I-95 Henrico Night Closures Force Detours Aug 16 to 20

Southbound Interstate 95 through northern Henrico County will lose two lanes again overnight this weekend while VDOT keeps repairing the Parham Road and Dumbarton Road overpasses.

If your plan is a late drive past Richmond toward Petersburg, Emporia, or points south, retime past those windows or follow the signed Brook Road and I-295 detours. This is a night pattern, not a full daytime shutdown of the interstate.

What VDOT scheduled for Aug 16 to 20

The Virginia Department of Transportation Richmond District update last refreshed on August 13, 2026, and its August 14 note is the current schedule for this package. Work continues at both overpass locations Aug 16 through 19 from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly, then again Aug 20 from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

That is a multi-night repair series on an existing project, not a surprise full closure of I-95 through Richmond. Daytime through traffic still uses the corridor. The traveler problem is overnight southbound capacity and the concurrent ramp detours that force local traffic onto Brook Road and I-295.

All work remains weather permitting. A storm, material delay, or safety hold can cancel a night without rewriting the headline. That is why the agency points drivers to live 511 tools rather than a static paper schedule alone.

Confirmed fact is the dual mile markers, the dual overpass names, the Aug 16 to 20 windows on the VDOT page, and the concurrent ramp detours. Interpretation is that airport-style late arrivals into Richmond and southbound long-haul runs after 10 p.m. are the trips that break first. Still unknown is whether any individual night will be shortened once crews are on site.

How the two work zones and detours actually work

Mile marker 83 is the Parham Road overpass. On the scheduled nights, VDOT closes two southbound I-95 lanes there and, at the same time, closes the westbound Parham Road ramp to southbound I-95. Detour traffic is sent to northbound U.S. 1, also called Brook Road, then south on I-295, then back to southbound I-95.

Mile marker 81 is the Dumbarton Road overpass a short distance south of Parham. On the same nights, two southbound I-95 lanes close there, and the northbound and southbound Brook Road ramps to southbound I-95 also close. Northbound Brook Road traffic continues past the closed ramp to eastbound Parham Road and back to I-95 south. Southbound Brook Road traffic uses eastbound Wilmer Avenue, northbound U.S. 301 Chamberlayne Road, and westbound Parham Road back to southbound I-95.

Those detours are local surface moves, not a 30-mile interstate bypass. They still fail if you treat an old maps pin as open, if you force a closed gore, or if you ignore that Brook Road is carrying both normal traffic and diverted ramp traffic at the same time.

Henrico Citizen reported the same Aug 16 to 20 package on August 13, restating the dual overpass work and the ramp detours from VDOT. Use that local write-up as independent confirmation of the county locations, then keep VDOT and 511 as the schedule authority if a later night is cut short.

If you only need to stay on southbound I-95 through the work zone after 10 p.m., expect fewer lanes, cones, and slower speeds. If you need a Parham or Brook Road entrance to I-95 south during those hours, you do not have that entrance. Build the signed loop into the trip before you leave the hotel or distribution yard.

Northbound I-95 is not what this package closes. Do not invent a two-way shutdown from a southbound night pattern. If northbound later closes, that will be a new VDOT sentence, not an inference from this card.

Who this changes on a real trip

Long-haul southbound drivers are the first group. I-95 is the main East Coast spine past Richmond. A double-lane night drop at both overpasses stacks trucks and passenger cars into a narrower work zone. Leave earlier from northern Virginia or Maryland if your plan was a 10 p.m. to midnight push through Henrico.

Richmond-area travelers who use Parham Road or Brook Road to enter I-95 south after dinner or a late flight are the second group. The concurrent ramp closures are the part many maps still understate. A short hop to I-95 can become a Brook Road to I-295 loop or a Wilmer and Chamberlayne loop before you are southbound again.

Visitors staging for Kings Dominion, Richmond museums, or a Williamsburg drive the next morning should care when their inbound night is Aug 16 through 20. A late hotel arrival from the north that used to take a clean Parham merge now needs the I-295 path if the ramp is closed. Deep Arrival’s Kings Dominion planning guide and Richmond National Battlefield Park page still help the daytime plan once you clear the overnight work zone.

A concrete scenario makes the buffer clearer. A family leaves a Washington-area hotel at 9:30 p.m. aiming for a south Richmond hotel by 11:30 p.m. Under this package, they should assume slower I-95 south through mile markers 83 and 81 after 10 p.m., avoid counting on the Parham or Brook Road southbound entrances during the closed hours, and keep 511Virginia open so a cancelled work night is visible before they invent a side-street shortcut.

What to recheck before each night

Open 511Virginia or the free 511 app before you leave. VDOT’s own notice tells drivers to use those tools, or to call 511 from a Virginia phone, for the latest conditions. Cameras and incident markers beat a screenshot of last night’s map.

Slow down in the work zone. The official page reminds motorists to focus on the road when traveling through construction or when following posted detour signs. Night glare, temporary striping, and trucks merging left turn a double-lane drop into a crash risk if someone treats cones as optional.

Do not treat a third-party navigation app as the final authority if it still offers a closed ramp. Follow the signed detour and the official 511 state, then report the map error inside the app so later drivers benefit.

For drivers who must use southbound I-95 through Henrico on those nights, the useful move is mechanical: name the mile markers, learn the Brook Road and I-295 path before the first closed ramp teaches it, and keep 511 on the pre-trip checklist until this repair package ends.