After 61 years (really), construction on I-95 is almost finished

A road construction project that began before most drivers out on the road today were even born is set to be completed in just a few weeks.

As of September 24, 2018, a section of I-95 between Pennsylvania and New Jersey will finally be completed more than six decades after then-President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Though I-95 is the most travelled interstate in the U.S. and was built with the intention of connecting Maine to Florida, there has always been a section of the interstate missing near the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border that forces drivers off of the interstate and onto eight miles other roadways.

From i95link.com: “Previously, I-95 ran from Philadelphia north across the Delaware River at the Scudder Falls Bridge into New Jersey, just north of Trenton, and terminated at the Route 1 interchange in Lawrence, NJ, where it became I-295 south. I-95 then picked up again as part of the New Jersey Turnpike at Interchange 7A in Robbinsville, New Jersey.”

This I-95 gap is blamed on New Jersey locals who didn’t want an interstate near their rural residential area. However, the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) passed in 1982 mandated the completion of I-95 using the existing Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpikes.

For the past eight years, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has poured $400 million into active construction projects to close this I-95 gap including bridges, toll plazas, and flyover ramps. The completed and continuous I-95 is expected to ease commute times for northbound and southbound drivers and to reduce traffic congestion on local roads.

The closing of the I-95 gap marks the completion of the final project funded by Eisenhower’s 1956 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.

You can click here to learn more about the I-95 gap project.