I-85 enters Virginia in Mecklenburg County southwest of Bracey. The Interstate Highway continues southwest toward Henderson and Durham. Northbound I-85 has a welcome center before the highway crosses Lake Gaston, an impoundment of the Roanoke River, on a causeway and bridge before reaching an interchange with SR 903 at Bracey. The freeway passes through the town of South Hill, where the highway has a cloverleaf interchange with US 58. US 58 serves as the major east-west highway of Southside Virginia; the U.S. Highway provides access to La Crosse, Brodnax, Lawrenceville, and Emporia to the east and Boydton and Clarksville to the west. US 58 leads to SR 47, which provides access to Chase City. North of the town of South Hill, I-85 has a junction with US 1, which parallels the Interstate Highway from Henderson to Petersburg. The US 1 interchange also provides access to SR 138, which heads north toward Kenbridge. North of US 1, I-85 enters Brunswick County just before the highway crosses the Meherrin River. The Interstate Highway has an interchange with SR 644 at Meredithville and a partial interchange with SR 46 before the freeway crosses to the east side of US 1 at an interchange southwest of the town of Alberta. The SR 46 and US 1 interchanges provide access to St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville and the Christanna campus of Southside Virginia Community College at the SR 46-US 1 intersection. Northeast of Alberta, I-85 has rest areas in both directions and interchanges with SR 630 at Sturgeonville and SR 712 near Rawlings. I-85 crosses the Nottoway River into Dinwiddie County southwest of its interchanges with SR 40 near the town of McKenney and SR 650 at DeWitt. The Interstate Highway serves Dinwiddie via its partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 703 just east of the county seat of Dinwiddie County and another pair of rest areas. The Dinwiddie interchange and the following interchange with US 460 provide access to Virginia Motorsports Park. At the partial cloverleaf interchange with US 460, which also leads to Dinwiddie County Airport, the Interstate Highway and U.S. Highway start to run concurrently toward Petersburg. Both the US 460 interchange and the following partial cloverleaf junction with US 1 provide access to the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier at Pamplin Historical Park. East of US 1, the freeway curves to the east and changes from having a wide, forested median to a Jersey barrier separating the twin carriageways. I-85 enters the city of Petersburg prior to its junction with Squirrel Level Road. South of downtown Petersburg, I-85 reaches its northern terminus at a trumpet interchange with I-95. The southern end of the interchange has a ramp from northbound I-85 to southbound I-95. Here, US 460 joins I-95 south through an interchange with US 301, south of which the U.S. Highway separates from I-95 on its way to Norfolk. I-85 curves north and merges with I-95 in the direction of Richmond adjacent to the loop ramp from northbound I-95 to southbound I-85. Just before merging with northbound I-95, I-85 has its final exit, a ramp that leads to the one-way pair of eastbound Wythe Street and westbound Washington Street in Historic Old Towne Petersburg. Wythe Street leads to Petersburg National Battlefield; Fort Lee, which contains the Army Quartermaster Museum and Army Women's Museum; and the city of Hopewell via SR 36.
