With students back in school and others back to work after New Year's weekend, traffic this morning was... back to normal.

This means many local residents and northern Virginia commuters can prepare themselves for another year of traffic and transportation programs.

In addition to a recent Washington Post article that highlighted a variety of the substantial projects that will turn heads this year, Virginia state resources provide numerous sources to plan your travel. 

Here's what's coming up in 2012 on area roadways:

Capital Beltway & Telegraph Road

The Virginia Department of Transportation has to wait for warmer weather before it can complete and open new Beltway lanes near Telegraph Road as part of its Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project. According to the Post, new "THRU" lanes will open from west of Route 1 to west of Telegraph Road in the spring or early summer, alleviating the congestion from a three-lane Beltway through Alexandria. More information is available at www.wilsonbridge.com.

Telegraph Road/S. Van Dorn Street/S. King's Highway

VDOT is also scheduled to begin working on a project to alleviate the bottleneck at the intersection of Telegraph Road, S. Van Dorn Street and at S. King's Highway. A house was razed last year to make way for the project, and it is hoped to be completed in 2014.

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)

The rest of the employees scheduled to move to Alexandria’s Mark Center were scheduled to arrive this week, and changes have been made to signal timings and lane markings on Seminary Road. This year the area will see if a critical ramp connecting the HOV lane of I-395 to Seminary Road will stay on schedule. As of now, VDOT has funding for the project, but an 18-month delay pushed back its completion date. A public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25.

(Don't miss Patch's series of in-depth interviews with key officials in the BRAC process.)

Metro Track Changes

In mid-2012, Metro will make changes to Blue, Yellow and Orange line service during morning and evening rush hours. Orange Line trains will be sent to Largo Town Center as well as Landover. Some Blue Line trains will be made Yellow Line trains, and they will travel between Franconia-Springfield and Greenbelt. Look for the old lines going to new places on a revised version of the Metro map. More information is available at www.wmata.com.

I-95 High Occupancy Toll Lanes

In December 2011, Virginia and Fluor-Transurban reached a $940 million in-principle agreement, and construction of nearly 30 miles of High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstate 95 may begin next spring. More information on the HOT lanes is available at www.virginiahotlanes.com.

Don't forget about Patch's new live traffic and gas tab at the top of the site!