Anderson orders Prince William County County Executive to design fix for I-95 north

WOODBRIDGE — When it comes to Interstate 95, Ruth Anderson is once again is refusing to apply oil to that proverbial squeaky wheel.

In fact, she’s once again pushing for a fix to I-95, this time to the northbound lanes between Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge and Route 123 at Occoquan.

“This is the second-worst bottleneck in our region,” Anderson told her fellow members of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. “I want some kind of design ready to go to be included in this study’s recommendation. I talked to VDOT and there isn’t one.”

The study Anderson refers to is a current examination of I-95 by the Virginia Department of Transportation that began in April. The state agency is tasked with identifying potential fixes for the highway, and how to fund them.

The current I-95 study is expected to wrap up this fall. Anderson ordered Prince William County Executive Christopher Martino to have plans on paper for “shovel-ready” improvement for the northbound section of I-95 ready to go and submitted to VDOT to be included in this study.

The design task will most likely fall back on the county’s in-house transportation department.

Gov. Ralph Northam on January 29 announced the state would convert the shoulder of I-95 south between Route 123 and Prince William Parkway into a regular travel lane to help ease congestion at the bottleneck. That project is located on the opposite side of the highway Anderson is now talking about.

Northam’s announced fix is part of a $1 billion transportation investment that includes the extension of the E-ZPass Express Lanes south from milepost 143 at Garrisonville Road in North Stafford to milepost 133 at Route 17 near Fredericksburg.

Anderson has been vocal about the need for a southbound fix to I-95.