Detours planned with 2 Stafford bridges on I-95 to be replaced as part of toll lane extension

STAFFORD — Two overpasses on Interstate 95 in Stafford County will be rebuilt as part of the effort to add express toll lanes to the highway.

The Truslow Road bridge, which carries the road of the same name across the highway in the southern portion of the county will be rebuilt to make more room for the toll lanes that will be built in the median of the highway.

The newly constructed bridge will give road crews also need more room to build collector-distributor lanes for the Rappahannock River Crossing Project, a separate project happening simultaneously that will bring the third bridge to carry I-95 traffic over the Rappahannock River, said Brent McKenzie, a spokesman for Transurban, the private firm working to build the toll lane extension.

The work on the new bridge is expected to begin this fall and should done by summer 2020. A portion of Truslow Road will close due to the bridge replacement work, and traffic will be rerouted around the work zone along Route 17 to Plantation Drive, said McKenzie.

The American Legion Bridge, which is located further north on I-95 and carries traffic from Ramoth Church Road headed to and from Route 1, will also be rebuilt. The new bridge will be longer and will better accommodate the toll lanes below it, said McKenzie.

Work on this bridge will start in the fall of 2020 and should be complete the following spring.

McKenzie told the Stafford County Board of Supervisors that his firm plans to work with schools and public safety officials to get out the word about both construction projects, and posted detour routes in place during construction.

“We know that these bridge replacements will have an impact on the community. We are committed to being a good neighbor and working to notify the community,” said McKenzie.

The bridges are the second and third, respectively, in Stafford County that has been rebuilt to accommodate toll lanes. The bridge that carries traffic on Telegraph Road between Route 1 and Russell Road outside Quantico Marine Corps Base was also replaced after toll lanes were extended to Garrisonville in 2014.

The 10-mile extension of the I-95 E-ZPass Express Lanes from Garrisonville in North Stafford to Route 17 near Falmouth, dubbed “FredEx” will begin this spring and should open in 2022. McKenzie said the lanes are expected to move 23 percent more vehicles through the region and provide a $1 million economic boom to the region.

The toll lanes will operate just as other toll lanes in the network Transurban manages on I-95, 395, and 495 in Northern Virginia. All vehicles on the lane will need an electronic E-ZPass transponder, and vehicles with three or more occupants and an E-ZPass Flex transponder will be able to use the lanes for free.