How long, though, before the New Urbanists Kool-Aid their way in with the "We could save even MORE money if we just converted current Wilmington I-95 to a surface boulevard and rerouted I-95 around the city via I-495!!!! CARS SUCK!!! OUT!!!!" nonsense?
Such was considered for the Philly stretch as well but was thankfully stopped by the fact that the daily traffic counts for that particular stretch were well over 120,000-130,000 vehicles. Both I-676 & 76, especially the 4-lane sections, in that area get gridlocked on a daily basis already; both roads would be hopelessly gridlocked 24/7 if that piece of I-95 was not in the picture.
However, unlike Philly, Wilmington does have the wider 6-lane I-495 within close proximity; so one advocating a highway removal advocate could use that as an argument. Such a plan would mean that I-495 would be redesignated
again as I-95.
The big questions for such would be:
1. What are the current daily traffic counts for I-95 through downtown Wilmington?
2. How much of those fore-mentioned counts local/o&d traffic?
3. Wouldn't the stakeholders, mainly the Riverfront venues, have a say on the matter?
I mentioned such earlier either here or on the general Delaware thread that those venues
rely on that portion of I-95 as a transportation means for their patrons, service & delivery vehicles. The DART busses & SEPTA/Amtrak rail services in the area are woefully inadequate for such.