There's something really wrong with the reporting on this story, or I've developed a serious case of stupid. I'm willing to concede, naturally, that the latter could be the case, however...
The written articles make mention of I95 and the 53 mile marker, which is indeed on I95. But the bridge, referred to as the MLK JR isn't on I95, it's on route 1, which is due east of I95.
If I'm looking at what little video there is available, and I'm not mistaking what I grew up looking at....this is the bridge under which they found this car.... And if you were to zoom out on this photo, you'd see why I know the area so well. You'll see the house where I grew up a hop, skip and a jump across the open field and the river.
NOT the Martin Luther King Jr bridge...I promise.
This is taken from underneath, on Magazine Road. See the people in the background? This would be the approximate spot where they found the car.
from 95, right above the spot where the car was found....that wall is 42" tall (standard) according to VDOT.
You see a small parking area off of Magazine Road that leads to the river. It's just south of the bridge in the above pics. That's where the police cars were sitting in video footage from the scene.
The entire area, other than acceess to that parking area, is blocked off from the road by guard rails.
I would think if this car was dumped, the person(s) who did it had to know the depth of the water here in order to know the car would be totally submerged. No way this car came off of 95 and slammed into the river upright and with all of it's windows intact...right?
So if I'm getting old and I don't recognize the place I grew up anymore as well as I'd like to think I do, please accept my apologies. And fyi...my house? Look across the river, see the big white house sitting to the left, kinda separated from the rest on the street? It sits on a hill in a clearing, in front of a private road leading to the river. That was home.