MCLEAN, VA — The Lane Construction Corporation, the U.S. subsidiary of Webuild Group, recently celebrated the official ribbon cutting of the I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) in northern Virginia. The event marked the opening of a vital regional mobility improvement that extends Virginia’s Express Lanes network, provides new travel options, and enhances connectivity for hundreds of thousands of travelers along one of the Washington metropolitan area’s busiest corridors.

The 495 NEXT project is a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Transurban, VDOT’s private partner and operator of the 495 Express Lanes. Under contract to Transurban, Lane is responsible for the $441 million design and construction of the $660 million project. The 2.5-mile extension expands the 495 Express Lanes from the Dulles Toll Road interchange to the George Washington Memorial Parkway interchange. The project upgraded interchanges; replaced and widened multiple bridges; and improved safety, drainage, and overall corridor throughput to deliver more reliable travel across the Capital Beltway.

Lane delivered the project while maintaining traffic along the Capital Beltway — one of the most constrained and complex transportation corridors in the region. Crews successfully coordinated staging, bridge replacements, roadway widening, utility relocations, environmental protections, and public-facing construction impacts, while maintaining a focus on safety, mobility, and long-term durability.

Key features and improvements include:

• 2.5-mile extension of the 495 Express Lanes, creating an approximately 16.5-mile continuous managed-lanes corridor on I-495 from Springfield to the George Washington Memorial Parkway
• Rebuilt and improved portions of the I-495/Dulles Toll Road interchange to improve connectivity and offer new connections to the express lanes
• Replacement and widening of multiple bridges to accommodate future vehicle capacity, provide pedestrian access, and adhere to safety standards
• New shared-use path adjacent to I-495, coming in mid-2026, to support pedestrian and bicycle connectivity
• Noise walls, new drainage systems, and roadway safety upgrades throughout the corridor
• Construction executed while maintaining traffic and mobility on a heavily traveled commuter route during all phases of work