Yes, it was. A new lane was built that starts in Ballston (it's been open a year or two ... it annoyingly disappears and then reappears at the EFC exit so there's a bottleneck), but there is nothing new inside of Ballston and never will be.

Route 50 is slower than 66 but totally manageable, especially if you're one of these single drivers hitting the road during the "formerly free" period of 3-3:30 pm that was just taken away with the expansion of the HOV hours. 66 was a parking lot by 2:30, while 50 was still clear. So that's where I've got no sympathy for this argument that this "free" time was taken away.

The reality was that the road was badly congested during 3-3:30, so it makes sense to expand the HOV/toll window to improve traffic flow at that time. That's the whole point.

Other options: 29, GW Parkway to 123 (if your final destination is along Tysons-Reston-Dulles-Ashburn-Leesburg). Old Dominion is an OK scenic route to North Arlington/McLean. Or 395 to Little River, Braddock Road, etc.

Also, Metro does work. And I mean, if you're driving to Chantilly or Manassas or something and work in DC, well, you knew what you were doing. 66 has been a parking lot during rush hour for a long time. And there are more jobs in Tysons and Reston/Herndon/Dulles than DC anyway.

tl;dr the freakout is almost all former HOV cheaters. I used to watch the cars pass under the pedestrian bridge by the WFC Metro and most were single drivers.