I-95 Missing Links

[Fcexpress80]

This Interstate has had more realignments than almost any major Interstate.  Have the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey gotten anywhere on an interchange from I-95 to the Penn TPK extension north of Philly that crosses the Delaware River and hooks into the NJ TPK?  This would become the "new" I-95 to NYC and the portion north of Philly is reduced to 3-di status.

[Alps]

Tangible work is coming.  2014 may be the opening year now instead of 2012.

[agentsteel53]

absolutely the worst excuse for an interstate in the system.  95 to 195 to 295 to 695 to 1595 to 238 to the f'n Oregon Trail and the after a long drive through a cow-infested swamp, you're back on 95.

at least Breezewood is signed.

[PAHighways]

This Interstate has had more realignments than almost any major Interstate.  Have the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey gotten anywhere on an interchange from I-95 to the Penn TPK extension north of Philly that crosses the Delaware River and hooks into the NJ TPK?  This would become the "new" I-95 to NYC and the portion north of Philly is reduced to 3-di status.

The plan for an I-95 interchange has been in the works for years now.  http://www.paturnpikei95.com/ is the official site of the project.

The plan is to decommission I-295 north of I-195, and the latter will take over the route of 295 and 95 down to the Turnpike.

[Alex]

And a terrible idea at that, Interstate 195 will be to the west, north, and east of Trenton, and will also connect Trenton with the N.J. Turnpike and coastline.

[mightyace]

And a terrible idea at that, Interstate 195 will be to the west, north, and east of Trenton, and will also connect Trenton with the N.J. Turnpike and coastline.

And like I-376 near Pittsburgh, it will touch its parent twice.  Once, of course, at the new interchange with the PA Turnpike and it will cross I-95 at exit 7A.

I liked the other idea where I-295 would take over I-95 from the PA Turnpike to Trenton.

[74/171FAN]

And a terrible idea at that, Interstate 195 will be to the west, north, and east of Trenton, and will also connect Trenton with the N.J. Turnpike and coastline.

And like I-376 near Pittsburgh, it will touch its parent twice.  Once, of course, at the new interchange with the PA Turnpike and it will cross I-95 at exit 7A.

I liked the other idea where I-295 would take over I-95 from the PA Turnpike to Trenton.

I-295 would still have intersected I-95 twice with a bridge over it for a third crossing

[mightyace]

And a terrible idea at that, Interstate 195 will be to the west, north, and east of Trenton, and will also connect Trenton with the N.J. Turnpike and coastline.

And like I-376 near Pittsburgh, it will touch its parent twice.  Once, of course, at the new interchange with the PA Turnpike and it will cross I-95 at exit 7A.

I liked the other idea where I-295 would take over I-95 from the PA Turnpike to Trenton.

I-295 would still have intersected I-95 twice with a bridge over it for a third crossing

Open mouth, insert foot. 

[akotchi]

I mentioned this in another thread, but . . .

My preference would be to have a new number assigned to the orphaned piece of I-95, such as I-695 or I-895.  It makes more sense directionally, and requires little change to the existing signing except for swapping shields.  Also avoids the awkward issues regarding posting cardinal directions like on I-295 and I-64 in Virginia.

[mightyace]

I mentioned this in another thread, but . . .

My preference would be to have a new number assigned to the orphaned piece of I-95, such as I-695 or I-895.  It makes more sense directionally, and requires little change to the existing signing except for swapping shields.  Also avoids the awkward issues regarding posting cardinal directions like on I-295 and I-64 in Virginia.

I think I'd be OK with that.  But, you know it will never happen because that actually makes sense. 

[akotchi]

So true . . . I can dream, can't I?   

[Duke87]

The problem really is that I-95 travels through the entirety of the most densely populated part of the country. New York got it built through with the Cross Bronx Expressway. Similar plans in Washington and Boston were nixed by the whole freeway revolt thing, forcing the route to be sloppily rerouted around the city instead in both cases. And thus there really is no good way around or through DC, and long distance traffic is better off bypassing Boston (and Providence and New London) via 91, 84, 90, and 495 - rejoining I-95 nearly 200 miles from where you last saw it.

In the same fashion, some of the more affluent towns in central Jersey didn't want I-95 cutting right through them - forcing the Somerset Freeway to be canceled and leaving a gap in the highway since there was no good way to reroute it that wouldn't remove it from Philadelphia entirely.
The public complains, and the government has to listen to the voters. It happens. What there's no excuse for is that nearly 30 years after the freeway was canceled, there's still no interchange in Bristol to very simply allow a non-gapped route. It's proposed by the feds, PTC takes a decade to get around to doing anything about it, and another decade to do an impact study. Ridiculous.

[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.

[vdeane]

The fact that the interchange wasn't built in the first place (regardless of the I-95 situation) doesn't make sense to me.  Two major interstates cross and you can't even move between them.

[mightyace]

The fact that the interchange wasn't built in the first place (regardless of the I-95 situation) doesn't make sense to me.  Two major interstates cross and you can't even move between them.

Well, that's been the case all across Pennsylvania along the Turnpike for years.

IIRC It stems from the fact that there must be cooperation between the PTC and PennDOT to manage such interchanges and PTC doesn't want to give up control.

So you have, from west to east...
Exit 28 Cranberry - A direct link to I-79 has only existed for a couple of years.

Exit 48 - There still is no direct connection between the PA 28 freeway and the Turnpike.  The current route is a confusing run over surface roads. I know this from personal experience.

east of Exit 110 Somerset - the US 219 freeway has existed for 20-30 years  with no connction to the turnpike and the closest exits on 219 3-5 miles away.

exit 146 Bedford - US 220 and I-99 - long before the designation of the infamous I-99, there has never been a direct connection between the freeway and the Turnpike.

exit 161 Breezewood - I-70 - I think we all know about this one.

exit 226 Carlisle - To get to/from I-81 one must still take the original turnpike terminus at US 11 and trudge a mile or so to I-81.

exits 236 (US15), 242 (I-83), 247 (I-283) - all have direct connections to the freeways in question.  It just so happens that these are the Harrisburg interchanges. And if you believe that one...

east of exit 247 - PA 283 crosses the Turnpike several miles east of exit 247, since PA 283 ends at I-283 just north of exit 247, it's debatable if this is a problem or not.

exit 286 - For years, the exit still went to PA 272 instead of the new US 222 alignment.

exit 299 Morgantown - the freeway that is now I-176 has existed since the 1960s but it wasn't until the late 90's early 00's that a direct connection was finally built.

exit 326 Valley Forge - one of the few exits with freeway connections from the beginning, while there is no direct US 422 connection it's close proximity to the Schuylkill Expressway makes this a non-issue.

exit 333/20 Mid-county - the connection to the free section of I-476 was the last part of I-476 to be finished.

I'm not familiar with the situations at Exit 339 (PA 309) or Exit 351 (US 1) that are freeway connections today.

So, I-95 is just the last in a long line of non-connections.

[froggie]

exit 286 - For years, the exit still went to PA 272 instead of the new US 222 alignment.

Although it isn't a direct freeway-to-freeway interchange, this one isn't too bad since there's nothing between the US 222 interchange and the Turnpike interchange except for the toll booth...

[vdeane]

Indeed there are many examples, though it is one of the worse ones as the nearest exit on I-276 is three miles away.  I'll add the ones on I-476 too:
-Mid-county interchange explained above (listed here for the sake of being complete)
-Direct connection to US 22, but not I-78
-Interchange with I-80 is not freeway-to-freeway
-Exit 115 with I-81 involves surface streets
-The ending connection with I-81 is freeway-to-freeway, but it involves sharp turns and at least one stop

Of these, exit 115 on I-476 is the least likely to ever be fixed (it would simply encourage even more people to bypass the turnpike).  The ideal solution would be to end the turnpike here with a direct connection to I-81 with the remaining section north of I-81 (around I-81's exit 180) to be an I-x81 with direct connections at each end and more interchanges.  This would significantly improve transportation in the Scranton area.

[mightyace]

^^^^ deanej,

I thought about the Northeast Extension, but I didn't write about it for two reasons.

1) That post was long enough already.
2) IMHO, the issues on the extension aren't as egregious as on the mainline.

-Direct connection to US 22, but not I-78

I used this exit a little over a month ago.  Given the proximity of I-78 "cutting the corner" between US 22 and PA 309 to the existing exit, IMHO it's not a big deal not having a direct connection.  If you go west on US 22, you shortly join I-78 and to get to I-78 east, US 22 East to PA 309 South.  Getting around would be harder if you could only get to I-78.

Also, when this was built, I-78 was supposed to take the current US 22 routing, it was later rerouted to its current alignment as I suppose it was cheaper and/or easier to build the new I-78 south of town than to upgrade US 22 to interstate standards, especially in Phillipsburg, NJ where US 22 follows surface streets.

-Interchange with I-80 is not freeway-to-freeway

That would be ideal, but as traffic on PA 940 is minimal, there is usually very little wait at the traffic light.  Since you have to stop to at the toll booth unless you have EZPass this is a minor delay.

-Exit 115 with I-81 involves surface streets

I can't argue with that.  But, I don't think I'd worry about diverting traffic off the turnpike north of that exit.  That stretch from 115 to the terminus has never had much traffic even with moving to an open tolling system.  To get enough exits to make it useful, it would either need to be all electronic tolling or a free highway section.

-The ending connection with I-81 is freeway-to-freeway, but it involves sharp turns and at least one stop

I'm familiar with the sharp turns both on the main-line and the double trumpet to get to I-81, but what stop is there other than the toll booth?

[froggie]

-Exit 115 with I-81 involves surface streets

I can't argue with that.  But, I don't think I'd worry about diverting traffic off the turnpike north of that exit.  That stretch from 115 to the terminus has never had much traffic even with moving to an open tolling system.  To get enough exits to make it useful, it would either need to be all electronic tolling or a free highway section.

Two points:  though the connection to I-81 at Exit 115 involves surface streets, there are only traffic signals if you are going to/from I-81 South.  One could argue that the connection to/from I-81 North is semi-direct, given ramps and the auxiliary lanes along PA 315.

Second point:  although a direct connection to/from I-81 North at the northern terminus would be nice, I actually like this northern leg of the extension for several reasons:

- It's 3 miles shorter than taking I-81.
- Aside from the toll plazas and the bridge over the valley at Clarks Summit, it's signed 65 MPH, whereas I-81 is 55 MPH.
- There's very little traffic, which makes it much easier to maintain a decent speed, unlike the "platoon hell" along I-81.

So, even with the toll, it became my route of choice through Scranton when I was making my Norfolk-Syracuse runs years ago.  I figure it saved me anywhere from 3-5 minutes over taking I-81.

-The ending connection with I-81 is freeway-to-freeway, but it involves sharp turns and at least one stop

I'm familiar with the sharp turns both on the main-line and the double trumpet to get to I-81, but what stop is there other than the toll booth?

The off-ramp from southbound I-81 has a stop sign where it meets the loop ramp coming from northbound I-81.

[agentsteel53]

at the time that the interstate system was planned, interchanges between freeways and toll roads was not a priority.  The I-79 junction was only built somewhat recently, and I believe there wasn't originally a connection where the free road crosses the Ohio Turnpike and I-76 and I-80 swap numbers.  Even now it is very clumsy, with the only example in the interstate system of not only having to exit one's self to stay on the road with the same number, but even having to go through a stop-and-go toll plaza!

As you can see, the older turnpikes were just not 100% compatible with the new Interstate system.  There are also some quirks around Albany regarding I-87, I-90, and the New York Thruway.

[akotchi]

I'm not familiar with the situations at Exit 339 (PA 309) or Exit 351 (US 1) that are freeway connections today.

So, I-95 is just the last in a long line of non-connections.

Exit 339 has direct ramp connections to/from Route 309, though the entire interchange was just rebuilt.

Exit 351 has direct ramps to and from U.S. 1, but it is a very tight trumpet with other exits north and south dangerously close.  Signing along U.s. 1 is also horrible.  I am hearing that there is a project in the near future (?) to reconstruct/widen the roadway and interchanges, not related to the Turnpike work, but compatible with it.

[PAHighways]

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.

[leifvanderwall]

You know what I would do with I-95 in the Philly area ? I would put I-95E on the NJ Turnpike and I-95W on the current I-95 through Philly , finally build the interchange on I-276, then use the remainder of I-276 east to rejoin 95 E & W. It's too bad noone thought of that before.

[Roadgeek Adam]

You know what I would do with I-95 in the Philly area ? I would put I-95E on the NJ Turnpike and I-95W on the current I-95 through Philly , finally build the interchange on I-276, then use the remainder of I-276 east to rejoin 95 E & W. It's too bad noone thought of that before.

Not happening. Also I think the plan with 195 was dumped a few months ago, and 295 would've been extended, but I can't claim perfectly.

[vdeane]

You know what I would do with I-95 in the Philly area ? I would put I-95E on the NJ Turnpike and I-95W on the current I-95 through Philly , finally build the interchange on I-276, then use the remainder of I-276 east to rejoin 95 E & W. It's too bad noone thought of that before.

Probably the reason is that we aren't supposed to have suffixed interstates anymore.  The only reason I-35 does it is because the cities couldn't agree on who would get I-35 when they were removed.

If I-295's extended, what does that mean for its direction?  Does one suddenly go from heading north to heading south?