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New and improved Pentagon South Parking Lot

May 22, 2019

The express version

  • An improved Pentagon South Parking Lot is opening Thursday, May 23
  • Improvements include new bus-only travel lanes and reconfigured HOV/commuter and slug lanes that were designed to help traffic flow, connectivity and safety

Have you heard, the new and improved Pentagon South Parking Lot is opening Thursday, May 23. Right now, more than 1,800 buses and about 3,400 sluggers on an average day pass through the South Parking Lot. Improvements include new bus-only travel lanes and reconfigured HOV/commuter and slug lanes that were designed to help traffic flow, connectivity and safety in this heavily traveled area of the Pentagon Reservation.
 
The enhancements to the South Parking Lot are part of the 395 Express Lanes Project, and will help with the bottleneck at the South Rotary Road and the Eads Street intersection. This is to prepare for the future connection to and from the 395 Express Lanes. 
 
With nearly 25,000 employees, both military and civilian, the Pentagon Reservation is one of the region's busiest commuter locations and transit points for commuters. The South Parking Lot serves as the final destination point for many as well as a place to transfer for those that haven't reached their destination yet.
 
The Pentagon South Parking Lot's new, dedicated bus loop should help minimize incidents between drivers and buses. There's also new pedestrian sidewalks, new signage and pavement markings indicating the slug lanes, and new lighting for the bus loop, sidewalk and slug lanes.
 
The $480 million I-395 Express Lanes Northern Extension Project is being delivered through a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Transportation and Transurban. The Pentagon South Parking Lot improvements cost approximately $10 million, and are funded by a federal "Fast Lane" grant, as well as a combination of VDOT and federal funds. Under a contract with Transurban, Lane Construction is the builder of the overall project, and AECOM Engineering completed the project's design. The eight-mile 395 Express Lanes extension should open in fall 2019.