First responders got a training course today in navigating the new diverging diamond interchange (DDI) in Stafford.
STAFFORD: Before the diverging diamond interchange opens on Courthouse Rd, we wanted to give firefighters and EMS personnel a chance to drive through and become familiar with navigating the new traffic pattern. Its set to open to the public on Sat., Dec. 7 @staffcofire pic.twitter.com/4inD3vOKCq
— VDOT Fredericksburg (@VaDOTFRED) December 4, 2019
The first of its kind not only in Stafford but also in the Fredericksburg region, the interchange will carry vehicles on a newly widened Courthouse Road over Interstate 95. The Virginia Department of Transportation states:
Diverging Diamond Interchanges (DDIs) lower the number of conflict points between vehicles by eliminating left turns. The new interchange briefly shifts vehicles on Courthouse Road to the other side of the road on new overpass bridges, which allows drivers to merge left onto the I-95 northbound and southbound ramps without stopping at a traffic signal.
On Saturday, Dec. 7, crews will open the new interchange to traffic, with assistance from Virginia State Police and local law enforcement. Opening the interchange early Saturday will allow crews to take advantage of lighter traffic volumes.
In addition to the interchange opening on Dec. 7, motorists can expect:
On eastbound Courthouse Road, all three travel lanes will open in the diverging diamond interchange
At Route 1, a new four-lane Hospital Center Boulevard extension will open west of Route 1 and connect directly to the diverging diamond interchange on Courthouse Road through a new Wyche Road intersection
On westbound Courthouse Road, all three travel lanes will open in the diverging diamond interchange, but the road will narrow to two westbound travel lanes just before Austin Ridge Drive
Courthouse Road west of Austin Ridge Drive will remain reduced to one lane in each direction until late December 2019, when all four lanes will open between the I-95 interchange and Ramoth Church Road/Winding Creek Road
This new DDI is the latest in a series of DDI’s to be built in Virginia, to include a DDI at the intersection of I-66 and Route 15 in Haymarket.
VDOT has posted a video for those who may be unfamiliar, and a bit uneasy about driving through the DDI for the first time. Here’s how it works:
The new DDI at Stafford replaces an old cloverleaf interchange that dates back to when I-95 was constructed in Virginia, in the 1960s.
