WILMINGTON, Del. (KYW Newsradio) -- Drivers on 1-95 through Wilmington, Delaware lately, have probably noticed some extra orange cones and signs -- and maybe a little more congestion than usual.
The "Restore the Corridor" project has officially begun. Preparation work started in mid-February.
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"The corridor is nearing about 60 years in age," explained DelDOT's C.R. McLeod. "It was just in need of some repair work. We're going to be repairing about 19 bridges, 11 entrance and exit ramps, as well as a full surface reparation along that corridor."
This work will take at least two years to complete. It'll be happening along the three-mile stretch of the corridor from the I-95/I-495 spilt to just north of the bridge above the Brandywine River.
There are three phases to the project. This first phase, happening now, will see northbound lanes closed, "and will have a contraflow pattern on the southbound lanes of 95, where we will have both northbound and southbound traffic moving on the soutbound road lanes," said McLeod.
"What this means is we will have reduced capacity through the City of Wilmington. So, in areas where there's three lanes, it will be down to two lanes. In areas where there's two lanes it will be down to one lane."
McLeod said DelDOT has spent several years making sure there won't be any construction on the alternate routes. It's recommended people just traveling through Wilmington use I-495 or Route 13.
"We also invested nearly $50 million in repairing city streets around Wilmington," added McLeod, "to ensure that they're also in good shape and won't be needing additional repair while the I-95 project is underway."
McLeod acknowledged there will be more traffic on city streets during this construction. DelDOT has taken over around 200 additional traffic lights that they can now control and will adjust based on traffic patterns on a given day.
If you prefer not to use city streets, and would rather not take the suggested alternate routes, McLeod said I-95 will always be an option, no matter what.
"Our plan is to always keep at least one lane of I-95 northbound and southbound open for the duration of the project," he said. "There may be some instances where we need to do temporary closures just to allow for movement of equpment or realignment of the roadway as we move during different phases, but (we'd be) doing that in off-peak hours so it's less impactful."
After "putting Band Aids" on the corridor for a long time, McLeod said this is a project that needs to be done.
"The concrete on the roadway and on the barriers and also on the bridges begins to deteriorate," he said. "We see potholes opening up. We see crumbling of barriers. That creates a safety issue. We're also seeing bearings on our bridges start to fail. All of those can lead to long-term safety issues, and that's something we want to avoid."
He said doing this project now should eliminate the likelihood of emergency closures sometime down the road. DelDOT determined that the service life of the bridges could be extended for 30 years.
Drivers can sign up for traffic text and emails. Information on those and everything else you need to know about "Restore the Corridor" can be found online.