I-95 Southbound Rappahannock River Crossing project is finished + Fly-over video

View of I-95 at the Rappahannock River facing northbound between the City of Fredericksburg and Stafford CountyCourtesy of VDOT

Construction on the Interstate 95 Southbound Rappahannock River Crossing project is complete, VDOT announced in an email yesterday.

Every day 150,000 vehicles flow through the project area, which spanned from exit 133 ( Route 17) in Stafford to south of exit 130 (Route 3) in Spotsylvania. This added a second southbound bridge and additional travel lanes, which doubled southbound capacity. VDOT is expecting this to relieve congestion in the Fredericksburg area.

The project also created a total of six lanes flowing southbound. Three of those lanes are for local traffic and the other three are for through traffic. This change is supposed to improve mobility on I-95 because, according to VDOT, 70% of the traffic volume crossing the Rappahannock River is local drivers accessing the Route 17 and Route 3 interchanges.

The median lanes merge together with the local traffic lanes south of the Route 3 interchange. All lanes are free of tolls and open to all traffic.

This $132 million project started in 2018 and was completed by Wagman Heavy Civil of York, PA.

I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project

Work on the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project. is ongoing, VDOT added in its announcement. Crews are working on the second I-95 northbound bridge and travel lanes near the same interchanges, along with a fourth northbound lane between exit 133 to exit 136 (Centreport Parkway) as part of the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project.

The I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project will also rebuild the last Route 17 overpass in need of replacement at the exit 133 interchange and it’ll build sidewalks along northbound Route 17 between Short Street and South Gateway Drive.

Construction on the $127 million I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project began in fall 2020, and that’s expected to be completed in spring 2024.