PennDOT launching four-year I-95 construction project

A $211.7 million project designed to rebuild 1.5 miles of I-95 is set to begin Monday, June 9, and wrap up roughly four years from now in the summer of 2018.

The project – the second largest construction contract in PennDOT history – is a next step in PennDOT’s plans to rebuild the I-95/Girard Avenue Interchange and three miles of I-95, from Race Street to just south of Allegheny Avenue. The work will both address critical repairs on the existing, aging infrastructure and widen the I-95 corridor to four travel lanes in each direction.

The work beginning Monday will rebuild the northbound portion of I-95 between the Girard Avenue and Allegheny Avenue interchanges in Philadelphia.

In total, this $211.7 million project will:

Reconstruct the ramps at Girard Avenue Interchange

Replace three mainline viaducts

Replace two bridges on northbound ramps

Reconstruct and improve Delaware Avenue between Columbia Avenue and Aramingo Avenue

Construct three retaining walls

Install several sign structures

Relocate underground and aerial utility lines

During construction, three travel lanes will remain open in each direction – though drivers will experience overnight lane closures as crews paint new traffic lines and set concrete barriers next week.

This new work will merge into PennDOT’s half-mile construction zone between I-676 and Columbia Avenue.

Two related projects are already under way. Since late 2011, crews have been rebuilding and improving local surface streets, replacing bridges and relocating major utility lines near the Girard Avenue Interchange. That $91.2 million project is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2015.

PennDOT is also in the midst of a $39 million project to widen and rebuild 1,200 feet of I-95 just south of the Girard Ave Interchange and to replace the bridges over Shackamaxon Street, Marlborough Street and Columbia Avenue. This work should be complete next summer. 

Motorists can check I-95 conditions – including traffic delays, weather forecasts and speed information - by visiting www.511PA.com or calling 5-1-1.

Source: Philly.com