Tractor-trailer crash on I-64 in Goochland County kills driver

A tractor-trailer crash just west of the Ashland Road exit shut down part of I-64 West in eastern Goochland County and left 38-year-old James Russell Sprouse of Lignum dead at the scene.

Virginia State Police responded at 8:11 a.m. Saturday, June 6, after a 2016 Freightliner Columbia 120 pulling a trash trailer ran off the right side of the road, struck a guardrail and went down an embankment into trees. Investigators said Sprouse was ejected from the vehicle and was not wearing a seat belt.

The wreck blocked the westbound right lane and shoulder at mile marker 171, about five miles west of the Route 288 entrance. Virginia Department of Transportation said the closure and resulting delays lasted for hours, a familiar kind of disruption for drivers who use this stretch of interstate to move between eastern Goochland and the Richmond region.

That location matters because it sits just beyond one of the county’s busiest traffic nodes. Goochland County describes the Route 623, or Ashland Road, corridor as a 3.5-mile growing business development district, and county plans already treat the Ashland Road and I-64 interchange as a pressure point for future traffic. The county held a public hearing on a diverging diamond interchange project in July 2025 and says construction is planned for 2027.

The long-range work also includes relocating the Hickory Haven Park and Ride lot and doubling its size, along with adding lighting, a potential bus stop and road access. A separate temporary improvements project calls for a new traffic light on Ashland Road to reduce congestion and improve safety. County transportation planning also lists Ashland Road widening among future projects, underscoring how much of eastern Goochland’s growth is tied to this interchange.

The crash also adds to a string of recent problems on this same part of I-64. WRIC reported an overturned tractor-trailer on I-64 West in Goochland on June 5, 2025, and a multi-vehicle crash near the Ashland Road exit on April 16, 2025. For drivers heading through the county’s eastern end, the latest fatal wreck was another reminder that the interstate, the commuter corridor and the freight route all converge in the same narrow stretch of road.