Skip to main content

Key airport link open in US

The new Richmond Airport connector link road is now open to traffic. The link provides a direct connection from the Pocahontas 895 highway to Richmond International Airport and cuts journey time on this route. This 2.5km road is an extension of the Pocahontas 895 highway and links directly to Airport Drive at Charles City Road. The new road can save drivers around 10 minutes or more on a trip to the airport, especially those coming from Chesterfield County and the Tri-Cities area. Customers using the Airpor
May 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The new Richmond Airport connector link road is now open to traffic. The link provides a direct connection from the Pocahontas 895 highway to Richmond International Airport and cuts journey time on this route.

This 2.5km road is an extension of the Pocahontas 895 highway and links directly to Airport Drive at Charles City Road. The new road can save drivers around 10 minutes or more on a trip to the airport, especially those coming from Chesterfield County and the Tri-Cities area.

Customers using the Airport Connector pay the toll at the Pocahontas 895 Main Plaza, including those traveling to and from Chesterfield County. The do not pay again at the Airport Connector ramps. Only customers using the Airport Connector and traveling between the airport and Interstate 295 will pay $1.25 at the ramp linking the connector to Pocahontas 895. This toll will be collected electronically, with payment made by E-ZPass or Visa/Mastercard credit or debit cards.

600 Transurban operates and maintains Pocahontas 895 and financed and constructed the Airport Connector Road as part of a public-private partnership with 1747 Virginia Department of Transportation established in 2006. The project cost close to US$50 million but did not require funding from Virginia taxpayers and was supported through a loan provided by the US Federal Government and backed by Transurban.

The link was needed to handle increasing traffic volumes. Over the last decade, Richmond International Airport has been one of the fastest-growing airports in the US. Construction of the new road, designed and built by American Infrastructure, was completed approximately two months early. The project, which began construction in early 2009, boasted more than 665 days without a lost-time accident, the entire two-year length of the project.

Pocahontas 895 is a 14km toll road with an elevated bridge crossing the James River. It is located southeast of Richmond, Virginia, and links Interstate 95 at Chippenham Parkway (Route 150) with Interstate 295 to create a southeastern bypass of the city. It is the only crossing of the James River for 10km in either direction. The new road features sophisticated electronic tolling technology, which helps speed vehicle flow through the tolling area.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Schneider Electric open road tolling for New Hampshire
    March 13, 2013
    The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has exercised its contract option to convert its traditional manual toll lanes at the Interstate 93 Hooksett Toll Plaza into an Open Road Tolling (ORT) system using Schneider Electric’s SmartMobility Tolling Solution. Schneider Electric will install tolling technologies into the existing road infrastructure in order to convert the centre portion of the toll plaza from conventional toll lanes to ORT. Toll tag readers for E-ZPass will be integrated with o
  • US road safety continues to improve
    February 7, 2012
    Road safety continues to improve according to the latest figures from the US Department of Transportation. The recorded data shows that in 2009 the US had the lowest level of traffic fatalities since 1954.
  • Measuring vehicle lengths with a single loop - promising results
    July 27, 2012
    District 7 of Caltrans has been conducting trials to see whether the use of a single inductive loop to measure vehicle lengths and so identify heavy trucks is feasible. So far, the results have been very promising, according to Lead Transportation Engineer Steve Malkson. Between them, the adjoining ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the US's two biggest, cover some 10,700 acres (43km2) and 68 miles (109km) of waterfront.
  • Virginia launches E-Zpass Flex
    July 27, 2012
    Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) has launched of E-ZPass Flex, a new E-ZPass transponder able to switch between toll-free and toll-paying travel on the 495 Express Lanes scheduled to open by the end of this year. Because these lanes are an all-electronic tolling facility, every vehicle using them will need an E-ZPass transponder. And, though every standard E-ZPass transponder will work in the Express Lanes, only the E-ZPass Flex transponder enables drivers to use a manual switch on the transpond