Interstate 95 and Courthouse Road Interchange

            The Interstate 95 Courthouse Road interchange construction project has been on the books since 1991. The plan is to build a completely new interchange about a half of a mile south of the existing interchange, effectively bypassing the existing section of Courthouse Road where it meets Interstate 95. With the addition of a new hospital, a public safety building, a fire and rescue building and ongoing redevelopment plans for the Courthouse area, the need has only grown.
            Originally, VDOT agreed to build this new interchange as part of the negotiations with the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). The State agreed to start this project as soon as the 8900 Centerport Parkway interchange was open. Part of that arrangement included northbound and southbound collector distributor lanes from exit 140 to exit 136.  Obviously, that construction never began and by January 2006 the new interchange project was completely stalled. Paul Milde and the Stafford Board of Supervisors asked Virginia to make this interchange project their number one priority. This was communicated through resolution number R07-107.
            In addition to that, Paul Milde and County staff held a series of meetings with VDOT and the public, in which it was determined that funding was going to be the main obstacle. Also, from these meetings with VDOT, several new conceptual designs emerged. Some of these designs showed the Courthouse Road remaining open at Interstate 95 for eastbound and westbound traffic and a few did not. Paul Milde and the Board of Supervisors communicated their desire to keep the Courthouse Road open through resolution number R07-235.
            Along with the designs came rough estimates of cost. VDOT and Stafford decided that in order to get the cost of this project down to something reasonable that they would need to get the FHA to release them from the obligation to build connector lanes. That request has been made and VDOT and the County are waiting for a response. Even without the collector distributor lanes, the cost will be in the neighborhood of $100 million, an amount far exceeding Stafford’s ability to fund.
            With the renewed interest by the Board of Supervisors and help from the Commonwealth Transportation Board, VDOT’s commitment of funding for this project has increased to over $14 million. This is more than enough to do the required traffic studies and develop a final design. VDOT has committed to providing this footprint by the end of this year and with that we can better plan land use around the interchange and work towards the rest of the necessary funding to finally finish this needed improvement.
           For more information on the Interstate 95 and Courthouse Road Interchange including conceptual designs please visit I-95/Route 630 Interchange
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