Decide Before the Divide

MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT YOUR ROUTE EARLIER

The two Northbound Rappahannock River Bridges are now open. The left bridge carries I-95 North through traffic, bypassing Exit 133.

Traffic from the Route 3 interchange drives directly into the local travel lanes. All local lanes remain separated from the through lanes until north of the Rappahannock River.

View the video below for a simulation of the new traffic pattern.

Stay Right

 

Motorists who plan to exit at Exit 133 (Route 17) will need to stay right (after Exit 130, near Fall Hill Avenue) to join the local lanes.

 

Keep Left

 

All traffic continuing on I-95 north (or 95 Express Lanes North), should stay to the left to stay on I-95, bypassing Exit 133.

Map

 

This important piece of the Improve 95 project adds lanes for local motorists in the Fredericksburg corridor.

If you enter I-95 northbound from Route 3, you will drive directly into the local travel lanes. There is no option to merge into the northbound through lanes from the Route 3 on-ramp. All local lanes remain separated from the through lanes until north of the Rappahannock River. North of the river, local drivers can choose to either exit to Route 17 in Stafford, or continue north. The local and through lanes merge back together north of exit 133 at Route 17.

If you are approaching the Fredericksburg area from points south of the Route 3 interchange, your drive will not change. You will continue to use the previous I-95 northbound travel lanes, which have now become the through lanes.

If you are approaching the Fredericksburg area from points south of Route 3, but want to exit to Route 17 (exit 133) in Stafford, stay right as you approach the Route 3 interchange area. The decision point to exit to Route 17 is now before the Rappahannock River, just north of the Fall Hill Avenue overpass in Fredericksburg. Follow the overhead signs and message boards. Through traffic exiting to Route 17 merges into the local lanes, where travelers can access the off-ramp north of the Rappahannock River. Didn't mean to get in the local lanes? Keep driving north past exit 133, and the local lanes merge back together with the northbound through lanes.

If you want to enter the northbound 95 Express Lanes from the through lanes, this access continues to be available using a left slip ramp entrance north of the Rappahannock River, near exit 133.

If you want to enter the northbound 95 Express Lanes and you enter I-95 northbound from Route 3 in Fredericksburg, or Route 17 in Stafford (using the local lanes), the first entrance to access the lanes will be north of exit 140 (Courthouse Road) interchange in Stafford. By mid-December, a new flyover ramp is anticipated to open north of exit 133 connecting the local lanes with northbound 95 Express Lanes.

If you enter I-95 northbound from Route 17 southbound in Stafford, use caution as the loop ramp will now merge in with local lanes traffic driving north from the Route 3 interchange.

For more details about these traffic updates, view the press release.

Last updated: April 26, 2024