March 27, 2023 –PennDOT’s contractor will complete the installation of a new median barrier on Interstate 95 between Levick Street and Carver Street (see below) later this year, marking the end of nearly three years of construction under PennDOT’s $79.7 million I-95/BS1 project.
Meanwhile, early-stage work has been underway since early 2022 on surface streets in the vicinity of the Bridge Street Interchange, including construction on the I-95 median south of Bridge Street to expand the mainline work zone through that interchange.
BS1
Median reconstruction now underway on Interstate 95 at the northern end of the Bridge Street Interchange will finish by mid-year, substantially completing the Section BS1 project. Completion of this work will set the stage for implementation of a new traffic pattern south of the existing work area for the start of Section BS2 mainline reconstruction and total reconstruction and relocation of the on-off ramps at Bridge Street.
Work on Section BS1 began in 2020 at the northern end of the Bridge Street Interchange. Section BS1 reconstructed and widened I-95 — the northbound side first, followed by work on the southbound side.
In addition to reconstructing the I-95 pavement and median, the Section BS1 contract replaced the bridges carrying I-95 over Comly Street and Van Kirk Street, constructed five retaining walls, improved stormwater drainage, and installed parking, lighting, and landscaping improvements at Lardner’s Point Park on the Delaware River.
On completion, Section BS1 will provide four lanes of travel in both directions on I-95.
BS2
Early-stage clearing and a broad swath of utility work for the $267.9 million Section BS2 contract, the second of five sections that comprise the Bridge Street Interchange project, began in late 2022.
Work then began in late winter in the median south of Bridge Street to construct a crossover as the first stage of setting a construction traffic pattern on I-95 for BS2 reconstruction.
Following the permanent closure of the northbound I-95 off-ramp to Bridge Street (Exit 27) scheduled for mid-April, work to establish a work zone on I-95 expanded to include construction of a temporary retaining wall along the northbound side of I-95 where the ramp had been situated. The retaining wall will allow PennDOT’s contractor to temporarily widen the northbound side of I-95 approaching the I-95 viaduct over Bridge and Tacony streets as part of a new traffic pattern.
The six-lane traffic pattern — three northbound, three southbound lanes — will be in place in a new work zone that extends through the interchange during three-plus years of construction beginning in early 2024 to replace the viaduct and rebuild the interchange.
Initial mainline construction in 2024 will replace the southbound side of the viaduct. Replacement of the northbound side of the viaduct will follow. Following the completion of mainline reconstruction, four lanes of travel will flow in each direction on I-95 (see below).
Section BS2 will reconstruct I-95 between Margaret Street and Carver Street, replace the bridges over Fraley Street and Carver Street, relocate the James Street off-ramp, and construct a new on-ramp to I-95 north from Tacony Street and the Delaware Avenue extension.
Closing the northbound off-ramp at Bridge Street will improve safety and mobility at the currently congested merge point between the ramp and surface streets at the existing Bridge Street Interchange. Traffic normally using the northbound off-ramp will be diverted to the adjacent Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange ramp to Aramingo Avenue.
Improvements already in place at the Betsy Ross Bridge interchange were designed to replace the closed Bridge Street ramp. During construction from 2017 to 2020, Aramingo Avenue was widened between Wheatsheaf Lane and Church Street (Section BS4), and the Adams Avenue Connector was constructed (Section H04).
During all upcoming work on Section BS2, three travel lanes in each direction will remain open during peak travel times, though periodic off-peak lane closures may be in place on I-95 during certain stages of construction operations. However, a number of different traffic patterns will be in place on the surface streets at the interchange (Bridge Street, Tacony Street, Aramingo Avenue) during BS2 construction.
Section BS2 is scheduled to be completed in late 2026.
Motorists are advised to allow extra time for travel through all I-95 work areas.
The H&K Group, Inc. of Skippack, Montgomery County, is the Section BS1 ($79.7 million)general contractor. James J. Anderson Construction, of Philadelphia, is the general contractor on Section BS2.
