An excavator struck a low-hanging bridge at Route 17 and Interstate 95 in Stafford County this morning.
No one suffered injuries, and both roads were temporarily closed while Virginia Department of Transportation crews examined the bridge that carries interstate traffic over Route 17. As of 11:30 a.m., Interstate 95 reopened while the northbound portion of Route 17 remained closed.
At 10:01 a.m., a FedEx delivery van collided with a fire truck on Prince William Parkway at Balls Ford Road near Gainesville.
The driver of the van was injured and taken to an area hospital, a fire and rescue spokesman said. The crew on the fire truck had been called to the scene for a report of a car fire.
When complete, the wider bridge will untangle the east coast’s worst rail bottleneck and allow VRE to provide bi-directional, evening, and weekend service. Amtrak trains between Washington and Richmond will also double in frequency.
“We’re already talking about….reverse service so people could come from other areas to Fredericksburg or earlier afternoon service so people can get back and forth,” said Fredericksburg City Councilor Matt Kelly, who represents the city on the VRE Operations Board. “Basically, expanding our clientele, as it were so that more people can enjoy being here in Fredericksburg and go up to Washington, or go from Washington, come down here and spend the day.”
Crews will open the Route 17 northbound entrance ramp to I-95 southbound at exit 133 early Thursday, Jan. 20.
Once the loop ramp opens, workers will remove the left-turn lane to enter I-95 southbound from Route 17 northbound. Overhead signs will be removed, and traffic signal timing will be adjusted to accommodate the new traffic pattern.
According to the National Weather Service, 2.8 inches of snow fell across Stafford County and eastern Prince William County. More snow fell in western Prince William County, where snow totals registered about three and a half inches.
Snow began falling just after noon and quickly covered roadways. Shortly after, snow covered Interstate 95 in Dumfries, where plow trains removed the snow and spread salt and sand.
At 7:02 a.m., a bucket truck overturned at exit 130 Fredericksburg. The truck was traveling south in through lanes, where the lanes narrow from three to two. As the truck attempted to make a quick lane change, it collided with a traffic control device, was clipped by an oncoming U-Haul trailer, and overturned.
The bucket truck driver suffered minor injuries and was treated on the scene. The other driver involved was not injured. I-95 southbound travel lanes were closed briefly, but the travel lanes are now open.
Just after 8 a.m. Monday, January 3, just as a massive snowstorm ramped up, state police troopers began receiving calls for help on the highway near Fredericksburg. Tractor-trailers crashed, stranding thousands of drivers for most of the day.
At 4 a.m. today, the Virginia Department of Transportation closed a 53-mile stretch of the highway between Dumfries and Ruther Glen, near Kings Dominion. The agency gave the order to remove stranded cars on the road, adding it is impossible to know how many drivers or cars became stranded on the highway.
