I-95 travellers -- new highway in Richmond, VA

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I don't remember if this has been mentioned here yet, but a new highway recently opened here in the Richmond, VA, area.

Route 895 connects I-95 at exit 67, goes east to cross the James River, and ends at I-295 south of the airport.

Just a note to anyone travelling on I-95 from the NE to WDW --

1) Only the eastbound section is open at this time. The west bound will be open across the river in a couple of months.

2) This is a toll road -- $1.50 each way.

3) If you take I-295 as a bypass around Richmond / Petersburg, don't worry about taking 895 to get back to I-95 even when the westbound lanes open. If you do, there will still be some traffic during rush hours to contend with. The best routes for the Richmond area are still I-95 straight through during non-rush hour times and I-295 around the cities during rush hour.

On a positive note, that means the roadwork on that area of I-95 is almost finished.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We've always used I-295 (having used it to get to Williamsburg) and it's always been a "snap". Virtually no traffic every time we've driven it. Now if only Washington had something like that---.

 

[Bill From PA]

Obi-Wan Pinobi,

A quick question about that please? We'll be driving I-95 over the night of 6/20 - 6/21, probably hitting the Richmond area about 2:30 am on 6/21. Will this new situation have any effect one way or another on historical traffic patterns? I'm familiar with this drive as we go to Myrtle Beach the last week in June every year so I know that Richmond at 2 am is not too bad, at least is used to be not bad. Any comments on this?


Thanks,
Bill From PA

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Billl,

I believe they're still working on the James River Bridge -- which is part of I-95 through downtown -- in the overnight hours. Every Monday the Richmond paper has a column and graphic showing major ongoing road construction. I'll check Monday's paper to make sure and let you know.

The JRB roadwork has caused some backups in the early evening -- 9:00-10:00 AM -- that I avoid whenever I have to go through there, but I don't know what it's like at 2:30 AM. I would still recommend I-295, just to be on the safe side.

While I'm at it, I'll see if I can find (or draw) a map to show how the new route 895 looks in relation to the area.