A new Rappahannock River bridge? We’ll know more about possible locations in March

Work to find possible locations for a new Rappahannock River crossing will begin in soon.

While Stafford County leaders were careful not to use the word “study” last fall, the Boar Board of Supervisors asked officials at the Fredericksburg Metropolitan Planning Organization to research sites for a new river crossing to bridge the gap between Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg.

The bridge would also serve as a bypass to river crossings on Interstate 95 and Route 1.

The work comes on the heels of FAMPO’s East-West Corridor Study, which examined congested corridors in the region, like Courthouse and Warrenton roads in Stafford and Route 3 in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County.

The study already suggests a new river crossing and extending Centreport Parkway, near Stafford Regional Airport, to Courthouse Road. The study also suggests a new I-95 interchange near the Fredericksburg Nationals baseball stadium, making it easeier to access the stadium and Fredericksburg Expo Center.

FAMPO Transportation Planning Director Ian Ollis says:

We have a staff level working group that is working on this question and providing updated reports to the FAMPO Policy Committee at present and will present to the Stafford County Board and the City. Council in Fredericksburg as the work progresses.

This follows a recommendation in the FAMPO East West Mobility Study that this possibility be investigated further also. That study report has served at the FAMPO Technical Advisory Committee in February and will be presented to the FAMPO Policy Committee in February (27th) also. The document is here:

We have a staff level working group that is working on this question and providing updated reports to the FAMPO Policy Committee at present and will present to the Stafford County Board and the City. Council in Fredericksburg as the work progresses.

This follows a recommendation in the FAMPO East West Mobility Study that this possibility be investigated further also. That study report has served at the FAMPO Technical Advisory Committee in February and will be presented to the FAMPO Policy Committee in February (27th) also.

The document is here:
https://fampo.gwregion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/7.a_FAMPOEastWestIIRoadBikePedAdopt-23-09.Report.pdf

The latest presentation of the staff working group to the FAMPO Policy Committee is here:
https://fampo.gwregion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/8.d_FAMPO-January-2023-River-CrossingV2.pdf

The working group continues to meet and will in March be begining the process of considering possible locations of a potential future bridge.

The work is being performed currently by staff has no addiitonal cost to FAMPO or the localities  apart from staff time. In future, if the decision is taken to move forward, an engineering and NEPA environmental Study will be required which will have a cost.

All four FAMPO committees receive these updates (We updated our Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) last night in fact. All four of these committees are open public meetings and include public participation in every meeting.

I must stress the research is at an early stage. Two months from now we should have more information on this work.

Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Transportation is in the final stages of improving the I-95 crossing over the Rappahannock River. In December 2022, a new bridge carrying northbound traffic over the river opened. Work on completing the project is still ongoing.

Last spring, a new southbound portion of the project opened after nearly four years of construction, with a new bridge and three new travel lanes, with a $132 million price tag.