I-95 Missing Links

[froggie]

The catch there is that the I-95 Somerset Freeway wasn't finally killed until 1982.  And it was around or shortly after that same timeframe when Congress approved the current plan to build the I-95/I-276 interchange and reroute I-95 across the Delaware and onto the Jersey Turnpike.

[agentsteel53]

The catch there is that the I-95 Somerset Freeway wasn't finally killed until 1982.  And it was around or shortly after that same timeframe when Congress approved the current plan to build the I-95/I-276 interchange and reroute I-95 across the Delaware and onto the Jersey Turnpike.

and, I am presuming, in 1982, they did not figure that the I-95/Turnpike interchange would still be unbuilt 29 years later!

the way it is signed right now is absurdly confusing.  I remember as early as 1990 or so driving with my parents and we were trying to figure why there were seemingly two 95 branches labeled on the Rand McNally map - one coming north from Philadelphia, and the other south along the Turnpike, and the two were diverging horribly...

(that's about the last time we took 95 anywhere - I-84 to I-81 to I-83 is a much faster way to get to Washington, DC!)

[Alex]

The catch there is that the I-95 Somerset Freeway wasn't finally killed until 1982.  And it was around or shortly after that same timeframe when Congress approved the current plan to build the I-95/I-276 interchange and reroute I-95 across the Delaware and onto the Jersey Turnpike.

And because of that Interstates 95 and 295 came together at the U.S. 206 interchange until 1993.

[Alps]

The catch there is that the I-95 Somerset Freeway wasn't finally killed until 1982.  And it was around or shortly after that same timeframe when Congress approved the current plan to build the I-95/I-276 interchange and reroute I-95 across the Delaware and onto the Jersey Turnpike.

And because of that Interstates 95 and 295 came together at the U.S. 206 interchange until 1993.

Not quite.  They ran into each other east of NJ 31 where the open land for the planned interchange is.  It's where the two carriageways get far enough apart that you can't see the other side of the highway.

[Grzrd]

http://www.paturnpikei95.com/home.htm

Page on I-95 intersection recently updated and it looks like initial stages of project will start soon.

[citrus]

I'm thinking that current I-95 becomes east-west I-295, and then reverts to N-S on the PA side.

(EDIT: Likely going to become I-195, in which case the point is moot.  And it's dumb because 195 becomes a loop.)

Yeah, I think this is dumb. How about having I-295 take over I-195 their junction to the Turnpike? Then 295 would be a loop from 95 in DE to 95 east of Trenton. The rest of 295 and the current free 95 around Trenton could be 695, as it is a loop around Trenton.

The Somerset Freeway would have made my commute this summer much easier (Princeton to Berkeley Heights), but the advantages of living in Princeton might be gone if that was the case.

[Grzrd]

http://www.paturnpikei95.com/sum07openhouse.htm

Projected completion of Turnpike/I-95 is "beyond 2017".
Stage 1 construction on the interchange itself to begin in 2012.

[vdeane]

I believe the reason for extending I-195 is because I-295 would change from north-south to south-north at the border.

I can't see why it tacks the PTC so long to build a simple interchange.  I can't believe they are honestly assigning virtually no resources to a project that would increase the number of people on the road, and hence toll income would go up.

[Alps]

http://www.paturnpikei95.com/sum07openhouse.htm

Projected completion of Turnpike/I-95 is "beyond 2017".
Stage 1 construction on the interchange itself to begin in 2012.

And here I was thinking that they'd have that open by 2012.  I know that's what the NJ Turnpike was aiming for when it began the widening program (now very much underway).

[akotchi]

I guess those overlay panels on the new Interchange 6 guide signs will end up hanging around for quite awhile.  The panels were designed including I-95 shields with the thought that the interchange would be completed in 2014 sometime.

[Michael in Philly]

Why couldn't New Jersey just slap some I-95 shields on I-195 between I-295 and the NJ Turnpike and be done with it.
I've never understood how people can blame PennDOT for NJDOT's inability to sign/build highways.

As I like to say, "Don't blame us, we built our portion of I-95."  It took until the 1980s to complete it through Philadelphia County, but it got done.

Tiny correction:  it was finished through Philadelphia by November of 1979.  I remember it well because I happened to use it to go to an Eagles game (from central New Jersey) and on the way home we heard the news of the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Teheran.

[Michael in Philly]

Are there any photos out there anywhere that show how I-95 disappears and reappears? Photos of how it transitions from I-95 north to I-295 south and vice versa?

For I-95 North becoming I-295 South, I have some old pictures up.  I'm not even sure the transition takes place in this same location anymore.  See the August 12, 2002 entries at http://www.teresco.org/pics/signs/.

Back in the late 80s, the number changed at the point where the Somerset Freeway would have branched off.  What is now (I believe) interchange 5 on I-95 was interchange 71 on 295.  Then the next interchange to the west was, and still is, interchange 4 on 95.  There were even ghost ramps between the two interchanges which are now gone, or at least hidden.  At some point, the state of New Jersey seems to have accepted that the Somerset Freeway wasn't happening and shifted the changeover point to the US 1 interchange (so the piece of 295 between the ghost Somerset Freeway and US 1 was redesignated I-95, and exit numbers were changed accordingly).
Hagstrom street maps of Middlesex County, N.J., from the 70s show the 95 designation (and only the 95 designation) on what is now 287 from the Turnpike to the north end of the ghost Somerset Freeway.  And well into the 90s, the starting point for exit numbering on 287 was the Somerset Freeway junction rather than the Turnpike - exit numbers weren't posted down there, but the exits farther north were calculated from there.  In the 90s (probably) all those exit numbers where adjusted (and the exit numbers all the way to the Turnpike were posted), so that the numbering now starts at the Turnpike.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Why couldn't New Jersey just slap some I-95 shields on I-195 between I-295 and the NJ Turnpike and be done with it.
I've never understood how people can blame PennDOT for NJDOT's inability to sign/build highways.

As I like to say, "Don't blame us, we built our portion of I-95."  It took until the 1980s to complete it through Philadelphia County, but it got done.

Tiny correction:  it was finished through Philadelphia by November of 1979.  I remember it well because I happened to use it to go to an Eagles game (from central New Jersey) and on the way home we heard the news of the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Teheran.

Except for that part around the Philly Airport, which didn't occur till 1986.

[Michael in Philly]

Why couldn't New Jersey just slap some I-95 shields on I-195 between I-295 and the NJ Turnpike and be done with it.
I've never understood how people can blame PennDOT for NJDOT's inability to sign/build highways.

As I like to say, "Don't blame us, we built our portion of I-95."  It took until the 1980s to complete it through Philadelphia County, but it got done.

Tiny correction:  it was finished through Philadelphia by November of 1979.  I remember it well because I happened to use it to go to an Eagles game (from central New Jersey) and on the way home we heard the news of the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Teheran.

Except for that part around the Philly Airport, which didn't occur till 1986.

You sure?  I know that my 1980 Rand McNally shows the section through the Center City waterfront as incomplete, and I know that's incorrect because was on it in November '79 (at least incorrect for 1980, who knows when the atlas went to press).  My memory is that that was the last incompleted section in the city limits, but there I could be mistaken.  I'd check Wikipedia if I weren't about to go out for a drive, because it's finally stopped raining and baseball's better on the radio.  :-)

[Duke87]

I remember discussing this with my uncle. He said that when he moved down to the Philly area in the early 80's that 95 by the airport still wasn't built yet.

[NJRoadfan]

Are there any photos out there anywhere that show how I-95 disappears and reappears? Photos of how it transitions from I-95 north to I-295 south and vice versa?

Ray Martin did a series of photos back in 2002 documenting the various alternate routes of I-95.

http://www.njfreeways.com/Interstate_95_Gap.html

[Grzrd]

Looking at the projected future signage for I-95, 195 & 295, there will not be an intersection at the northern, New Jersey Turnpike Extension "crossing" of 95 and 295:

http://www.paturnpikei95.com/sum07oh_graphics/FutureI95/I-95%20-%20Redesignation%20FUTURE.jpg

Are there any current instances elsewhere in the country where a completed even-digit 3di "loop" does not intersect with its parent 2di at one of the two ends of the loop?

[Alex]

Back in the late 80s, the number changed at the point where the Somerset Freeway would have branched off.  What is now (I believe) interchange 5 on I-95 was interchange 71 on 295.  Then the next interchange to the west was, and still is, interchange 4 on 95.  There were even ghost ramps between the two interchanges which are now gone, or at least hidden.  At some point, the state of New Jersey seems to have accepted that the Somerset Freeway wasn't happening and shifted the changeover point to the US 1 interchange (so the piece of 295 between the ghost Somerset Freeway and US 1 was redesignated I-95, and exit numbers were changed accordingly).
Hagstrom street maps of Middlesex County, N.J., from the 70s show the 95 designation (and only the 95 designation) on what is now 287 from the Turnpike to the north end of the ghost Somerset Freeway.  And well into the 90s, the starting point for exit numbering on 287 was the Somerset Freeway junction rather than the Turnpike - exit numbers weren't posted down there, but the exits farther north were calculated from there.  In the 90s (probably) all those exit numbers where adjusted (and the exit numbers all the way to the Turnpike were posted), so that the numbering now starts at the Turnpike.

Interstate 295's exit numbers went as far as west as U.S. 206 until 1993. I have video from then showing the black/yellow "Formerly Exit XX" signs.

Regarding Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, indeed the last stretch to open was the freeway around Philadelphia International Airport. I remember all traffic being dumped onto Pennsylvania 291 at what is now Exit 10. The drive along PA-291 was extremely congested through there until the 1985 completion.

[Michael in Philly]

Interstate 295's exit numbers went as far as west as U.S. 206 until 1993. I have video from then showing the black/yellow "Formerly Exit XX" signs.

Right.  The area affected by the change from I-295 to I-95 ran from US 1, past Princeton Pike, 206 and I think Federal City Road* to a point east of NJ 31.  I know all this geography because my parents live far enough west in north-central New Jersey that the most reasonable route from here to there is to take 95 up to one of those exits - which one depends on my mood - then head north and eventually end up on US 22.

*Federal City Road must be a remnant of the days when Trenton was in the running to be U.S. capital.  The mind boggles at the highway-numbering implications!

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Back in the late 80s, the number changed at the point where the Somerset Freeway would have branched off.  What is now (I believe) interchange 5 on I-95 was interchange 71 on 295.  Then the next interchange to the west was, and still is, interchange 4 on 95.  There were even ghost ramps between the two interchanges which are now gone, or at least hidden.  At some point, the state of New Jersey seems to have accepted that the Somerset Freeway wasn't happening and shifted the changeover point to the US 1 interchange (so the piece of 295 between the ghost Somerset Freeway and US 1 was redesignated I-95, and exit numbers were changed accordingly).
Hagstrom street maps of Middlesex County, N.J., from the 70s show the 95 designation (and only the 95 designation) on what is now 287 from the Turnpike to the north end of the ghost Somerset Freeway.  And well into the 90s, the starting point for exit numbering on 287 was the Somerset Freeway junction rather than the Turnpike - exit numbers weren't posted down there, but the exits farther north were calculated from there.  In the 90s (probably) all those exit numbers where adjusted (and the exit numbers all the way to the Turnpike were posted), so that the numbering now starts at the Turnpike.

Interstate 295's exit numbers went as far as west as U.S. 206 until 1993. I have video from then showing the black/yellow "Formerly Exit XX" signs.

Regarding Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, indeed the last stretch to open was the freeway around Philadelphia International Airport. I remember all traffic being dumped onto Pennsylvania 291 at what is now Exit 10. The drive along PA-291 was extremely congested through there until the 1985 completion.

And I went by there too on either end of Christmas 1984, and again in the summer of '85 (Flew into Philly from Columbus instead of driving with the parents there in the mid 80s).
Plus my 1984 Rand McNally didn't show I-95 complete around the airport either.

[PAHighways]

As I like to say, "Don't blame us, we built our portion of I-95."  It took until the 1980s to complete it through Philadelphia County, but it got done.

Tiny correction:  it was finished through Philadelphia by November of 1979.  I remember it well because I happened to use it to go to an Eagles game (from central New Jersey) and on the way home we heard the news of the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Teheran.

Exit 13 to Exit 23 opened at that time, but the portion from Exit 10 to Exit 13 wasn't opened to traffic until December 15, 1985 for reasons I go into on my I-95 page.

[Grzrd]

The I-95 Interchange Project officially began on Monday with the closing of the Bristol-Oxford Valley Road Bridge: http://www.paturnpikei95.com/pdf/GallowayBOVBridgesReplaceNewsRelease.pdf

Does anyone think project will be completed within 15 years?

[Stephane Dumas]

Does anyone think project will be completed within 15 years?

Let's cross our fingers and knock on wood. I guess they might go by phase 1, phase 2, etc....

[PAHighways]

Does anyone think project will be completed within 15 years?

The interchange and re-routing of I-95 will be completed long before then, but I don't think the entire project will be completed in that time frame.

[mightyace]

^^^

What do you think won't be done?

The second Delaware River Bridge?

The rehab of the existing bridge?