PennDOT Completes First Contract to Improve I-95/Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange

PennDOT Completes First Contract to Improve I-95/Betsy Ross Bridge
Interchange

11/21/2017-KING OF PRUSSIA

Work has been substantially completed on a $160.3 million project to
improve
the Interstate 95 Betsy Ross Bridge/Aramingo Avenue Interchange that
included
construction of two new ramps and improvements to four existing ramps at
the
sprawling ramp complex, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
(PennDOT)
announced today.

Work began on the project, Section BR0, in March 2015. Section BR0 is the
first
of five contracts planned for improvements to the interchange and for the
reconstruction and widening of nearly one mile of I-95 between the Bridge
Street and Allegheny Avenue interchanges. All of the contracts at the
interchange are part of PennDOT's multi-billion dollar, long-range
initiative
to reconstruct and improve I-95 in southeast Pennsylvania— including five
interchanges along an eight-mile stretch of I-95 north of Center City
Philadelphia.

Under Section BR0, PennDOT built two new ramps — missing since the Betsy
Ross
Bridge was constructed and opened in 1976 — from the bridge to Aramingo
Avenue
and from Aramingo Avenue to the bridge. The two new ramps will open after
additional construction is completed at the interchange on the west side of

Aramingo Avenue between Church Street and Wheatsheaf Lane.

Additional improvements to that interchange, including reconstructing the
ramps
from northbound I-95 to the bridge and from the bridge to I-95 south, will
be
done under a second contract, Section BR2, that is scheduled to move into
construction in late 2019 or early 2020.

Construction also continues on an $81 million project to improve Aramingo
Avenue at the interchange and extend Adams Avenue from Torresdale Avenue to
the
interchange.

In addition to building two new ramps, PennDOT completed other improvements

under Section BR0, including:

• Reconstructing and widening the ramp from northbound I-95 to Aramingo
Avenue;
• Reconstructing and widening the ramp from Aramingo Avenue to southbound
I-95;
• Relocating and replacing the ramp from southbound I-95 to the Betsy Ross
Bridge; and
• Relocating and rehabilitating the ramp from southbound I-95 to Aramingo
Avenue.

The project also improved storm water drainage at the interchange,
relocated a
Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) sewer, Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) and

PECO Energy utilities, and removed the abandoned Thompson Street bridge
over
Frankford Creek.

Engineering activities continue on two additional projects to reconstruct
and
widen I-95's mainline at the interchange. The first of those two final
projects is tentatively scheduled to go to construction in 2023, the second
in
2026.

For more information about the project and PennDOT's initiative to
reconstruct
and improve I-95, visit www.95revive.com.

For more information on projects occurring or being bid this year, those
made
possible by or accelerated by Act 89, or those on the department's Four and

Twelve Year Plans, visit www.projects.penndot.gov.

A list of weekly road restrictions and PennDOT maintenance operations in
the
five-county Philadelphia region is available by visiting the District 6
Traffic
Bulletin at www.penndot.gov/District6.

Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including

color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com.
511PA,
which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay
warnings,
weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 850
traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and
Android
devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts
accessible
on the 511PA website.

For more PennDOT information, visit www.penndot.gov. Follow local PennDOT
information on Twitter at www.twitter.com/511PAPhilly, and follow the
department on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/pennsylvaniadepartmentoftransportation and Instagram at
www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot.

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