pay to use the new lanes? more ›