Posted on 01/14/2018 1:06:19 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials have announced the section of what is now I-95 in New Jersey from the Scudder Falls Bridge over the Delaware River to the Route 1 Interchange in Mercer County will be redesignated as I-295 in early 2018.
This change is part of a larger project in which a new interchange is being constructed to connect I-95 to I-276/Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bristol Township, Pa. The Pennsylvania Turnpike connects to the New Jersey Turnpike at Interchange 6 via the New Jersey Turnpike Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension in Florence, N.J. When the new I-95/Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange is completed in Bristol, these highways will be redesignated as I-95, which will create a continuous I-95 from Pennsylvania through New Jersey.
Currently, I-95 runs from Philadelphia north across the Delaware River at the Scudders Fall Bridge into New Jersey and ends at the Route 1 Interchange, where the roadway becomes I-295. This creates a gap in I-95, which picks up again as part of the New Jersey Turnpike at Interchange 7A in Robbinsville, N.J.
The section of what is now I-95 in New Jersey will become I-295 by extending the existing I-295 from the Route 1 Interchange to the Delaware River. Concurrently, the I-95 section in Pennsylvania, from the Delaware River south to the new interchange will be redesignated as I-295.
New Exit Numbers for Seven Interchanges
As a result of this change, there are seven interchanges in New Jersey and four interchanges in Pennsylvania that will be renumbered. Additionally, four exits on I-195 in Hamilton will be renumbered to match the I-195 milepost numbering. For more information, visit state.nj.us/transportation/commuter/roads/I95-295/.
Beginning in January, highway signs, as well as mile markers, will be replaced on the mainline and approaches of I-95 and I-295 in New Jersey to reflect the redesignation of the interstate and exit numbers. The new exit numbers will correspond to new milepost markers as a continuation of the existing I-295. The former exit numbers will be displayed along with the new exit numbers.
The redesignation program to replace signs will consist of three phases. Phase 1 consists of replacing signs in New Jersey and is scheduled between January 2018 and March 2018 starting with existing I-95 Interchange 8/Princeton Pike and moving west toward the Delaware River. NJDOT will provide more information on the new highway designation and exit numbers as the project progresses, including the use of Portable Variable Message Signs during sign installation to inform motorists of the redesignation and exit renumbering process.
Phase 2, which will start in the spring 2018, will replace signs on both sides of the Delaware River within the Scudders Fall Bridge project limits (former I-95 Exit 1 in New Jersey and Exits 51 and 49 in Pennsylvania). Phase 3 will begin in late spring 2018 and replace signs at the remaining interchanges in Pennsylvania through the new interchange in Bristol.
NJDOT is working with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority, PENNDOT, and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission on this project. Public outreach is on-going and additional information can be found on http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/commuter/roads/I95-295/.
I was wondering when they would get around to this. It took 43 years to figure it out.
Having no faith in the bureaucracy of New Jersey to get anything right, I'm kinda surprised that they did it within my lifetime.
When construction started for I-295 in New Jersey in 1959 near Barrington, the highway was labeled NJ 60, the Delaware Valley Thruway. The Meyner administration succeeded in getting Route 60 folded into the interstate system as I-295, and it was so labeled when the first stretch opened in 1961. This was because the funding models for state highways and interstate highways under the 1956 law were radically different. The re-designation of Route 60 into I-295 saved New Jersey a lot of money.
The initial plans for I-95 would have brought the interstate into the New Jersey Turnpike near New Brunswick. By 1965, those plans were thrown into doubt due to cost. A variety of options were considered over the next decade.
I-195 was a case of New Jersey getting ahead of the game. Originally, NJ 38 was to branch from its existing route west of Pemberton, turn northwest as a freeway, and then pick up what is now NJ 138 near the shore. I-195's eastern path was new, but the western path was built on what would have been the Route 38 freeway. With federal monies now laid out on the interstate highway model, New Jersey paid less for it. The Route 38 freeway link from west of Pemberton was deleted from the state’s master plan, and the stretch of Route 38 by the shore was renumbered Route 138. The section of County 530 from just south of Mount Holly to Pemberton, labeled NJ 38 Temporary, was absorbed into the state highway system as plain old Route 38, which now ends at US 206.
Since 1975, no one was sure how I-95 would feed from Scudders Falls to the Turnpike. As that area of New Jersey began to build up, the projected cost began to turn astronomical.
There was also the question of whether Pennsylvania would ever link I-95, the Delaware Expressway, to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The plans for an I-895 link, which would have connected to PA 413, were deleted years ago due to exorbitant cost.
All things considered, this the cheapest solution.
When done project is completed, the original 1956 system and the 1968 expansion will be complete, except for for I-70’s interchange with I-76 at Breezewood, PA, which will never be fixed.
This does not include the non-chargeable interstates added since 1968.
“The” not “done”, $&@/?$ spell check!
NJ state gov. deliberately interfered with federal highway construction to block competition for the two toll roads that NJ owns. Numerous problems are related to that. Some have already been fixed. An example would be the long incomplete interchange between I78 and the GSP that has now been completed. The real I95 was supposed to interchange there. They waited to build some of the ramps until that was constructed and when it was cancelled, they just never built them at all.
There was supposed to be an I95 that was a totally separate road from the Turnpike. NJ blocked that in North Jersey but parts around Trenton(that didn’t threaten revenue on the toll roads) were built, making the roads in that area super confusing and illogical.
NJ state government built limited access highways just about before anyone else in the world and then fell behind the whole rest of the country due to the corrupt mentality that prevails here.
True.
There was supposed to be an I95 that was a totally separate road from the Turnpike. NJ blocked that in North Jersey but parts around Trenton(that didn’t threaten revenue on the toll roads) were built, making the roads in that area super confusing and illogical.
Part of the problem was a law that forbade a free bridge across the Delaware within a certain distance of existing toll bridges. The Scudders Falls crossing is only a few feet away from the legal limit.
NJ state government built limited access highways just about before anyone else in the world and then fell behind the whole rest of the country due to the corrupt mentality that prevails here.
In the US, Pennsylvania was first. Consider New Jersey in a tie with California, Illinois and New York. But you're right about the mentality. (in my best Marlon Brando impersonation) "Youse guys wouldn't want for us to not dip our beaks. It's the Joisey way."
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