PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — PennDOT has started working on the next phase of its sprawling I-95 reconstruction project, and it’s going to inconvenience drivers coming into Philly from the Betsy Ross Bridge well through 2021.
Work crews will be spending the next year building a new ramp to northbound I-95 after demolishing the one that drivers have been using for decades.
PennDOT originally planned to start this job in 2022, after workers finished building a new ramp to I-95 southbound. However, officials decided to do both simultaneously after engineers found structural deterioration on the northbound ramp.
The ramp from the bridge to I-95 north is now closed and will remain that way for about a year.
The new time-consuming detour will take them to Aramingo Avenue, through the interchange and then the Aramingo ramp to I-95 north. Motorists coming in from New Jersey will be using that detour whether they’re heading north or south on the interstate.
Both ramps are expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
These projects are part of a $93.5 million effort to rebuild all ramps between the Betsy Ross Bridge, Aramingo Avenue and I-95.