December 22, 2016
Motorists driving I-95 into Center City from Northeast Philadelphia on Thursday may have noticed an extra lane open.
A fourth through lane opened on the freeway between the Cottman Avenue and Bridge Street interchanges on Wednesday night, a welcome end to the mainline construction of a $212 million project being completed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
The project is part of an ongoing effort to rebuild I-95. A major purpose is to expand the highway to include four through lanes traveling in each direction from Northeast Philly to I-676, but improvements are also being made to the exchange ramps, neighboring roads and intersections.
Though the mainline construction is complete on the 1.4 miles between Bleigh Avenue and Levick Street, there is still more work to complete underneath I-95.
"It's also about improving the neighborhoods below, giving them better access," PennDOT spokesman Brad Rudolph said. "The big picture is widening the interstate between Cottman and Vine (Street) right now. That's the big thing — for the 150,000 cars that take it each day."
Next year, PennDOT crews will complete work needed to extend Princeton Avenue east to Milnor Street, reconstruct New State Road and install a stormwater drainage pipe along Bleigh Avenue. The project, which began in 2012, is expected to be completed in the fall.
Then, PennDOT crews will move on to their next project on I-95.
"There will be projects, one after the other, coming for the next many years," Rudolph said. "Overall, it's to widen (I-95) between Cottman all the way down to Vine Street. We worked above Cottman in the years past. We're moving down the line."
Construction already has commenced on a project to reconstruct the Girard Avenue and Betsy Ross Bridge/Aramingo Avenue interchanges. Crews also are expected to begin rebuilding and improving the Bridge Street and Allegheny Avenue/Castor Avenue interchanges and adjacent segments of I-95 sometime in 2017.
Additionally, an $81 million project to rebuild and widen Aramingo Avenue between Church Street and Wheatsheaf Lane will kick off in 2017. It also will reconstruct Adams Avenue between Torresdale Avenue and Ashland Street and extend it from its current terminus at Ashland Street to a new ramp complex under construction. The project will continue until 2020.
