I-95 bridge update: Traffic shifted onto new river crossing, 60-hour work zone ends

Three northbound travel lanes of Interstate 95 are now crossing a new Rappahannock River bridge between Fredericksburg and Stafford County.

Crews completed work overnight to finish connecting lanes leading to and from the new bridge, wrapping up nearly 60 hours of an extended work zone that started Monday evening.

Opening the bridge is a major milestone for the I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project. The $132 million project is adding three additional travel lanes between the exit 130 (Route 3) and exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton) interchanges. It is the busiest segment of interstate in the Fredericksburg region, carrying an average of 150,000 vehicles a day. The project is anticipated to be complete in spring 2024.

Through late December this year, northbound I-95 traffic seeking to reach Route 17 using exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton) in Stafford will be directed to exit just north of the Fall Hill Avenue overpass in Fredericksburg. Exiting traffic will cross the original northbound Rappahannock River bridge to access exit 133 (Falmouth/Warrenton). Once a new connection to the exit 133 off-ramp is built north of the river, this temporary pattern will end.

Click here to view the temporary exit 133 off-ramp pattern.

Once a new connection to the exit 133 off-ramp is built north of the river, the original northbound Rappahannock River bridge will close for maintenance. Construction will continue over the next 18 months to finish building the local travel lanes between interchanges, as well as to demolish and rebuild a Route 17 overpass that carries exit 133 ramp traffic, and a fourth northbound lane between exit 133 (Route 17) and exit 136 (Centreport Parkway).

This week, within this same I-95 northbound work zone, crews building the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension placed four beams for a future flyover ramp north of exit 133. The 10-mile extension of the Express Lanes is expected to open to traffic in late 2023.