In encouraging traffic news, the Stafford County Infrastructure Committee received news from the Virginia Department of Transportation that two major road projects are on track for completion -- one set to be done on time and another ahead of schedule.

One project, the Interstate 95 Southbound Rappahannock River Crossing project is expected to be completed ahead of schedule, according to Virginia Department of Transportation Mega Projects Engineer Robert Ridgell. The project involved constructing three new lanes from Exit 133, at Route 17 to milepost 130, at Route 3, separating local and long-distance traffic.

• The project also reconstructed three of the four bridges that run over Route 17.

The project which began in August 2018 was originally scheduled to be completed in May 2022 but is now on track for an early completion for December 2021. VDOT plans to make traffic switches to the new lanes in September with the new Route 17 bridges, plans are also being outlined for major traffic shifting upon the projected completion of the bridge in December.

Ridgell also says the committee that an I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing Project, on the opposite side of the highway from the southbound portion of the project, is on schedule to meet its May 2024 completion deadline. Construction on the project began in October 2020 which involved constructing three new lanes from Fall Hill Avenue, just south of the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg to Exit 133 at Route 17 in Stafford County, which will also separate local and long-distance traffic.

A new fourth lane will also be constructed from Route 17 to Centreport Parkway, near the Stafford Regional Airport. A pedestrian crossing being constructed under I-95 at Route 17.

The "Fred-Express" ramp, part of the extension of the I-95 E-ZPass toll lanes, is on track for its scheduled completion in October, said Ridgell.