| Virginia State Highway 895 |
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Information AboutVirginia State Highway 895 |
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Pocahontas Parkway (also known as '''Route 895''') is a Toll Road near Richmond, Virginia . It connects Interstate 95 and Virginia State Highway 150 in Chesterfield County with Interstate 295 near Richmond International Airport in Henrico County . Richmond is located on the Fall Line of the James River . The 8.8-mile roadway features a costly high-level Bridge over the shipping channel of the navigable portion of the tidal James River downstream from the deepwater Port of Richmond. Two persons were killed in accidents during the construction. The bridge, when it opened, was the focus of several claims of paranormal activity that became a drain on the patience of local law enforcement. Documented claims by toll plaza employees, state police and drivers made local headlines and television news reports, with claims of Indian ghosts and ghostly, speed addicted drivers among the most common tales told. The toll collection facility features the Richmond area's only high-speed open lanes, allowing vehicles to travel through the toll facility at highway speeds with a Smart Tag or other compatible Electronic Toll Collection transponder. PUBLIC-PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION The highway was built without the use of Toll Revenue Bonds through an innovative Public-private Partnership . Though the road had been planned for many years, sufficient state and federal construction funds were not available when the road was finally desired. In 1995, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Public-Private Transportation Act allowing private entities to propose innovative solutions for designing, constructing, financing and operating transportation improvements. An acceptable proposal was submitted jointly by Fluor Daniel and Morrison Knudsen , and an agreement was reached. INTERSTATE DESIGNATION The road was originally planned as Interstate 895. Because of the unique public-private funding mechanism, the new roadway was designated as a State Highway using the same number with the expectation that it would be eligible for an Interstate designation upon completion and cession of ownership to the Commonwealth. However, in January 2002 when the Virginia Department Of Transportation sought the Interstate designation from the Federal Highway Administration , it was informed that the expressway was not qualified for such a designation, as federal statute 23 USC 129(a)(1)(A) indicates that federal funds may not be used for an Interstate toll-road. Thus, toll-roads using no federal funds and freeways of any funding source are eligible for Interstate designation, but toll-roads that use federal funds are not. In this case, $9.28 million of the preliminary engineering (out of a total $324 million cost) was funded by the federal government, and the project ultimately opened as a toll road, disqualifying the road as a bearer of an Interstate shield. [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Route_895_Connector.html] With the current VA-895 designation, this route is the only signed highway that violates Virginia's numbering convention that forbids primary state highways to be numbered above 599. (Only one other future Interstate route, Interstate 785 in the Danville area currently holds a primary state highway number, also above 599, and that toll-free roadway is unsigned as VA-785, pending completion of the North Carolina portion which will connect the spur route to I-85 near Greensboro ). EXTERNAL LINKS
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