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New highway produced, doomed businesses

Opening of the 35-mile stretch of I-95 from Massaponax to Quantico had far reaching impact on the Fredericksburg area.

By CATHY JETT
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 12/8/2004

The line of motorists waiting to gas up at Norman Trice’s Esso near the Falmouth Bridge snaked out onto U.S. 1 Bypass the day before I-95 opened in Fredericksburg 40 years ago.

Trice’s son, Stanley B. Trice, who was nine years old at the time, remembers the City Police stopped by the to make sure there were no accidents.

“At suppertime, we finally got caught up and kept the line out of Route 1,” recalled Trice, who helped his father pump gas after school that Friday afternoon.

Web extras • Interactive time line. • Photo slide show • Discuss this series Interstate 95 in the Fredericksburg area opened Dec. 18, 1964. Today begins a three-day series about the highway and the changes it brought to the region. SUNDAY: Those who were there at the beginning recall the building and opening of the interstate and the impact it had on them. MONDAY: The new highway produced new business growth but doomed many stores along the road. Also, find out about life at the exits. TUESDAY: I–95 is now clogged much of the time. Are there solutions to this?

Trice’s Esso was one of the few service stations southbound motorists passed after leaving Woodbridge on Route 1, and it wasn’t uncommon for customers to have to wait in line. That day, traffic didn’t taper down to a manageable, constant stream until well into the evening, he said.

The stream dwindled to a tickle the following day—Dec. 18, 1964—with the opening of the four-lane, 20-mile stretch of I–95 between Massaponax and Triangle. Only five drivers stopped by to gas up, get their oil checked and windshields cleaned.

“That Monday, my father put the gas station up for sale and left that part of his life for a dairy farm in Spotsylvania,” said Trice.

Stanley Trice’s gas station, now the site of a BB&T, was one of dozens of locally owned gas stations, restaurants and motor courts that used to line State Route 1 and the Route 1 Bypass before I-95 opened here. (The 35-mile stretch from Massaponax to Ashland opened in July 16, 1964.)

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Date published: 12/8/2004