vdot is helping to se the commute between the fairfax county parkway and route 123. >> traffic might be moving now, but later on this evening, drivers heading along i-95 towards northern virginia can expect delays of up to 30 minutes at 9:30 tonight, crews will begin taking parts of the interstate, meaning multiple lane closures. >> it may add to the ingestion or relieve some of it. >> vdot hopes it is the latter. transportation officials say that there will be several traffic shifts through out until the entire project comes to an end in 2011. the goal is to of a portion of the open by december. frustrated commuters said that it is about time that improvements are made to this busy stretch of high way. >> it is extremely hard getting home. i will leave around 3:00 and would not get home sometime until 7. >> they need to do more with mass transit. >> with the hov lanes, if they extend that for a couple of more miles, it would alleviate a lot of traffic right there and said congested for the south. >> vdot says that widening in '95 will ease the bottleneck that only got worse after im

grumbleing, vdot is offering a solution. the ramp was closed. the latest major change required for hot lane construction. vdot got an earful because the first of two detours came before the ramp closure and required crossing four lanes of traffic to reach not a right-hand exit but a left exit. >> we feel there are enough signs. however, we did go back this morning and we are going to add another sign out there. anytime you have a new closure, it impacts people. >> reporter: the ramp closure is just the latest inconvenience for commuters into northern virginia. especially hard hit are those traveling into tyson. they have to navigate both hot lane construction and dulles metro rail construction. this man who drives in daily from springfield says his commute time has doubled. >> instead of being four lanes, there's like three lanes. they cut one lane for the construction. so, you know, my commute is about an hour now. versus half an hour. >> reporter: the lane reductions create the biggest slowdown. bob feels the effect just driving from mclain to

vdot is adding a fourth lane near 123 in prince william county.is expected to be finished in 2011. >> a wallflower -- erewhile fired has claimed the lives of two firefighters near los angeles in california and has destroyed at least 18 homes. >> there is a civil debate over health care. some say the death of ted kennedy hurts the chances of passing a new health care plan. >>> the space shuttle discovery astronauts are getting ready for their first space walk. >> it will take place tomorrow night. discovery successfully docked at the space station yesterday. the shuttle will spend more than a week at the space station and there will be three space walks planned. >>> as montgomery county students get back into the act, your traffic and weather together every 10 minutes. >> it feels like fall when you go outside. >> rather refreshing outside. it is cool and crisp. ca,ifniorahi68rns tmo iginn po is o of our wstart. sme look atpe ueper 50's in montgomery county. also in ashburn. let's look on the satellite radar picture. clouds are pretty thick. we wil

. >>> well, the folks at vdot say they have heard your complaints and they're going to try to do better. we're talking about a brand new detour out there. a detour made necessary because the ramp of the outer loop of the beltway to northbound route 23 is closed until november because they're building hot lanes. and some drivers say the signs of warnings for that detour is not sufficient. >> any time we close a ramp or it's a new traffic pattern, even when we open it, it's traffic pattern. >> we take a lot of time ahead of time to get the word out. not everybody is going to get the word. >> vdot says it will add at least one more beltway sign to give drivers more warning. >>> the metropolitan watching authority wants your in -- washington authority wants your input of raising rates. airport officials plan to hold three public hearings whether to increase the toll by a quarter with additional hikes perhaps coming in the future. they are accepting comments online at the website and you can find the link to that website on ours wusa9.com. just look for this story under the virginia news. >>

vdot has put the project on hold because of tight budgets. it does not look good for hot lanes at least in the immediate future. matt brock, abc 7 news. >> thank you. >>> police say they caught the man who opened fire inside and out all store. byron dean is charged in that attack. he is already in jail on unrelated charges. a woman was struck in the shoulder and is recovering. dean is being held without bond. >>> we're getting ill look at the mental health records of virginia tech shooter seung-hui cho. the records are from counseling sessions after cho was detained after threatening to take his own life. it happened more than a year before the shooting rampage. >>> and the system is under arrest this morning on sexual battery charges. jorge sanchez turned himself into authorities yesterday. he is accused of improperly touching two female patients. he lives in hagerstown and is charged with two counts of sexual battery. >>> neighbors will hold a fund- raiser for aids boy who is recovering from aligghtnin strike. two boys were struck by lightn

vdot are closing the lanes at night between route 1 and lorton road.ough closures include plans to build steel barriers at the furnace road overpass tonight. the right lane of the northbound side of the highway will be closed all night long. furnace road will be closed periodically. >>> well, mourners will have five hours tonight and seven hours tomorrow to view senator edward kennedy's closed casket in his brother john's presidential library. saturday, he'll be buried at arlington national cemetery. a part of the cemetery will be closed to the public for that service. kimberly? >>> tributes to senator kennedy are pouring in. there was this from vice president biden. a testament to the senator's optimism. >> everything was about possibilities. and never, ever, ever in 36 years of being with him, ever saw him down in terms of we can't get this done. things aren't going to get any better. the deficit is too big. we can't get this passed. never, never, never. >> mr. biden said kennedy responded to setbacks by simply getting back up which according to the

vdot shut down the ramp from the inner loop on to 123 north going to mclean. our 9 news now digital correspondent armando trull has more from the construction scene. >> reporter: as part of the hot lanes construction project they will build a new bridge for 495 and chain bridge road. in fact, that is making holes that will make poet posts and those posts will support the bridge but that means there are details you need to know about. >> reporter: the next month and a half if you travel southbound 495 you can no longer exit the northbound chain bridge road because exit 46-b is closed. instead you will be detoured to the dulles access road, 267. once there, you will be able to get to chain bridge road by taking exit 19-a, if you are heading to tysons, or 19-b if mclean is your destination. also be aware, if you travel eastbound 267, you can no longer cut across 495 to get to chain bridge road. you will also have to continue to 19-a or 19-b. it will take six months to finish building the bridge. that means if you are driving in this part of 495, especially in the

vdot is spending non-hov hours on 95 south through the summer to ease the pain of summer traffic and lane closures from construction. the lanes rel remain open to all traffic -- will remain open to all traffic monday through thursday. for more on tonight's top five, go to myfoxdc.com. >>> an all out effort to keep -- [ indiscernible ] over licensing technology use to power. if it loses the technology rights t could severely affect skype. >>> all eyes on the skies right now. wicked weather storms through our area today. will it put a cramp on your weekend plans? sue's got your forecast on the other side. >>> plus, nowhere to hide. florida cops caught on camera trying to cover up a crash they caused. the new fallout headed their way next. >>> before we go to break, [ inaudible ] where is the former vice presidential nominee? her fans sure want to know. r tweets, no facebook status updates. 'll weep you posted. we with her son off to college, liz turned to target for great deals. like a twenty dollar comforter for his bed. a fridge f healthy snacks a reading lamp to study by and a cell

what vdot has to o with that. >>> but first what really killed rolling stone's guitarist? they are looking at new evidence dug up by journalist. jones a founding member of the stones found dead in his swimming pool in 1969. the coroner called it an accidental drowning blames drugs and alcohol and others have speculated for decades it was murder. ♪ &. >>> armed robber wearing a halloween mask. the men came from behind her car and pulled out what looked like a fake handgun and got her cash, cell and police are warning people too be on alert. one virginia family's loved ones have been disturbed once, maybe twice and that is just the beginning. >> reporter: jackie sanders never knew her great great grandparents. they died in the late 1800s. the knows their graves had to be moved to make way for the construction of i-95 through stafford county back in 1966. that family land has since been sold and not long ago crews found grave markers that include the names of her great grandparents. but when archaeologists starte to dig, nobody there. that's right the nine markers were there

vdot crews shut down the outer o op 123 north. the closure pected to la stexpe 45 days.orta -m14ile ng 14 hot lane project from springfield to the dell -- dulles toll road. >>> tropical storm claudeette came to shore this morning near fort walton beach, florida. it is expected to dump several inches of rain. no one was hurt. >>> howard has more on our area. will we will impacted. >> maybe a little thunderstorms but that is not likely. claudeette is a storm with 40- mile an hour winds. let's talk about our weather. ouho ype had a great weekend. ya few high clouds. partly cloudy to mostly cloudy but mild this a morning as temperatures arerunnin ing the culpeper the usual at 74 reagan naat74reagan nabay at academy, 65 winchester and 71 in northern maryland. for today, upper 70s by 9:00. upper 80s by noon. topping off around 94. a hot one. code orange air quality. unhealthy for sensitive groups and welcome back to you also, angie. >> thank you very much. despite how we look here we are not feeling blue on this monday morning. hello, everyone. welcome to the workweek. the tra

vdot says some valets are breaking the law and parking illegally.alets are tossing out the tickets without letting customers know. to prevent that from happening, vdot passed its first-ever valet rules in june. under the plan, valet companies have to pay the district for so-called staging spots. if they don't, they face a $300 fine. if they park illegally, they face a $250 fine. >> well, if you need to fill up your tan okay the way to work this morning get ready to dig deeper. the national average for a price of a a gallon of regular gasoline is up 11 cents from last monday. the average price is now $2.64 per gallon. in d.c., drivers are paying about $2.66 above the national average. in maryland, below at $2.59. virginia around $2.51 for a gallon of regular. but before you get too upset, this time last year the national average was $4.11 per gallon. >> and an interesting partnership between general motors and ebay and how your iphone could change the way you bank. cnbc's courtney reagan joins us live with more on those stories and rest of the mornin

vdot said the last exit will be opened first. the right exit could be closed for at least an hour. the best bet is to go south on 495 to 50 and then do the flipped around. >> outside this morning we're looking at temperatures in the mid 70's. we start off with fog and high humidity. a couple thunderstorms will develop. there was an inch of rain in annapolis yesterday. warrenton, 73. let's look at the weather graphics system. there were some hefty showers the majority of them to our south. some more showers off to western pennsylvania. we are stuck with some clouds this morning. it will be a mix of clouds and sunshine. we have heat and humidity making for a steamy stretch of weather. it will not be widespread thunderstorms. we talked about bill going from a four down to a 3. the front is coming in this weekend. it died spit up thishannel here east of the coast -- it guides it up this channel here, east of the coast and west of bermuda. >> thank you. >>> if you make lots of long distance phone calls, and internet phone service is offering free calls overseas. >> there is new content

vdot will be closinge of the interstate between lorton road and route 1.cee wilkins is live with more on what you can expect. >> you don't have to live in the washington area to mow when you get to lorton you will be dealing with a bottleneck. here on 95 most times of the day. officials here in virginia are figuring that the way to fix that problem is to add some extra lanes, but that's going to mean some closures. and that's going to mean some delays for commuters who come through this area. work is under way to build a fourth lane in each direction on i-95 between the fairfax county parkway and newington and route 123 south to auk a kwon. it will mean some lan closures and officials say commuters should tag on about 30 extra minutes to their commute over the next two months. there will be a few brief evening closures also that will completely shut down i-95. officials say those closures will result in even longer backups, but the good news is this project shouldn't last longer than two years. they're saying by 2011 they should be done. i'm tracee wilkins

vdot has blocked the left lane there. waiting on the tow truck to do its thing, get it out of there. delays coming up from the beltway headed for landmark. other than that, wilson bridge okay. still quiet along i-270. back to you. >> thank you. arlington county has filed a lawsuit over development of the h.o.t. lanes over 95 and 395. the suit was filed against the u.s. department of transportation, the federal highway administration and the coonwealth of virginia. it claims virginia failed to follow federal environmental laws it t as it studied the impact of building high occupancy toll lanes. the transportation secretary announced the h.o.t. lanes project would be postponed due to funding issues and community concerns near shirlington and cemetery road. >> happening today, a push to bring metro to woodbridge. ssmonoon cylle paul nichols and tpl plan to announce their enxt eplpod extend metro to potomac lyolffnn o s'seicthays onnolly's offng skiorn o icmassat wisgingkisl on yilasdy sit t otuhaft sity study of thatdytu ane

folks over at vdot adjusting the camera here as you head north through landmark and shirlington. may know something we don't but we'll check on that, let you know. certainly beginning to load up quickly in volume, if nothing else. at the wilson bridge, no worries. 270 incident-free. checking report of a police activity new hampshire avenue near route 108. barbara and joe specifically, back to you. >> thank you very much. >> 6:42. a huge stock slide on wall street has investors wondering whether we're really on t road to an economic recovery. we'll speak with cnbc about that. >>> why leaders in virginia suddenly decide to put the brakes on the h.o.tda project >>>. >> reporter: -- state leaders are saying this doesn't look like the right economic environment to sport the cost of the construction. the h.o.t. lanes would have run from the pentagon to massaponax in spotsylvania county. the governor's office now says it's re-assessing the plan. because it's not sure money to build the private/public funded h.o.t. lanes will be available. now this decision will not affect the $1.9 billi

vdot says the bridge will ease traffic in tysons corner in the future. >>> a zoning dispute in poolesvilleland is pitting neighbor against eighbor. itstarted when the couple who live on the left side of a pipe stem drive received permission from the town to open up an optometry office in their home. their neighbors don and linda barnes say the retail part of the business, selling contact lenses is flooding the street with too many cars. >> i made it clear to them i did not want their business, you know, customers coming down our driveway. it would impact the sellability of our house, increase our risk, the liability to accidents and et cetera. >> reporter: the barnes say it is against zoning rules for their neighbor to operate a retail business out of their home and a judge sided with them but the town of poolesville is appealing the case. >>> early alarms are ringing in one part of our region. aa gnsi school year is beginning. tunes in calvert county, maryland go back to school today. a tuesday start for children there. here's something tognlook forward to, a half day coming up on septemb

vdot says the solution is adding more lanes and they are working to do that now. building a fourth lane in both directions between newington and occoquan. officials are warning of construction delays especially in the overnight hours. >>> 5:00 a.m. we are out of here. we ask motorists to bear with us during that period of time. if they get caught up in that somewhere about midnight, 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, hang arounu , 15 minutes. >> lewan wesbel completed in phes. 95 north between route 1 a fairfax county parkway will be finished this year. sohbound lanes in that area are seduled for completion2010. oll . and rteou weet oute 1 andoute 312 in 3 bothirects should be completed by fall of 2011. >>> a series of robberies near the george washington university campus. >>> new organic grocery store. look at four other stories. d.c. man is dead after being shot by police officer early this morning. it happened in a gas station in the 3300 block of benning road northeast. the man was banging on the window of the cashier booth with a gun in his hand when he refused to l

vdot is aware of it. in the peen time, be forewarned. through northeast, look out for the broken down vehicle inbound new york avenue at west virginia and montana avenues. pretty quiet but picking up volume quickly along i-270. back to you. >> thank you very much. school day, school days, good old golden rule days. they are here again for thousands of students in our area, and this morning it's time for kids in montgomery county to get up and head back to class. news 4's tracee wilkins joins you live from quince orchard high school with more on what to expect this year. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we are going to be talking live in jus a second with dr. jerry weast who is the superintendent of the montgomery county school system. just to give you a little background here, now montgomery county schools, they are the 16th largest in the nation. when he arrived 11 years ago, they were number 18. so they have grown significantly, and the population has also changed with that growth. during all of

this morning vdot started a series of road wowidening projects onet b t95enwehe occoquan river bridge and the fairfax countywois rkec etexpd days to complete. drivers should expect brief lane closures between midnight and 5:00 a.m. >>> remember that tremendous water main break from christmas week last year? rescuers had to save drivers who got swamped on river road when a pipe burst. now officials with the washington suburban sanitary commission says they probably won't be able to determine why the 66-inch pipe was installed improper willerly. in three months of searching they haven't found inspection records. policy only requires be kept for two years. >>> nasa will try to send the space shuttle discovery in to space tonight. they decided yesterday afternoon to postpone the morning launch until 11:59 tonight to work on a backup plan. sensors showed a malfunction with a critical fuel valve. now it appears the problem is with the sensor itself. the shuttle is delivering equipment to the international space station. >>> time for another living smart report. jessica doyle is back with th

vdot heard your lamp cotsinand promises to fix the tspr oblem. >>> they plan to lee oss clnelan a95 part of the intercounty connector t.prec l iildepend on what rkwo be g nedobut we know there wi llnebe cl beesuron the northbound and southbound nelas thtween maryland 19and 212. ar e osexits 33 and . 29 the work will run through next saturday, august 29th. >>> people in frederick, maryland, are fed up with speeder an they put their money with their mouths are. neighborhood groups in one section of the city used their money to purchase and mount a speed sensory radar display. it helps local police track speeding patterns. though it didn't a camera and doesn't lead to tickets issued it can help in other ways. >> we can narrow down the problem to specific dates and times an get an idea how egregious the complaint is and we can develop a plan in conjunction with citizens to come up with a strategy to effectively enforce that area. >> reporter: area leaders are working to bring cameras to the city and the outlying counties. >>> the first day of classes around the corner many schools are steppi

vdot crews have shut down the outer loop on to 123 north toward mclean. 9 news now digital correspondent, armando trull is live where all of the construction on the outer loop is and he has more. >> it is part of hot lanes construction and you can see part of that activity. that blue drill right there is actually making holes in the ground. those will be the support posts. the posts are for a new bridge that will go 495 over chain bridge road but it is creating detours you need to know about. the next month and a half if you travel southbound on 495 you can no longer exit the northbound chain bridge road because exit 46-b is closed. instead you will be detoured to the dulles access road, that's route 267. once there you will be able to get to chain bridge road by taking 19-a if you are heading to tysons or 19-b if mclean is your destination. be aware if you travel eastbound on 267 you can no longer cut across 495 to get to chain bridge road. you'll also have to don't 19-a or 19-b. and andrea, all of this construction activity around 495 and chain bridge road will continue for six possibi

this is also vdot. they so they can build high occupancy toll lanes. they need to close 46-b so they can reconfigure the ramp to get hot lane access from west park drive to the beltway. there are signs and message boards along the way telling people where to exit and which routes to take. one of them being 45-b as you head 495 south. that will be the dulles access road and then follow signs from there. significant process is expected -- progress rather is expected to be made going to the fall. they will start to build steel beams at beltway interchanges such as gallows road, lee highway, 66 and here at 495 and route 123. this is a $1.4 billion project that will be going on for quite sometime. the hot lanes are not scheduled to be finished until 2013. here in tysons corner, sarah simmons, fox 5 news. >> it can be tricky to navigate. if you would like more information, head to www.myfoxdc.com and click on the traffic tab. >>> a fifth state department worker has been convicted of snooping in to passport file of pay mouse americans. he pled guilty today to

vdot got an earful. >> we feel there are enough signs. however, we did go back this morning and we are going to add another sign out there. anytime you have a new closure, it impacts people. >> reporter: another concern? one of the two posted detours must be taken before the closed ramp. and it requires drivers to cross four lanes of traffic to reach an unusual left-hand exit. that's now also under review. >> if that's confusing, we'll have to take a look at that and correct it. >> reporter: the ramp closure is just the latest inconvenience for commuters. especially hard-hit are those traveling into tyson's. they have to navigate both hot lane construction and dulles metro rail construction. this man who drives in daily from springfield says his commute time has doubled. his biggest slowdown comes on route 123 where the metro project has two lanes closed off. >> instead of being four lanes, there's like three lanes. they cut one lane for the construction. so, you know, my commute is about an hour now versus half an hour. >> reporter: and

vdot is closing some lanes of the interstate at nightpl crfeoo xtneplouf o hsntmont they are building an in both direc onti s bin o directions of the tarsetteh bteen b newington and anquco. anqu. tracee wilkins has been following the developments from lorton. >> out in the railroad, try to avoid whatever possible. >> reporter: nasty slow-moving bottle neck on i-95 through lorton and drivers that can't avoid it bear it. and it is getting worse. >> i never saw traffic jams on weekends around here. but up in new york city, you see them. now we have them here. >> more noticeable today because now that springfield is complete, vehicles are flying through the springfield interchange very quickly. >> reporter: officials say the solution to the growing problem is more lanes on i-95. >> what we are doing here is adding a fourth lane in each direction. >> reporter: drivers should prepare for delay as the department of transrtation prepares to build a fourth lane in each direction on i-95 between the fairfax county parkway and newington and route 123 south of occoquan. >> 5:00 a.m. we are out of

this just in from my buddy at vdot. at 34th and wisconsin have have an accident scene out there.he next hour or so. so you need to use caution and expect delays. a beltway alert. a live shot for you on the inner loop. they are taking away lanes as needed but in the last minute or so they have blocked all lanes approaching 95. that's because we have a situation an and an accident involving a car that had run in to the woods. that is toe the left side of the inner loop as we look at the head lights facing us. right now we are seeing a backup at university. it will obviously grow. nobody can exit off the ramp there. we will keep you posted when things open at 9:00 a.m. >>> that doesn't look good. keep us in the loop. follow her on twitter and join us for the 9:00 show. it starts right after this. nt ?ñ?? t@ guys remember, nt we're a solar system. mars is down...and... um, it's only 10am. who hasn't had their jimmy dean breakfast this morning? mmmm! now lets orbit i feel awesome. you're all awesome. jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches, fight the morning fade.