Warning lights to be installed on Route 1 ahead of bridge, toll lane work

They’re not wasting any time. Work to bring down the Truslow Road bridge over Interstate 95 will begin this week.

Demolition of the two-lane bridge will make way for an extension E-ZPass Express toll lanes that will be extended down the median of the highway to southern Stafford County, from Garrisonville Road in the northern end of the county.

A new bridge will replace the old one, and it’ll be built to accommodate the new toll lanes that pull run underneath it. It’ll reopen sometime this fall.

The work means traffic on I-95 will need to come to a halt for a brief time during the overnight hours. The Virginia Department of Transportation is expected to announce those closures next week.

As for people who rely on Truslow Road, there’s a detour in place. Drivers will need to use Route 17 to cross I-95, to Plantation Drive, which will then connect them to Truslow Road on the other side of the highway.

After clamoring from residents who live on Truslow Road east of I-95, VDOT spokeswoman Kelly Hannon says the agency will put up flashing signs at the intersection of Route 1 and Truslow for the duration of the project.

Traffic backs up here, and residents said they feared they wouldn’t be able to make a left turn out of their neighborhood, form Truslow Road onto Route 1. The petitioned VDOT for a temporary signal light at the intersection and rattled the cages of Stafford Supervisors who also put their support behind the request.

However, Hannon says a traffic study conducted in recent weeks shows a full temporary signal isn’t needed here. In addition to the flashing lights, VDOT also painted new stripes at the intersection, effectively widening a box pattern painted on the street to warn drivers of the busy junction.

The new E-ZPass lanes are open, they’ll provide commuters with seamless access to the toll lane network that reaches from Stafford north to the Potomac River at the Pentagon, and to Tysons Corner on the Capital Beltway.

Construction on the $565 million extension project began last summer and is expected to wrap up in 2023.