I-95 Express Lanes ITS

The I-95 Express Lanes project utilizes innovative and complex intelligent transportation system (ITS) design solutions to improve reliability of travel times and better accommodate rush-hour commuters.

Serving as the lead designer for the Virginia Department of Transportation, HNTB designed toll signs, dynamic messaging boards and communication and power systems for a 29-mile segment of northern Virginia’s I-95 Express Lanes project, which includes reversible high-occupancy tolling lanes.

The reversible price-managed lanes use a series of gates to open and close lanes depending on the direction of traffic. To ensure the safety of commuters, HNTB designed the gates, their relevant dynamic messaging signs and two types of closed-circuit televisions that use automated cameras to ensure that all vehicles have exited before the lanes are reversed. The cameras also assist the concessionaire by sensing when there is a stopped vehicle, an accident or debris in the roadway.

Project included installation of:
• 700 miles of cable
• 1,000 tolling and traffic management devices
• 130 new sign structures
• 5 tolling sites
• 30 toll gantries