November 11, 2023 – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that the newly built ramps to southbound Interstate 95 at the Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange in Philadelphia were reopened to traffic on Friday, November 10, substantially completing the $96.5 million Section BR2 project to improve the connections to I-95, to and from the bridge and surface streets at the interchange.
On Friday, November 10, crews opened the ramp from the bridge to I-95 South along with the ramps from Aramingo Avenue and Adams Avenue that connect with the ramp from the bridge before merging with southbound I-95 at the southern end of the interchange.
Work on this project will continue at various locations at the interchange through the end of 2023 as the contractor completes post-construction punch list activities.
Section BR2 construction began in June 2020. The ramp from the bridge to southbound I-95 was closed in November 2020, and the ramp from Aramingo Avenue to southbound I-95 was closed in April 2022, both for reconstruction.
During construction, traffic normally using the ramps to access southbound I-95 has been detoured on Aramingo Avenue on the west side of I-95 to the southbound on-ramp at the adjacent Bridge Street Interchange.
In addition to replacing the ramps to southbound I-95, the Section BR2 contract rebuilt the ramp from northbound I-95 to the bridge and rebuilt the connection from the bridge ramp to northbound I-95.
Buckley & Company, Inc., of Philadelphia, is the general contractor on the project, which is financed with 100 percent federal funds.
Section BR2 is the second of five contracts to improve the interchange’s ramps and reconstruct mainline I-95 at the Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange.
In 2017, PennDOT finished work on the $160.3 million Section BR0 contract to complete the first stage of ramp improvements at the interchange.
In 2020, work wrapped up on the $81 million Section BS4/H04 contract to improve surface streets at the interchange complex on the west side of I-95, including widening of Aramingo Avenue between Wheatsheaf Lane and Church Street (Section BS4), and construction of the Adams Avenue Connector (Section H04). The Connector extended Adams Avenue from Torresdale Avenue to Aramingo Avenue.
