VDOT Completes $195M Courthouse Road Project At I-95 In Stafford

STAFFORD, VA — Construction on a three-year, $195 million project to expand capacity and improve travel in Stafford County’s Courthouse Road area was officially completed this week as construction crews put the finishing touches on expanded commuter parking and new sidewalks, the Virginia Department of Transportation said Thursday.

Construction crews finished a new sidewalk along Old Courthouse Road connecting the Park & Ride lots to the Stafford County Government Center. A new sidewalk also was built along the eastbound lanes of Courthouse Road from Ramoth Church Road to Colonial Forge High School to connect residential subdivisions to the school.

Commuter parking space doubled near the I-95 Exit 140 interchange in Stafford with the opening this week of two new VDOT Park & Ride lots. Travelers now have nearly 1,100 parking spaces located near this I-95 interchange, which is an increase from the previous 545 parking spaces.

The construction work, by Shirley Contracting Company LLC and designed by Dewberry Engineers Inc., finished nearly three months ahead of schedule, VDOT said.

Stafford County invested about $18 million in the Courthouse Road widening effort, which was matched with state revenue-sharing funds. The interchange project was funded through the state’s six-year improvement program. SMART SCALE program funds contributed to construction of the several hundred additional Park & Ride spaces.

"[T]his modern improved intersection will act as a gateway to our Downtown Stafford project to revitalize the Courthouse area," Stafford Board of Supervisors Meg Bohmke of the Falmouth District said Thursday in a statement.

Construction on the project, which began in July 2017, spanned a total distance of about four miles and resulted in more than 16 lane miles of new roadway on Courthouse Road due to the widening and interchange work. Crews built two new bridges over Interstate 95 and expanded I-95 exit and entrance ramps.

WATCH A VIDEO of the completed corridor

About 136,000 vehicles a day travel on I-95 near Exit 140, and Courthouse Road carries an average of 16,000 vehicles a day.

In December, the new diverging diamond interchange opened at Exit 140, along with the four-lane Hospital Center Boulevard extension west of Route 1. The diverging diamond interchange design improves safety and efficiency by reducing the frequency of left turns, and allows more vehicles to enter and exit I-95 per hour when compared with a traditional diamond interchange.

As part of the project, Ramoth Church Road and Winding Creek Road were realigned to intersect with Courthouse Road at a four-way intersection controlled by a traffic signal. A traffic signal was also added to the entrance of Colonial Forge High School and the Liberty Knolls subdivision.

Pedestrians and bicyclists began using a shared use path in December that runs along the westbound lanes of Courthouse Road. With the completion of the project, the path now runs uninterrupted from the new Park & Ride lots for nearly three miles to the Winding Creek Road and Ramoth Church Road intersection.

The new I-95 northbound entrance ramp was built to incorporate a bridge spanning Old Courthouse Road, which allows for a future, reversible connection ramp to the 95 Express Lanes. This ramp will allow traffic on Old Courthouse Road near the Park & Ride lots to directly connect with 95 Express Lanes when these high-occupancy toll lanes are extended 10 miles south. The extended 95 Express Lanes will open to traffic in late 2022.