Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project - History

History

As far back as the formation of the Interstate Highway System, I-95 was planned as a Florida-to-Maine superhighway. The highway was also intended to pass through the Northeast Megalopolis. However, decades of disputes among local and regional governments and private landowners prevented or delayed the design and construction of this highway from the Trenton–Philadelphia area to northern New Jersey in the New Brunswick – Piscataway area. To this day, I-95 is incomplete because of the gap in this area. Specifically, if drivers wish to proceed northbound from Wilmington, Delaware to New York City without encountering a traffic signal, the most direct route today is to exit I-95 onto I-295 just south of Wilmington, enter New Jersey via the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and continue north on the New Jersey Turnpike. Alternatively, if drivers stayed on I-95 north, they would pass through Philadelphia into Bucks County, Pennsylvania and over the Delaware River into Mercer County, New Jersey northwest of Trenton. At this point, I-95 abruptly ends at the interchange of US 1 in Lawrence Township and becomes I-295 south. Motorists then enter I-195 eastbound from I-295 exit 60A, and then take I-195 to the New Jersey Turnpike northbound (where I-95 continues). According to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the turnpike is signed as I-95 in the area of Robbinsville Township north of Turnpike exit 7A (for I-195). However, NJDOT states that I-95 starts from the New Jersey – Pennsylvania Turnpike Connector Bridge and follows the New Jersey Turnpike Extension to the northbound lanes of the mainline of the turnpike.