Streets and highways of Arlington County, Virginia

The configuration of Interstate 66 through Arlington (first proposed in 1956) has long been controversial. The Arlington Coalition on Transportation (ACT) filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in 1971 opposing the portion of the project through Arlington. The group objected to that urban segment due to concerns over air quality, noise and community cohesion changes. In 1972 the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of ACT, technically blocking any construction. Arlington Coalition on Transportation v. Volpe, 458 F.2d 1323 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1000 (1972). The impasse was eventually broken when the parties agreed on experts to conduct air quality and noise studies for the Virginia Department of Transportation, then known as the Virginia Department of Highways; then, Secretary of Transportation Coleman personally intervened in 1976 with negotiations to reach a compromise by reducing the highway capacity, making I-66 HOV during parts of the day, and including a subway route in I-66's median.[2][3]

The eastbound traffic lanes of I-66 in Arlington are presently restricted to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) traffic and motorcycles during morning peak hours, while the westbound lanes are restricted to this traffic during the evening peak hours. Due to very frequent traffics jams in the four lane section of I-66, many people in the region have advocated widening I-66, although the County Board and many local residents continue to oppose it.

Begun during World War II to serve the Pentagon, Interstate 395 (I-395) (named the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway) bisects Arlington as it travels southwest/northeast between the 14th Street Bridge and Alexandria.

Until it closed in 1968, the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad's freight trains regularly backed up rush hour traffic and collided with automobiles and trucks as they crossed the highway at grade on tracks guarded by flashing signal lights and ringing bells, but no crossing gates. At the time, this was the only at-grade intersection of a railroad and a limited-access federal highway.

Heavily congested during peak hours, the freeway now contains two central lanes that operate as high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes during rush hours while separated by Jersey barriers from the road's regular traffic lanes. Although express Metrobuses often travel in the HOV lanes, Metrorail does not travel along its corridor.

Interstate 595 was a proposed upgrade to U.S. 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway) in Crystal City.

Interstate 266 was a proposed loop route from Interstate 66 between Arlington and Washington, D.C., that would have crossed the Potomac River on a new bridge.

The George Washington Memorial Parkway runs northwest-southeast along Arlington County's entire Potomac River boundary with Washington, D.C., except for a small section traversing Columbia Island which is part of the District of Columbia.

The Spout Run Parkway is a spur from the George Washington Parkway providing access to Cherrydale, Lee Highway (U.S. Highway 29), and, indirectly, Interstate 66.