Richmond-Area Neighborhoods for an Eastbound I-64 Commute: Five Places Ordered by Exit

Published October 23, 2026

Which Richmond-area neighborhoods put you closest to I-64 when your commute runs east toward Williamsburg, Newport News and Hampton Roads? Five with community pages do: Church Hill, Montrose, Highland Springs, Sandston and Varina. We ordered them west to east by exit number and counted miles of interstate from each one’s nearest exit. We did not estimate a single drive time.

Two limits up front. No public dataset gives neighborhood-level commute times on this corridor, so miles of interstate by exit number are our checkable proxy, and they leave out ramps, local streets and traffic. And this post makes no price claim, so there is no data block here. The list is a route guide, not a ranking.

How to read the miles

On I-64 the exit number matches the milepost. The Segment A page from VDOT shows it: milepost 204.9 sits just west of the Bottoms Bridge exit, which is exit 205. So the miles between two exits are the difference between their numbers. We used two far-end markers: exit 234, where SR 199 and Newman Road meet I-64 in York County, and exit 255, SR 143 Jefferson Avenue in Newport News. Confirm every exit on a live map such as 511 Virginia before you rely on it.

Source for the table: exit numbers and mileposts on I-64 and I-295, read from public exit listings in October 2026. VDOT’s project pages confirm exits 205, 211 and 234 only, so check the others on a live map. The subtraction is ours. Where two exits are listed for one area, check both, because the street route to each can differ.

Church Hill: the western end of the run

Church Hill is the closest of the five to downtown, and two exits border that side of I-64. Exit 190 is signed 3rd Street eastbound and 5th Street westbound, and it is where the I-95 overlap ends. Exit 192 is US 360, the Mechanicsville Turnpike. From either one, the mileage to exit 234 is 44 or 42 miles, the most of the five because Church Hill sits furthest west.

The physical case for it is that you can reach two different interchanges from one neighborhood and pick the one your street route favors. Look at the roads, not the name, when you tour. Our city of Richmond hub lists the other in-city neighborhoods.

Montrose: Laburnum Avenue at exit 195

Montrose lines up with exit 195, where SR 197, Laburnum Avenue, meets I-64. That puts it 39 interstate miles from exit 234 and 60 from exit 255, three miles closer than Church Hill’s exit 192 on both measures. Laburnum Avenue is the connecting street, so the surface leg is one named road you can check on a map.

It sits in the middle of the five on the exit list, which makes it the reference point if you are comparing: every exit east of it is a few miles less interstate, every exit west a few more.

Highland Springs and Sandston: two neighborhoods, one exit

Exit 197 is signed for SR 156, Airport Drive, with Highland Springs and Sandston named on the exit list. Highland Springs and Sandston therefore share the same figures: 37 interstate miles to exit 234 and 58 to exit 255. That is the shortest interstate run of any in-Henrico pick before I-295 enters the picture at exit 200.

Here the exit number cannot tell the two apart, so use the map. Measure from a listing to exit 197 along the street route, and compare it between the two areas. The Henrico County page has the county overview, and the Henrico community pages show each area’s own boundary.

Varina: SR 5 to I-295 to I-64

Varina does not sit on I-64. From the SR 5 corridor, I-295 exit 22 is signed for Varina and Charles City. I-295 exit 28 reaches I-64 at I-64 exit 200. By exit number that is about 6 miles on I-295, then 34 on I-64 to exit 234, so about 40 interstate miles, plus whatever SR 5 mileage lies between your street and exit 22. That last piece varies by address and is not in our figure.

The honest comparison is that Varina buys you a different route, not a shorter one. If your commute runs east, the I-295 leg adds a few interstate miles compared with starting at exit 197. If you want more detail on that loop road, our guide to neighborhoods near I-295 exits covers its exits one by one.

What VDOT is building east of exit 200

The VDOT I-64 widening page lists three segments that widen I-64 east of Bottoms Bridge. Segment A runs from milepost 204.9 to 215.6 in New Kent. Segment B runs from 215.6 to 224.3. Segment C runs from the New Kent and James City County line to about 1.15 miles west of exit 234. On its Segment A page, VDOT lists the status as under construction, with an estimated completion of Summer 2027.

For a buyer, the point is timing. Lane closures, bridge work and ramp closures have a schedule, and you should check it before you commit to a daily eastbound run. VDOT’s Segment A page, for example, carried a notice of a night-time closure of the westbound off-ramp at Exit 211 on its last update. All five areas above commute through that work zone if your destination is past exit 205.

How to test your own commute

Pick two listings in different areas on this list. Find each one’s exit on a live map, then run the route at the hour you would actually leave, on a weekday, twice. Compare that to the mileage in the table. If the two disagree, trust your test, not our arithmetic. For checking live closures, 511 Virginia is VDOT’s own traffic map.

If you would rather skip the interstate on weekends, the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation lists a paved trail that runs from Richmond to Williamsburg. It is for bikes and walking, not for a daily car commute.

Our other direction guides cover commuting south toward Petersburg and Fort Lee, commuting north toward Fredericksburg and Northern Virginia, commuting to west end office parks and the Route 288 corridor, and there is a separate guide to park-and-ride and express bus if you would rather not drive the whole way. When you are ready to see homes, browse current listings or talk to our team. If you want to line up financing first, our preferred lenders are listed on one page.