After 60 Years, 1,900-Mile-Long Interstate 95 Is Almost Finished (bloomberg.com)

"It has taken 60 years, but a small, strange gap in Interstate-95 is being filled," writes Slashdot reader McGruber. Bloomberg reports: Near the Pennsylvania border, drivers have long been forced off the interstate and onto other roadways, only to join back 8 miles away. Transportation officials and civil engineers spent more than two decades and $425 million to eliminate this detour off I-95, the most traveled highway in America, spanning 1,900 miles from Miami to Maine.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which oversees the I-95 Interchange Project, said the new infrastructure -- which includes the creation of flyover ramps, toll plaza facilities, environmental mitigation sites, intersections, six overhead bridges, widened highways and new connections to the New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes -- will be open to the public by Sept. 24. "The benefit of completing this 'missing link' is mobility," said Carl DeFebo, the director of public relations at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The new infrastructure will reduce traffic time for north- and south-bound travelers and ease congestion on local roads that used to connect I-95 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Comments

Thank God

[jfdavis668]

That gap was a major pain in the neck. For the traveler and the locals who lived there. Made it a pain for me to get to the airport or the sports stadiums. Rush hour and events just jammed up that entire area.

Re:Thank God

[greenwow]

I've driven roundtrip through there twice from Baltimore to Boston in 1988 and 1991, and I never even noticed the gap the four times (there and back twice) I've been through there. Amusingly assuming what I remember is correct, you didn't have to pay to get into New Jersey, but you gladly had to pay to leave.

But seriously, did I just miss the gap?

Re:Thank God

[SeriousTube]

You might have gone up the NJ Turnpike instead. That's the better route. It's is labeled 95 in its northern parts, but down near Philly, The NJT is in NJ and 95 is on the PA side along the east side of Philly.

Re:Thank God

[xjerky]

That's probably because you assumed that I-95 followed the entire length of the NJ Turnpike - which pretty much everyone has assumed all along. But no, I-95 runs down the Turnpike from NYC and then mysteriously stops being signed as such around Exit 9, even though there was no applicable interchange involved. Then the NJ Turnpike ends at the bridge into Delaware, where it meets up with the stub of I-95 that goes through Philadelphia and also mysteriously starts being signed as I-295 after crossing into NJ. Anyone going from NYC to DC would be going out of their way to turn off onto this new alignment (using the existing PA Turnpike and using a new interchange to connect to the stub) and add another city (Philadelphia) to drive through. PA is not even a coastal state, so there's no logical reason for I-95 to run through it in the first place - other than politics.

Re:Thank God

[kriston]

You took the New Jersey Turnpike. It suddenly loses its "I-95" label after the Delaware Memorial Bridge where you start to see occasional "To I-95" signs all the way until Exit 7A for I-195.

We frequent travelers know to use I-295 north of Memorial Bridge, not I-95, therefore, this new project doesn't really matter to us, either. Nobody who travels this corridor regularly would ever take I-95 in Pennsylvania north of Delaware. We take I-295 through New Jersey. The reason that I-95 even swoops over to Philadelphia is political.

Re:Thank God

[jellomizer]

Public work projects are expensive.
While there is a lot of waste that probably can be cleaned up, but often the cost of finding the waste is more expensive then the amount of waste itself.
However if you figure a Pot hole that needs to be filled
needs the following.

3 People:
2 People to direct traffic on both sides.
A person to fill the hole.

So if this process takes 1 hour. This would cost tax payers about $100 just for labor. Then there is management to determine where the potholes are and what priority they need to be fixed, Cost of material, upkeep of equipment...

Sure you could probably get some pavement patch yourself, for $15.00 then fill it yourself for much cheaper. But then you risk getting hit by a car, using patch material that could hurt the road further or cars that drive over it, so you are legally responsible for their damage. Or your skill at such a job will just not meet standards, and make the problem worse.

Re: Thank God

[crunchygranola]

And if you actually read the news about this you know that the $98 billion is the high end estimate of the total project ($77 billion is the current projection, which is an increase), but that 119 miles is only one smallish part of the project. That part of the project is currently estimated at $10.6 billion, or roughly 1/10 of what you are claiming. Still more that $50 million a mile ($89 million), true.

full schedule for the impatient

[nimbius]

1956 - 1957 pour concrete, build elevated road sections and ramps.

1957 - 2017 : local line painters union #131 to paint road line.

2018: Clovis the line painter finishes the last tape in his Bob Ross how to paint road lines Betamax collection and confirms the highway is nearly done.

How about DC?

[PeeAitchPee]

Being forced to take the Capital Beltway (I-495) all the way around doesn't really count as staying on I-95 to me (or even worse, some other combination of I-395 / 295 / 695 with other highways on the south end). I-95 should go straight thru DC like it does in Baltimore and NYC (but of course now that will never happen). When driving from MD to FL, I need to plan the entire trip around what time I'll be going thru DC -- it's that bad.

Re:How about DC?

[Chris Mattern]

I-95 should go straight thru DC like it does in Baltimore and NYC

It was originally planned to, of course. I-395 was originally I-95, but they only got it as far as US Route 50 before local politics brought it to a screeching halt and faced with the fact that the rest of it would never be built, they had to designate part of the Beltway (I-495) as I-95, and the designation I-395 was created for the unfinished road through DC. I remember how there used to be signs on I-395 that said "old I-95" (I don't remember the I-95 signs for it--the designation was changed in the late 1970s and I'm not quite old enough to have been driving it back then.)

I need to plan the entire trip around what time I'll be going thru DC -- it's that bad.

Rerouting I-95 to the Beltway means it has to cross the Potomac via Wilson Bridge. Isn't having a major Interstate artery cross a drawbridge fun? At least they rebuilt it higher so it doesn't have to open as often--it used to open almost daily.

News for Commuting Nerds?

[QuadEddie]

I don't know why this is on Slashdot

Civil Engineers are Nerds too

[ghoul]

Not just Computer Engineers

Re:Civil Engineers are Nerds too

[thegarbz]

There's no such thing as a civil engineer. We're a truly rude and nasty bunch of people.

Re:Civil Engineers are Nerds too

[Thelasko]

Not just Computer Engineers

Yes. This "News for Nerds" website spends way too much time talking about information technology and not enough time discussing other technology. There have been recent advances in traffic engineering too. Ever see a diverging diamond interchange?

It was intended to replace US 1 in New Jersey

[kriston]

Interstate 95 was always intended to be built along the right-of-way of US 1 in New Jersey between Princeton and New Brunswick. Driving in the area you can see where property along US 1 was condemned and cleared in anticipation of I-95, but the highway construction never happened due to local opposition.

This "re-routing" is a bit more than re-signing a 20-mile-longer route over existing interstates that we were already using over the past 30 years to bypass that missing segment. We would take I-295 from the Delaware Memorial Bridge, take I-195 eastbound, and then join the New Jersey Turnpike northbound where it formally takes on the I-95 designation. It was not labelled I-95 south of I-195.

Along with the re-labeling of these roads there are a lot of new roadway, bridges, and interchanges as well to optimize the dangerous merges. I-295 will revert to become a kinda-Philadelphia-bypass (a.k.a., "half-assed Beltway and southern bypass") as originally intended. The "new" I-95 will ultimately become this haphazard zig-zag highway that nobody wanted with an extra twenty miles more than the originally-proposed route through Princeton. But, at least they can say "I-95 is finally completed."

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Turnpike express lanes, a.k.a., "dual-dual" configuration, have been extended far south of the Exit 7A I-195 interchange.

50 years of not-so-fond memories

[Joe Branya]

I spent 50 years driving DC to Rhode Island.

About this interchange: The Penn Turnpike was built before the interstates and was a toll road. So the 1950s connector between the new NJ section of I-95 (at exit 7A I think) and the Penn Turnpike was a "turnpike only" connection. Pennsylvania refused to allow it to connect to free roads so when a free interstate was run through Philadelphia there was no connection . The same thing happened in western MD where I-70 came near the Turnpike. PA refused to connect them so all travelers were shuttled through two miles of Pennsylvania Burger Chefs and gas stations in order extract some money before the traveler could get to the Penn Turnpike. It was the county's biggest business.

Two miles west of the NJ Turnpike at exit 7 is the golden north-south road; I-295, which goes through the NJ suburbs of Philadelphia all the way to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and is free. All the trucks going south get off the Jersey Pike at exit 7, gas up, take a snooze and head south on the free road, now- finally- well marked. Until about 2000 the road was never mentioned when you were going south in New Jersey and coming north into NJ across the Delaware Memorial Bridge (which incidentally has a phenomenal view- get in the right-hand lane, go slow and take in the view) there was simply an exit called "route 130". If there is heavy traffic going south on the Jersey Pike (every Sunday in the summer) get off on 295 and get straight to the bridge- no five mile backup to pay the tolls. The whole goal of NJ was to keep you off the free road and keep you paying the NJ highway toll- it was just like the Penn Turnpike.

If it is late fall and your are driving NYC to DC go down the main eastern shore roads and look at the flocks of geese wheeling and landing in the freshly harvested corn fields. They are huge, dignified birds and loud. Stop for 20 minutes and really look. This is the real thing- a National Geographic show in front of your eyes. Children are amazed. Then head to DC via the Bay Bridge at Annapolis- free heading south.

In my early youth dodging tolls was an art form. There were seven 25 cent tolls on the Connecticut Turnpike between RI and NYC; just flip the coin and drive on. Late at night the rich people would often miss, grumble and throw a second coin. So we poverty-stricken college students at 2 am would pretend to miss, get out of the car and usually harvest half-a-dozen quarters before the toll collecters could stop us (they had a nice side job keeping the coins for themselves). By the time we hit NYC we were usually $ 10 richer, enough to pay for the gas (30-50 cents/ gallon and in a price war as low as 19 cents). At the time the federal minimum wage was 85 cents/hour.

I still know the back roads through the Bronx to avoid the horrible NYC jams on the GW Bridge and at least once in your life heading north at 2 am (the best time to go through NYC) you should go through town via the 1920s, two lane Holland Tunnel turn left and surf north on 7th/8th Avenue with the cabs, an endless stream of red lights timed at 25-30 mph going almost 10 miles north to the GW bridge and back onto 95 north. Today heading north I usually go DC to Baltimore, north to Harrisburg and across the mountains with the trucks to the new Tappen Zee and I 84. A bit longer but much nicer.

The driving into New England is so bad that most truckers refuse to do it and if they do drive it must charge very high rates, which is why New England has such lousy fruits and vegetables and at such high prices. If this were Europe they would widen I-81, cross the Hudson north of the Tappen Zee and get straight to the Mass Pike. I've just spent the summer in the Balkans, often traveling by bus. Bosnia and Macedonia now have better interstates that the U.S. and far more interesting truck stops. And you should see how they build the new divided roads- much higher quality than in the U.S.- they are built to last. But then the locals compare the new EU roads to the Roman roads- they expect the bridges to last for 1,000 years.

Re:Just in the nick of time.

[CrimsonAvenger]

a child born today has basically no chance of driving a car around the streets of Miami, Florida. In fact, there are children old enough to to know what Miami is, understand what's happening to it, who will never be able to drive its streets... (nor ride around in an Ubber or a Lyeft or whatever,) BUT, on the plus side, that child WILL be able to paddle in an ocean-going kayak, or sail a shallow-bottomed boat around in the ocean above what WAS Miami, and look down and see the foundations of all the houses and buildings that have mostly been washed away thanks to the pounding of the waves and surf, before they too are reclaimed.

So, basically, they're saying Miami will be completely submerged in 15 years or less???

Not a chance in hell...

Miami averages a couple meters above Sealevel. Oceans aren't going to rise three meters+ in 15 years. Not even with worst-case sealevel rise. Hell, we won't see that much sealevel rise this century, much less in the next 15 years (again, worst case).

Re:Governor Brown accidentally told the truth

[crunchygranola]

This is the paragraph from Brown's speech:

The next step is completing the Valley segment and getting an operating system connected to San Jose. Yes, it costs lots of money but it is still cheaper and more convenient than expanding airports and building new freeways to meet the growing demand. It will be fast, quiet and powered by renewable electricity and last for a hundred years.

To the non-ideologically blinded, this is easy to understand. He says that the train system will "last for a hundred years" (I would expect it really to last indefinitely, with proper maintenance). It is not possible to read this and honestly believe it to say that it wall take over a hundred years to build it.

You can read the actual business plan here. It states that the San Francisco to Anaheim main line is scheduled for completion in 2033, 15 years from now. Might it slip? Sure. In fact I expect it will. But it is insane to think that it will take >100 years.

As Brown points out any major transportation project costs many billions. LAX is currently undergoing a $14 billion renovation, which is about 20% of the current baseline estimate for the entire bullet train line.

BTW, California as a GDP of $2.5 trillion. Transportation improvements are essential to maintaining a high tech, high growth, high end economy and the cost of this runs around $6 billion a year for 15 years. California can afford it easily.