Lauren Johnson-Lavender, a nurse from Mashpee, Massachusetts, died at the scene after the car she was traveling in, a Lexus SUV, was rear-ended by a Dodge Ram at around 5:35 p.m., according to VSP. The Lexus was stopped in traffic, and once hit by the Ram created a domino effect and it then rear-ended a Ford F-150.
VSP said that the Dodge Ram went “airborne.”
Virginia State Police have identified the motorcyclist who died after a crash on Interstate 495 in Alexandria on Saturday afternoon as 20-year-old Michael A. Dart of Washington, D.C.
The crash occurred just before 2 p.m. in the local lanes of I-495 westbound near the Telegraph Road exit at mile marker 177, according to VSP.
A proposal to add express lanes to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is getting some pushback from the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which argued VDOT’s toll lane could take Metrorail’s right of way.
The Coalition says that, if enacted, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s 495 Southside Study will create traffic bottlenecks. They’re asking locals to voice their displeasure by emailing public officials, and say that the express lanes will not improve general traffic on the bridge and that more cars will avoid the bridge and spill onto local roadways.
The Alexandria Police Department urged drivers to slow down after saying a driver was issued a ticket earlier this week for going 112 miles per hour in a 55 mph speed zone.
Police said an Alexandria Police Department officer was on his way to work on Wednesday when he issued a citation for the driver going over twice the legal limit at Van Dorn Street and I-495.
The Virginia Dept. of Transportation is mulling expanding the Express Lanes system to a section of I-495 from Fairfax County across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into Maryland.
The city of Alexandria, however, is skeptical of the current plans, as many of the alternatives come down to adding traffic lanes. Staff say these changes could hamper attempts to get people out of their cars and onto public transportation, including future transit across the bridge.
A 51-year-old Alexandria man was killed in a crash last week near the Eisenhower Avenue exit on Interstate 495.
Virginia State Police reported that Martin Warner, Jr. was killed at 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, when his 2003 Mercedes Benz crashed into a tractor-trailer that had to “rapidly slow in speed” due to mechanical issues.
An alleged carjacking that turned fatal last Friday derailed that week’s Top Stories post, but the weekly roundup returns.
That carjacking, unsurprisingly, was the top story of this past week. Jordan Poteat, an 18-year old from Maryland, was killed by the driver of the vehicle. Another alleged carjacker, 18-year-old Mikell Morris, was injured and arrested, and two juvenile males, both 15 years of age, were also arrested and charged with carjacking. Poteat’s mother told local news stations that her son didn’t deserve to die, regardless of his alleged crime.
Work to expand the I-495 Express Lanes to the north is only just warming up, but the Virginia Department of Transportation is now turning its attention to the southern end of the Capital Beltway.
The I-495 Southside Express Lanes environmental study is evaluating possible express lane additions on an 11-mile stretch of the corridor east of the I-395 interchange in Springfield to Maryland Route 210 in Prince George’s County.
Alexandria Police have released the identities of the two men killed on Insterstate 495 near Telegraph Road on May 12.
Abdellah Bougrine, 54, of Alexandria, and Driss Bougrine, 59, of Fairfax, died after being hit by vehicles after the 2016 Toyota Corolla they were driving stopped in the middle of the road. The two men got out of the Toyota and were then hit moments later by two vehicles.
There are major traffic delays leading up to Interstates 495 and 395 in Alexandria, as a trucker convoy protesting COVID-19 mandates has entered D.C. and created miles of backups.
Traffic snaked all the way down to Jefferson Manor, just south of Huntington, which is about a half-mile from the interstate.
(Updated 4 p.m.) On person has been arrested for a Fast and Furious-style illegal street race on I-495 near Telegraph Road this weekend.
According to a press release, the police became first aware of the incident on Saturday around 11:15 p.m. when an officer on patrol heard loud exhaust sounds from I-495.
