Interstate 295 (Delaware – New Jersey)

Interstate 295 (abbreviated I-295) in New Jersey and Delaware is an auxiliary Interstate Highway, designated as a bypass around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The route begins at a junction with Interstate 95 south of Wilmington, Delaware, and runs to another junction with I-95 north of Trenton, New Jersey. The route heads east from I-95 and crosses the Delaware River from Delaware to New Jersey on the Delaware Memorial Bridge concurrent with U.S. Route 40. Upon entering New Jersey, the two routes split and I-295 runs parallel to the New Jersey Turnpike for most of its course in New Jersey. After a concurrency with U.S. Route 130 in Gloucester County, I-295 interchanges with Interstate 76 and Route 42 in Camden County. The route continues northeast toward Trenton, where it intersects Interstate 195 and Route 29 before bypassing the city to the east and ending at an interchange with U.S. Route 1 in Lawrence Township, where the route becomes I-95 southbound.

Two portions of I-295 predate the Interstate Highway System, the Delaware Memorial Bridge, built in 1951, and the portion concurrent with US 130, built in two sections that opened in 1948 and 1954. The route was designated on these sections in 1958. The portion of I-295 connecting to I-95 in Delaware opened in 1963 while most of the route in New Jersey was finished by the 1980s. The last portion of I-295 to be completed, near the interchange with I-195 and Route 29, was completed in 1994. Interstate 95 was originally supposed to continue northeast from the routes' junction near Trenton on the proposed Somerset Freeway, but this plan was canceled, limiting I-295's capability as a true bypass between Baltimore and New York City. Today, traffic on Interstate 295 is directed to take Interstate 195 (or surface street connections farther south) to the New Jersey Turnpike to reach New York City. The same route is prescribed for traffic on I-95 in Pennsylvania and near Trenton to bridge the gap with I-95 farther north. I-295 previously extended a few miles past the US 1 interchange to where it would have met the Somerset Freeway; in 1993, the portion past US 1 became part of I-95. As a result of the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, I-295 was originally planned to continue past its northern terminus along I-95, crossing into Pennsylvania and heading south to the interchange. Instead, it was decided that I-195 would be extended into Pennsylvania, moving the northern terminus of I-295 to the I-195 interchange south of Trenton.

Route description

I-295 begins at a complex interchange with the Delaware Turnpike/I-95, I-495, and Delaware Route 141 in New Castle, Delaware. From there, it runs for about six miles (10 km) east, then crosses the Delaware River via the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is actually two twin suspension bridges carrying traffic in opposite directions. One bridge carries traffic from Delaware to New Jersey, while the other span carries traffic from New Jersey to Delaware. At the New Jersey approaches of the toll bridge, a connection is provided with the south end of the New Jersey Turnpike. The Delaware Memorial Bridge is the only toll portion of the highway, and only about six miles (10 km) of the entire route of I-295 lie in Delaware. I-295 is concurrent with U.S. Route 40 across the Delaware Memorial Bridge.^[4]

For its entire route (excluding the portion north of I-195 near Trenton and its route in Delaware), I-295 closely parallels both the New Jersey Turnpike and U.S. Route 130; sometimes the turnpike is visible from I-295. In the region, I-295 serves as a local complement to the New Jersey Turnpike since it has more interchanges with local roads. Interstate 195 is the only expressway connection between the two routes besides their junction near the Delaware Memorial Bridge, as I-295 has no interchange with the Turnpike's Pennsylvania Turnpike Connector (the "Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension"), and the Turnpike has no interchange with Route 42 (the North–South Freeway).^[4]

South of the interchange with Interstate 76 and Route 42, 9 miles (14 km) of I-295 (between exit 13 and exit 23) is concurrent with U.S. Route 130, and was in fact built as part of US 130 before the Interstate Highway System was created. The interchange with I-76 (exit 26) is a semi-directional T, and the nearby junction with Route 42 is a single Y, with through traffic on I-295 northbound forced to merge and re-exit from Route 42/I-76.^[4] Due to the complex interchange design and resulting weaving, the speed limit on I-295 through the area is 35 mph (56 km/h).^[3][4]

North of Camden, I-295 continues north, paralleling the New Jersey Turnpike. At around exit 56 in Bordentown, I-295 takes a slight westerly turn away from the New Jersey Turnpike and continues its run towards Trenton. North of exit 57, I-295 becomes less rural and passes through a more open area where more buildings and a farther distance could be seen from the freeway, a sign that I-295 is leaving the Delaware Valley area and entering the New York metropolitan area. Upon reaching its interchange with Interstate 195 (one of the last portions of the freeway to be completed), it no longer parallels with the New Jersey Turnpike and runs along the eastern side of Trenton. At Exit 67 with U.S. Route 1 in Lawrence Township, Interstate 295 ends and becomes Interstate 95 south to Pennsylvania.^[4] Interstate 295 originally continued approximately five miles beyond this point to a proposed interchange with the Somerset Freeway just east of Interstate 95's current exit with Route 31.^[5][6] The site is marked by an unusually wide median between the travel lanes. Had the Somerset Freeway been completed, Interstate 295 would have ended here at a completed Interstate 95 between Philadelphia and New York City. When the Somerset Freeway was cancelled, Interstate 95 was extended and Interstate 295 was truncated to their current termini at US 1. The portion running through New Jersey is sometimes referred to as the Camden Freeway by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.^[7]

History

Portions of what is now Interstate 295 were planned as early as the 1940s as a bypass replacement for U.S. Route 130 in southern New Jersey, as well as the Route 39 beltway around Trenton. The first section of the US 130 bypass in Gloucester County (between current exits 21 and 24) opened in 1948, with a second section (between exits 14 and 21) opening in 1954.^[1] Both these sections were originally signed only as US 130, but became a part of I-295 in 1958.^[1]

Also among the earliest portions of I-295 to be built are the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Delaware approach. When the bridge opened on August 16, 1951, so did the eastern two miles (3 km) of I-295 in Delaware, between U.S. Route 13 and the bridge. The bridge was signed as a portion of U.S. Route 40, and also became a part of I-295 in 1958. The western section from US 13 to I-95 opened with the completion of the Delaware Turnpike in 1963, which – when combined with the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Harbor Tunnel Thruway, JFK Memorial Highway, and New Jersey Turnpike – completed a nonstop freeway between Washington, D.C., and New York City.^[8]

The remainder of Interstate 295 through New Jersey was planned as Federal Aid Interstate Route 108, which was created by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in 1956^[1] when the Interstate Highways System was being planned but not yet numbered. Interstate 295 was mostly complete (especially south of Trenton) by the 1980s; the last portion to be completed was around the Interstate 195/Route 29 interchange in 1994.^[1]

The Interstate 295 expressway originally had extended farther north (along current Interstate 95) and ended at the unconstructed interchange where the Somerset Freeway would have intersected it in Hopewell Township. I-295 continued for an extra 4 miles (thereby making its length in New Jersey about 72 miles). Thus, what are now the three northernmost exits on I-95 were numbered as part of I-295: I-95 Exit 8 for County Route 583 (Princeton Pike) was Exit 68 on I-295, I-95 Exit 7 for U.S. Route 206 was Exit 69 on I-295, and I-95 Exit 5 for Federal City Road was Exit 71 on I-295. For several years after plans for the Somerset Freeway were terminated, I-295 still continued north; in 1993 the NJDOT shortened the length of I-295 and extended the I-95 designation along I-295's former 4-mile (6.4 km) stretch to the exit for U.S. Route 1.^[5][6]

Since the section of Interstate 95 near Trenton ends at the junction with Interstate 295 and U.S. Route 1, NJDOT installed signs that direct motorists to the main part of Interstate 95. At I-295's northern terminus, there are signs directing traffic for Interstate 95 and the New Jersey Turnpike to follow I-295 south. This signage continues south for approximately 7 miles (11 km) and then directs motorists to leave I-295 at Exit 60 for Interstate 195 east. Motorists then must travel on I-195 for approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) to the main section of Interstate 95 and New Jersey Turnpike.^[9][10]

The expressway, like many others in New Jersey, once had solar powered emergency call boxes every 1.0-mile (1.6 km). However, with the advent of cell phones, the usage of these call boxes became extremely limited. To save on maintenance costs, the NJDOT removed these call boxes in 2005. Due to difficulty replacing parts, the call boxes are disappearing from many other highways as well, such as I-195, I-280, I-78, I-80, NJ 55, and NJ 208.^[11][12] In 2010, I-295 was paved with concrete from Exit 40 to north of Exit 57 (the beginning of what was built in 1994 which is paved with asphalt) but is currently undergoing an asphalt overlay.

Future

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is currently planning to reconstruct the interchange with Interstate 76 and Route 42 south of Camden. The project is necessary to create a direct connection for I-295 through the interchange, eliminate weaving between I-295 and I-76, and to fill in the missing movements between I-295 and Route 42 south of the interchange.^[13] There were several alternatives proposed for the interchange design, which were then shortlisted to five.^[14] In 2007, "Alternative D" for the reconstructed interchange was selected, calling for I-295 to cross over the North–South Freeway. This interchange, which will resemble two Directional-T interchanges, is projected to cost $450 million with construction taking place between 2011 and 2015.^[15]

The northern portion of Interstate 295 will be affected by the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. With the completion of the project, Interstate 95 will be redesignated along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to connect with the New Jersey Turnpike (currently the northern section of I-95) at exit 6, and the I-95 designation will be removed from the section north of the interchange in Pennsylvania. Under the original plan, I-295 would have been extended past its current terminus at US 1 along current I-95, across the Scudder Falls Bridge, and into Pennsylvania to the new interchange.^[16][17]

However, in September 2005, the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania came to an agreement that, instead, Interstate 195 would be extended along this section of I-95.^[18] This means that the extended I-195 would replace the portion of I-95 between the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, and U.S. Route 1 in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It would also replace Interstate 295 north of exit 60 in Hamilton Township, New Jersey (its exit with I-195), truncating I-295 at that junction. This option would reduce the confusion of having I-295 parallel itself in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.^[19] This proposal has received conditional approval from AASHTO.^[20] Interchange renumbering will also take place that will coordinate with the future I-195 designation in Pennsylvania, as well as the new and current I-195 designation, from Ewing to Belmar in New Jersey.^[21] The future route designation can be seen here.

Exit list

In Delaware, the exits are not numbered.

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• Delaware portal
• New Jersey portal

References

External links

• I-295 on Kurumi.com
• NJDOT Straight Line Diagrams
• Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission I-95/I-276 Interchange Project Home
• I-295/I-76/Route 42 Direct Connection Overview
• AASHTO Homepage