Background :: Project Overview
Project Overview
In 1969, Interstate 95 was completed without a direct connection to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which had been constructed more than 10 years prior. The lack of a direct connection has created confusion for regional travelers, and resulted in increased congestion on local arterial roadways used by motorists to connect between the interstate highways.
Several previous studies in the 1970s and 80s have suggested ways to join these two roads but were discontinued for a variety of engineering and environmental reasons. The goal of the latest environmental impact study, completed in 2003, was to determine whether a direct connection could be developed between the PA Turnpike and I-95, while minimizing impacts on socioeconomic and environmental resources.
The objectives for the Interchange Project:
- Provide an improved linkage between the PA Turnpike and I-95 for easier interstate travel
- Complete I-95 through the Mid-Atlantic region by constructing an interchange and redesignating the PA and NJ Turnpikes
- Reduce the amount of traffic on local roads currently used to make the connection between I-95 and the PA Turnpike
- Increase the capacity on the PA Turnpike and I-95 to accommodate the transfer of traffic from the local roads to the interstates
- Improve travel time through the study area by reducing traffic delays
Project Timeline
- September 2018-Present
Sections D20, A1, and Route 13 Connector construction to continue. For more specific updates, including progress photos, please see our Construction page.
- September 2018
Flyover structures are open to traffic.
- August 2018
Hulmeville Road bridge reconstructed.
- 2017
Section D10 completed.
- 2016
Tolling conversion to Neshaminy Falls toll plaza and Westbound Cashless Tolling point implemented at the Delaware River Bridge. Section B completed.
- 2015
Bensalem Boulevard Bridge reconstructed.
- 2013
Wetland mitigation and stream mitigation sites completed. Richlieu Road and Ford Road bridges reconstructed. Section B construction began.
- 2011
Galloway Road and Bristol Oxford Valley Road bridges reconstructed.
- 2009 - 2010
Final Design underway. Stage 1 construction began.
- 2004 - 2008
Preliminary Design completed.
- 2004
The PA Turnpike Commission receives authorization of federal funds for the project's design. Design for the interchange project is initiated.
- 1992-2003
PA Turnpike Commission studied a high-speed, direct interchange between the PA Turnpike and I-95. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is completed, evaluating the various design alternatives and their potential impacts and documenting the preferred alternative. The Record of Decision (ROD) is issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), approving the preferred alternative identified in the FEIS. Download the Record of Decision.
- 1984-1988
PA Turnpike Commission studies a slow-speed, conventional interchange between the PA Turnpike and I-95 (see map, Scheme B). Engineers conclude this interchange is inadequate once updated traffic volumes are generated for the project.
- 1985
PA Act 61 authorizes the PA Turnpike Commission to construct many projects throughout the state including an interchange between the PA Turnpike and I-95 in lower Bucks County and Turnpike widening from Valley Forge to the Delaware River.
- 1982
The Federal Surface Transportation Assistance Act specifies that I-95 be completed through a PA Turnpike/I-95 interchange which would connect to the NJ Turnpike using the Delaware River Bridge.
- 1975-1977
PA Department of Transportation (PennDOT) studies a connection between PA Turnpike and I-95 through Silver Lake and Delhaas Woods in Bristol. No further studies are conducted due to potential major environmental impacts.
- 1969
I-95 is completed through Bucks County. Original plan includes ways to interchange between the PA Turnpike and I-95, but federal funds were not permitted to be used to directly connect an Interstate highway to a toll road, under federal laws and regulations of that period. (The federal laws have since been modified to permit such a project.)
- 1954-1956
Delaware River extension of PA Turnpike and Delaware River Bridge is completed.