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Exit 126 onto Route 1 from Interstate 95 is an exit with many conveniences for drivers, from restaurants to gas stations, making it busy and crowded during certain hours of the day.
An abandoned Emporia Travel Plaza sits empty off of Exit 13. Only one small motel and a gas station are open.
A sign welcomes drivers to Virginia from North Carolina, on
Interstate 95, which runs through
Virginia and into Maryland.
The Stony Creek Tastee Hut, just past a gas station and a beauty parlor off of Exit 118, only accepts cash but offers drivers barbecue, chicken, potato salad and lemonade. The restaurant is a throwback to the 1950s. |
Exit 177 C, B and A.
What a way to start. This exit looks so confusing and inconvenient I’m chicken to try it. I drive right on by.
Exit 176 B (Telegraph Road) and A (Alexandria).
Anyone with a lick of sense would skip this exit, so I take it, opting for choice A. Naturally, I can’t get back on. A few U-turns later I find 495 again, just by chance.
Exit 174, Eisenhower Ave.
It’s industrial, and there’s a self-storage business here. A quick U-turn leads back to the interstate.
Exit 173, Van Dorn and Franconia.
The exit ramp is a curvy theme park ride. At the light I can see a Comfort Inn to the left, but when I go left I see nothing convenient-looking. It’s not easy to get back on. When I do, a driver in the grip of road rage hugs my bumper and flashes his lights because I can’t immediately get up to 75 mph. Fortunately, I–95 proper peels off to the left, and I get on it.
Exit 167, Backlick–Fullerton
The busy road I’m dumped on parallels 95, and I pass a little shopping center with a mom-and-pop deli. A left at the light, and it’s back to 95.
Exit 163, Lorton.
Yeah, there’s coffee to be had here. It’s to the right, not the left, at a shopping center Burger King. There’s a new-looking Shell station, too, plus a motel with a manned Virginia travel info room.
Exit 161, Woodbridge.
This is the only left exit on Virginia’s stretch of 95, and getting to it from the far right lane is a gut-knotting ordeal. Signs promise many hedonistic pleasures, but to reach them requires a mile-long drive along U.S. 1.
Don’t even try to get back on the way you came off. It’s possible, because I did it somehow, but I don’t think I could retrace my route. Just follow U.S. 1 to state route 123 and then follow the 95 signs.
Exit 160, Occoquan.
Aaaah. Here, at last, we have close convenience, with gas and a KFC within sight of the exit.
Exit 158 B and A.
It’s a crapshoot, so I pick B. And quickly abandon it, getting back on with a left at the next light. Maybe A is better, but who knows? Not me.
Exit 156, rest area and Potomac Mills.
Web extras 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. TODAY: 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?
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Exit 152 B and A
I pick A this time and regret it. Nothing’s close, though there’s supposedly a bunch of fast food if you want to drive a mile.
Exit 150 A and B.
I pick A again. There’s the Quantico gate, with its Iwo Jima memorial. I turn left on U.S. 1 seeking the promised Dunkin’ Donuts and drive and drive and drive until I find it, a mile and a half from the exit. If I were a through-traveler enticed by the promise of easy pastry, I’d be fuming.
Exit 148
What’s here? More Quantico. You can get right back on the interstate if you’re coordinated enough to make two quick lefts. I’m not, and somehow I end up going north on U.S. 1, all the way back to the main Quantico gate.
Exit 143 A and B, Aquia and Garrisonville.
Loads of convenience can be found in either direction. I don’t find it confusing, but then, I’ve been taking these exits fairly frequently for 15 years.
Exit 140, Stafford.
I appreciate simplicity. There’s gas to the right, McDonald’s to the left, and the southbound on-ramp is right across from the off-ramp.
Exit 133 B and A, Warrenton and Falmouth.
Fast food, gas and budget motels abound. You can probably find what you need either way you go.
Exit 130 A and B, Fredericksburg
Glory hallelujah, this the end of most of my I–95 journeys. Central Park and the consumer paradise of Spotsylvania County are to the west, the Fredericksburg commercial strip to the east.
Exit 126, Massaponax
A friend calls this exit Mess-o-polecats. It’s easy off and back on, and there’s gas and fast food.
Exit 118, Thornburg.
This exit is uncomplicated. There’s gas, there’s food, and if you are desperate for a sight of something pretty, head left off the exit ramp and soon find yourself in a postcard farm scene of horses, cows and soaring hawks. The ramp back to 95 south is directly across from the ramp you just took off the interstate.
Exit 110, Ladysmith.
Two Shell stations right across from each other were selling gas at exactly the same price, $1.83, the day I was there. Go figure. If it’s food you want, head back the other direction to U.S. 1.
Exit 104, Carmel Church and Bowling Green.
When I was a kid I used to think the place names were Carmel Bowling and Church Green. You can see the Red Roof Inn and Aunt Sarah’s signs from the highway. The Petro truck stop is here, its own little world of commerce.
Exit 98, Doswell and West Point.
This exit has fast food and a campground, but mainly it has Paramount’s Kings Dominion. In winter, it’s not a busy exit.
Exit 92, Ashland.
There’s fast food here, some sit-down restaurants. Supposedly there’s tourist info nearby, but I didn’t look for it.
Exit 89, Lewiston Road
Fierce disappointment awaits those lured off the interstate by this exit’s promise of a Cinnabon. It’s just a mini-storefront in a mammoth truck stop. Same goes for the promised Quizno’s and Pizza Hut. Hrrmph.
Exit 86, Atlee and Elmont
A little over a mile from the exit, there’s a Ukrop’s and a Chick–Fil–A, plus the commercial mecca that is Virginia Center Commons. Green Top Guns is near this exit, if you’ve just got to have some ammo.
Exit 83, Parham Road
If you’re heading south and you’re hungry, you’d better stop here. There’s a 7–Eleven, a Holiday Inn and some sit-down restaurants, all close.
That may not seem like much, but it’s your best choice for a while. The next several exits are mostly utilitarian, getting Richmonders to their destinations but confusing the heck out of unfamiliar travelers.
Exit 82, Chamberlayne
Not much is close here. To get back on the interstate, you turn left, then right.
Exit 78, the Boulevard
It’s an adrenaline-pumper to get off the interstate here, as you’re trying to slow and merge right while incoming traffic is merging swiftly toward you.
But this exit has the Diamond—the Richmond Braves’ ballpark—and Bill’s Barbecue across the street. There you can get a chopped pork barbecue with slaw and an iced limeade.
Exits 75 and 73
These aren’t convenience exits. They’re just to get people who live there, there. Signs do offer interesting historical attractions, but they’re not easy diversions for the drive-through traveler.
Exit 69, Bells Road, Port of Richmond
I don’t know why, but it smells very, very bad between Exit 73 and here. It’s the kind of smell that makes polite people in the same car look at each other uncomfortably.
“Did she ... ?” you think, and then “Oh, my God, does she think I ... ?”
Anyway, there’s a little cluster of motels and a gas station or two right near the highway, but if you follow the sign that promises “FOOD” you’ll end up driving through Philip Morris-land, all factory gates and industrial buildings. I never found any food, but I bet I could’ve picked up some cigarettes nearby.
Exit 67, Chippenham Parkway
It hints at being a convenience exit. It’s not. You go from the interstate onto a major road, and from there you can maybe exit to gas stations and the like. Why invite disorientation?
Exit 64, Willis Road
This isn’t so bad. To the right, there’s a cluster of motels and a Chevron station with a Burger King, and to the left is more commercial stuff including a Waffle House.
Exit 62, State Route 288
Abandon hope, all ye who exit here.
I get off 95 and find myself on a huge parkway-type road, with no quick turnaround. It bucks me up to see Interstate 95 signs in the direction I’m already driving—I figure they’re taking me to a different exit, but one nearby.
It’s a lie, a big fat lie.
I drive until I give up, then exit onto a country road. Overhead, vultures circle.
I can’t tell you how I got back to 95, but I can tell you the detour takes at least 40 minutes.
I’m so disoriented and wacky at this point that when I see a sign for a Salem Church Road, I fleetingly think I’ve driven all the way home.
Exit 61 B and A
I picked B and am rewarded by gas–food–lodging, all within a half-mile.
Exit 58 B and A
It’s A this time, and here’s something strange: Three blue signs in a row, headlined lodging, food and gas, and every one of them is blank. I turn around at stoplight and head back to the interstate.
Exit 54, Fort Lee, Hopewell and Virginia State University
This is a destination exit for military people and college students, but there are some restaurants and gas stations nearby. Lodgings, the sign says, are five miles away.
Exit 53
From the off ramp, this doesn’t look promising, but I turn left anyway and glimpse paydirt—a little strip shopping center and a motel.
Exit 52, Petersburg
I turn right off the ramp, onto a one-way street. There’s no visible convenience here, and I have to drive around the block to get back on the road to the interstate. I’m sure the people who live nearby appreciate this exit, but through-travelers should skip it.
Exit 50
I’m dumped into heavy traffic on U.S. 460 and have to make a left against traffic, with the sun in my eyes, to turn around. I glimpse a motel tucked away in some woods, but I don’t see much else. Somehow I re-enter the interstate going north instead of south, necessitating yet another turnaround at exit 52.
Exit 48 A and B
I pick B, find a Wawa, and stop to use the bathroom. I’ve been driving way too long and I’m giddy. I notice that the lock on the stall door bears the corporate logo Hiny Hiders, and it gives me the giggles.
In the store, I buy a cup of coffee to sharpen up.
Exit 47, Rives Road.
Not much is here except a gas station and a little independent motel.
Exit 45
I skip it. So sue me. From the interstate I can see a little cluster of motels right off the exit.
Exit 41
This exit gives you a choice of three roads including U.S. 301. A sign says there are motels to the left and the right. I go left, and I don’t see one, or much of anything else except a farmer on a tractor.
Exit 37, Carson
There’s a Shell, a BP and nothing else I can see. It’s easy to get back on the interstate without having to make a U–turn.
Exit 33
Everything’s to the right and close. There’s a huge truck center with a Hampton Inn and a Denny’s.
Exit 31
Two rights and I’m entering the town of Stony Creek. I see a gas station and an establishment called the Tastee Hut, offering barbecue, chicken, potato salad and lemonade. It’s something out of the 1950s.
Exit 24
A right puts you on U.S. 301, a left on State Route 645. There is nothing here but woods and farmland, but it’s pretty in an empty way.
Exit 20, Jarratt
Mini-businesses abound a half-mile from the exit—storefront Stuckey’s, Blimpie, Pizza Hut and Krispy Kreme. There’s a Race-In gas station with a Slip-In food mart. I don’t feel like racing or slipping at the moment.
Exit 17
Supposedly there’s camping and a couple of motels near here, but it’s mainly an exit onto U.S. 301. No conveniences are visible to the naked eye, but it’s easy to get back on the interstate—just cross 301.
Exit 13
This leads to a grim ghost town of the seemingly defunct Emporia Travel Plaza, Carol’s Diner, a gift shop and the Siesta Motel. One business still open is the Dixie Motel, and it looks as if people live there.
Exit 11 A and B, Emporia
I pick B, and there’s a big travel plaza, a Hampton Inn and a couple of other chain motels, plus sit-down restaurants. Exit 11 A has many allurements of its own—a shopping center with a Peebles, an Eckerd and a Wal–Mart, plus many gas and food choices.
Getting back on the interstate here is a test of faith. There is no acceleration lane.
Exit 8
A steeply curvy off-ramp leads to the Simmons Travel Center, restaurant and store, plus a couple of motels.
Exit 4
Gas and an Econo Lodge are right there, but the sign says a promised campground is three miles away. To me, it looks like a bunch of nothing. In the other direction, I see a big new gas station and convenience store under construction.
And that’s it. I head south looking for more Virginia exits, but I see only the state line and the North Carolina Welcome Center, featuring bathrooms. I get on northbound 95 in Gaston.
To do this, I take North Carolina Exit 180. I could tell you about it, but I won’t.
