Existed: late 1980s – present North end: I‑64 near Short Pump | South end: I‑95 near Petersburg Length 84.89 km | |
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Interstate 295 (I-295) is an eastern and northern bypass of the cities of Richmond and Petersburg in the U.S. state of Virginia. The southern terminus is an interchange with I-95 southeast of Petersburg. I-295 then has an interchange with I-64 east of Richmond, crosses I-95 north of Richmond, and continues westward to its other terminus at a second interchange with I-64.
Contents
Map of I-295, Virginia, USA
Route description
In effect, I-295 serves as a bypass route for both I-64 and I-95. It also performs crossover duty for travelers between Washington, D.C. (reached by I-95) and southeastern Virginia (reached by I-64), and links many of Richmond's suburbs (such as Short Pump, Mechanicsville, Highland Springs, Varina, and Hopewell). Much of the highway has a posted speed limit of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). The highway carries two lanes from its southern terminus to exit 9 (SR 36), three lanes from exit 9 to exit 28 (I-64) four lanes from exit 28 to exit 43 (I-95) and three lanes again from exit 43 to its northern terminus. All of the exits are cloverleafs with the exceptions of: its southern terminus I-95 (exit 1), Meadowville Technology Parkway (exit 16), SR 895 (exit 25) and the northern terminus with I-64 (exit 53).
While the route is officially labeled north-south, directional markers are absent from the road between exits 43-53, as the official "north" direction of the road for this section actually travels southwest. Additionally, as the road's primary purpose is to direct long-distance travel away from downtown Richmond, control cities on guide signs for the road include cities such as Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, and Rocky Mount, North Carolina as destinations. However, the highway goes to none of those cities, but instead uses such destinations to direct long-distance travelers away from the congested areas in downtown Richmond and Petersburg. At one time, Miami, FL was also listed as a control city on some guide signs north of Richmond, but these have been removed or changed.
Bridge
The Varina-Enon Bridge carries I-295 across the James River near Dutch Gap between Chesterfield and Henrico counties. It was opened to traffic in July 1990, and was the second major cable-stayed bridge in the United States.