When new I-95/Route 17 interchange complete, bridge will still be too low

Stafford leaders are ringing alarm bells as work is underway to improve the intersection of Interstate 95 at Route 17.

The bridge that carries northbound traffic on the collector-distributor lane, providing drivers access to the exit ramps for Route 17, will continue to have a low clearance.

• At 14 feet, six inches, the low-clearance bridge is a danger to trucks that are too high to pass underneath the bridge.
• Another low bridge (14 feet, 10 inches) on the opposite side of the intersection, which carries I-95 southbound traffic, has been damaged by striking trucks.
• That southbound bridge, and two others being replaced with new taller
• There are also plans to add a new northbound lane on I-95 between Route 3 in Fredericksburg and Route 17 in Stafford County.
• But, right now, despite the plan to add a new northbound lane, VDOT has no plans to replace the northbound bridge.

“It’s a matter of funding,” a VDOT representative told Stafford Board of Supervisors members.

VDOT has has requested bids from construction companies for the new northbound lane project.

• If the bids come back with a low enough price tag, VDOT told supervisors that, maybe, they can add in the construction of a new, taller bridge.
• Once the contractor is selected construction is slated to begin in Late 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in the Summer of 2024.

Supervisor Mark Dudenehfer is also urging officials to add new pedestrian paths along Route 17 underneath the new bridges.

• This would allow residents in the nearby Olde Forge and Stafford Landing neighborhoods can walk to the nearby Carters Crossing West shopping center (anchored by a Target store).