95/295 in Delaware

[Mergingtraffic]

I haven't been on I-295 SB merging onto I-95 SB since work was done. I remember it would go down to 2-lanes after an exit and backup big time. Looking at GSV, it looks like they extended the theee lanes but it STILL goes down to 2 before I-95.  I've been through there a handful of times and I can't believe they didn't 3-lane it to 95.
Amazing

NB I see they're adding a lane finally.  I'm surprised nobody exits left off of the US-13 to get back on again. lol

[MASTERNC]

Work to begin the NB expansion is starting next week

https://www.wdel.com/news/work-set-to-begin-on-major-i-295-northbound-project/article_50a42a66-4f99-11ef-b4ff-2722f55e4811.html

[Alex4897]

NB I see they're adding a lane finally.  I'm surprised nobody exits left off of the US-13 to get back on again. lol

By the time the C/D lane for US 13 appears on the left the traffic's already broken up as you've passed the entrance of the bottleneck. The C/D lane at 141 offers a better opportunity to skip the wait.

[jeffandnicole]

I haven't been on I-295 SB merging onto I-95 SB since work was done. I remember it would go down to 2-lanes after an exit and backup big time. Looking at GSV, it looks like they extended the theee lanes but it STILL goes down to 2 before I-95.  I've been through there a handful of times and I can't believe they didn't 3-lane it to 95.
Amazing

After the DRBA worked on it, it was functioning quite well.  Keeping 295 as 3 lanes past 13 was needed - there is by far more traffic staying on 295 at this point than going to 13. I kinda wished they made the right-center lane an option lane for 295 or the 13/40 split, rather than forcing all exiting traffic into the right lane, but otherwise this worked.

Further south, the 3rd lane became an Exit-Only lane for DE 141. This also worked, because most days there is quite a bit of traffic that exits 295 onto 141.  While it only left 2 lanes onto 95 South, most days there wasn't an issue because it could adequately handle the traffic, and those 2 lanes continued as thru lanes on 95 South.

But, then DelDOT came in, and decided to give 95 traffic entering the interchange 4 lanes.  Because there's only 5 lanes south of the interchange with 295, the 2 lanes of traffic coming from 295 merges down to 1 lane shortly after the gore point.  Motorists see that first "Left Lane Ends" sign, and because there's too many in the "must vacate ending lane now" camp, they stop and clog up the left lane trying to merge to the right.  Not only does traffic from 295 lose a lane, this further increases congestion on 295 South approaching this area.

So to summarize:  DRBA first made it better.  DelDOT then made it worse. 

Pro-tip:  When traffic is congested badly, stay left for the 141 North Exit.  Take the exit.  At the top of the ramp, stay right to take the ramp to I-95 South.  You end up on the right side of 95, away from that more-heavily congested area on the left.

NB I see they're adding a lane finally.  I'm surprised nobody exits left off of the US-13 to get back on again. lol

I've done this.  It does save a little time when 295 North is heavily congested.

[MASTERNC]

I haven't been on I-295 SB merging onto I-95 SB since work was done. I remember it would go down to 2-lanes after an exit and backup big time. Looking at GSV, it looks like they extended the theee lanes but it STILL goes down to 2 before I-95.  I've been through there a handful of times and I can't believe they didn't 3-lane it to 95.
Amazing

After the DRBA worked on it, it was functioning quite well.  Keeping 295 as 3 lanes past 13 was needed - there is by far more traffic staying on 295 at this point than going to 13. I kinda wished they made the right-center lane an option lane for 295 or the 13/40 split, rather than forcing all exiting traffic into the right lane, but otherwise this worked.

Further south, the 3rd lane became an Exit-Only lane for DE 141. This also worked, because most days there is quite a bit of traffic that exits 295 onto 141.  While it only left 2 lanes onto 95 South, most days there wasn't an issue because it could adequately handle the traffic, and those 2 lanes continued as thru lanes on 95 South.

But, then DelDOT came in, and decided to give 95 traffic entering the interchange 4 lanes.  Because there's only 5 lanes south of the interchange with 295, the 2 lanes of traffic coming from 295 merges down to 1 lane shortly after the gore point.  Motorists see that first "Left Lane Ends" sign, and because there's too many in the "must vacate ending lane now" camp, they stop and clog up the left lane trying to merge to the right.  Not only does traffic from 295 lose a lane, this further increases congestion on 295 South approaching this area.

So to summarize:  DRBA first made it better.  DelDOT then made it worse. 

Pro-tip:  When traffic is congested badly, stay left for the 141 North Exit.  Take the exit.  At the top of the ramp, stay right to take the ramp to I-95 South.  You end up on the right side of 95, away from that more-heavily congested area on the left.

NB I see they're adding a lane finally.  I'm surprised nobody exits left off of the US-13 to get back on again. lol

I've done this.  It does save a little time when 295 North is heavily congested.

Agreed.  Never understood why DelDOT gave 95 that fourth lane back.  The quick lane drop from 495 also makes little sense given the volume bypassing Wilmington.

[ixnay]

Pro-tip:  When traffic is congested badly, stay left for the 141 North Exit.  Take the exit.  At the top of the ramp, stay right to take the ramp to I-95 South.  You end up on the right side of 95, away from that more-heavily congested area on the left.

Comes in handy also if you intend to exit SB 95 at exit 4B, or 4A for Christiana Mall.  I've done jeffandnicole's suggestion a few times with the exit 4's on my radar, most recently a couple of Saturdays ago after doing some sightseeing in Salem County before going to Barnes & Noble at the mall.

[bluecountry]

I haven't been on I-295 SB merging onto I-95 SB since work was done. I remember it would go down to 2-lanes after an exit and backup big time. Looking at GSV, it looks like they extended the theee lanes but it STILL goes down to 2 before I-95.  I've been through there a handful of times and I can't believe they didn't 3-lane it to 95.
Amazing

After the DRBA worked on it, it was functioning quite well.  Keeping 295 as 3 lanes past 13 was needed - there is by far more traffic staying on 295 at this point than going to 13. I kinda wished they made the right-center lane an option lane for 295 or the 13/40 split, rather than forcing all exiting traffic into the right lane, but otherwise this worked.

Further south, the 3rd lane became an Exit-Only lane for DE 141. This also worked, because most days there is quite a bit of traffic that exits 295 onto 141.  While it only left 2 lanes onto 95 South, most days there wasn't an issue because it could adequately handle the traffic, and those 2 lanes continued as thru lanes on 95 South.

But, then DelDOT came in, and decided to give 95 traffic entering the interchange 4 lanes.  Because there's only 5 lanes south of the interchange with 295, the 2 lanes of traffic coming from 295 merges down to 1 lane shortly after the gore point.  Motorists see that first "Left Lane Ends" sign, and because there's too many in the "must vacate ending lane now" camp, they stop and clog up the left lane trying to merge to the right.  Not only does traffic from 295 lose a lane, this further increases congestion on 295 South approaching this area.

So to summarize:  DRBA first made it better.  DelDOT then made it worse. 

Pro-tip:  When traffic is congested badly, stay left for the 141 North Exit.  Take the exit.  At the top of the ramp, stay right to take the ramp to I-95 South.  You end up on the right side of 95, away from that more-heavily congested area on the left.

NB I see they're adding a lane finally.  I'm surprised nobody exits left off of the US-13 to get back on again. lol

I've done this.  It does save a little time when 295 North is heavily congested.

When was 295 SB two lanes onto 95 SB? 

[jeffandnicole]

When was 295 SB two lanes onto 95 SB? 

After they added the 5th lane in the Churchmans Marsh area, so from about 2010 thru 2022.

[mrsman]

I haven't been on I-295 SB merging onto I-95 SB since work was done. I remember it would go down to 2-lanes after an exit and backup big time. Looking at GSV, it looks like they extended the theee lanes but it STILL goes down to 2 before I-95.  I've been through there a handful of times and I can't believe they didn't 3-lane it to 95.
Amazing

After the DRBA worked on it, it was functioning quite well.  Keeping 295 as 3 lanes past 13 was needed - there is by far more traffic staying on 295 at this point than going to 13. I kinda wished they made the right-center lane an option lane for 295 or the 13/40 split, rather than forcing all exiting traffic into the right lane, but otherwise this worked.

Further south, the 3rd lane became an Exit-Only lane for DE 141. This also worked, because most days there is quite a bit of traffic that exits 295 onto 141.  While it only left 2 lanes onto 95 South, most days there wasn't an issue because it could adequately handle the traffic, and those 2 lanes continued as thru lanes on 95 South.

But, then DelDOT came in, and decided to give 95 traffic entering the interchange 4 lanes.  Because there's only 5 lanes south of the interchange with 295, the 2 lanes of traffic coming from 295 merges down to 1 lane shortly after the gore point.  Motorists see that first "Left Lane Ends" sign, and because there's too many in the "must vacate ending lane now" camp, they stop and clog up the left lane trying to merge to the right.  Not only does traffic from 295 lose a lane, this further increases congestion on 295 South approaching this area.

So to summarize:  DRBA first made it better.  DelDOT then made it worse. 

Pro-tip:  When traffic is congested badly, stay left for the 141 North Exit.  Take the exit.  At the top of the ramp, stay right to take the ramp to I-95 South.  You end up on the right side of 95, away from that more-heavily congested area on the left.

NB I see they're adding a lane finally.  I'm surprised nobody exits left off of the US-13 to get back on again. lol

I've done this.  It does save a little time when 295 North is heavily congested.

This is an excellent summary.  Thanks.

As I and others have said on this thread, it is an absolute shame the way these lanes are assigned at this merge.  Obviously, there is going to have to be some compromises made when so many lanes of traffic from 295, 495, and 95 merge together unto what ultimately becomes a 5 lane expressway, but given that 295 seems to be the source of more than half the traffic, it would have been nice if 295 could have at least 2 of the 5 lanes of that 5 lane expressway instead of just 1.  This means that the combined 95/495 traffic would have 3 of the 5 lanes instead of 4 of the 5 lanes.

And the easiest place to put the squeeze on the 95/495 traffic would be right at the exit for 141.  With the current lane assignments, 95 and 495 combine into a 5 lane expressway due to the two lanes of 495 merging and a flyover from 495 joining on the right side.  This 5 lanes is then opened to 6 as the 4th lane has a choice of staying with the main lanes or going to the C/D roadway.  But if this 6 lane widening does not happen, by forcing both the 4th and the 5th lanes onto the C/D roadway, thereby narrowing 95 into three lanes, we provide enough room to safely and efficiently merge two lanes from 295 without huge backups.

Alas, it isn't so.