Construction along a 16-mile stretch of I-95 between DC and Fredericksburg is nearing completion. The goal of the work, which the Virginia Department of Transportation began in 2018, was to ease congestion between local and through traffic around Fredericksburg and extend the express lanes further south. VDOT expects all the work to be complete by early 2024.
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO
CHANTAL LEGAULT: There's a lot of traffic, most of the time.
MARILYN GECI: It took us an hour extra with all the construction, waiting in line to get through.
MARVIN ROSS: Ever since I've came to this area in 2012, there's always been construction somewhere along this stretch.
ADRIENNE MCGIBBON: In 2017, it was called "the worst traffic hotspot" in the country
DARRAGH FRYE: And, since then, we have invested nearly a billion dollars on improving your drive on I-95.
ADRIENNE MCGIBBON: Since 2018, the Virginia Department of Transportation has been managing multiple construction projects over 16 miles of I-95, north of Fredericksburg. VDOT has two goals, extend the express lanes between DC and Fredericksburg, and add local travel lanes for traffic around Fredericksburg. VDOT already added three southbound lanes on I-95, between Routes 3 and 17. Crews are adding three more lanes in the same stretch, heading north. VDOT says separating local traffic from through traffic will smooth the trip on one of Virginia's busiest roads.
DARRAGH FRYE: Approximately 9 million trucks, and 200 billion worth of goods travel on the I-95 corridor every year, and that's second to only I-81 in Virginia.
ADRIENNE MCGIBBON: VDOT says construction on the northbound lanes of traffic should be done by early 2024, and just north of Fredericksburg, those 10 miles of reversible express lanes, those should be complete by the end of the year.
DARRAGH FRYE: We anticipate a very intense summer of overnight work zones so we're asking drivers with destinations outside of the Fredericksburg area, to seek an alternate route.
