Interstate 295 (Delaware–Pennsylvania)

Template:Infobox Interstate Interstate 295 (abbreviated I-295) in New Jersey and Delaware is a bypass route from a junction with Interstate 95 south of Wilmington, Delaware to another junction with I-95 north of Trenton, New Jersey. The route runs parallel with the New Jersey Turnpike for most of its course.

Interstate 295 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway, designated as a beltway around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Interstate 95 serves the city directly, connecting it with Wilmington and Trenton, whereas I-295 bypasses the city running east of the Delaware River. Interstate 95 was originally supposed to continue northeast from the routes' junction near Trenton on the proposed Somerset Freeway, but this plan was cancelled, limiting I-295's capability as a true bypass between Baltimore and New York City.

Today, traffic on Interstate 295 is directed to take Interstate 195 (or surface street connections further south) to the New Jersey Turnpike to reach New York City. The same route is prescribed for traffic on I-95 in Pennsylvania and near Trenton to bridge the gap with I-95 further north.

Route description

Lengths

	mi	km
DE	5.71	9.19
NJ	67.79	109.10
Total	73.50	118.29

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
Newark, Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland (via Interstate 95) Delaware Memorial Bridge Camden, New Jersey Mount Laurel, New Jersey Cherry Hill, New Jersey Trenton, New Jersey Princeton, New Jersey (via U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Route 206)

I-295 crosses the Delaware River via the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is actually two suspension bridges carrying traffic in opposite directions. One bridge carries traffic from Delaware to New Jersey, while the other span carries traffic from New Jersey to Delaware. At the New Jersey approaches of the toll bridge, a connection is provided with the south end of the New Jersey Turnpike. The Delaware Memorial Bridge is the only toll portion of the highway.

For its entire route (save the portion north of I-195 near Trenton), I-295 closely parallels both the New Jersey Turnpike and U.S. Route 130. In the region, I-295 serves as a local complement to the Turnpike, due to the slower design speed and the Turnpike's relatively few interchanges in the area. Interstate 195 is the only freeway connection between the two routes besides their junction near the Delaware Memorial Bridge, as I-295 has no interchange with the Turnpike's Pennsylvania Turnpike Connector (now called the "Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension"), and the Turnpike has no interchange with Route 42 (the North-South Freeway).

South of the interchange with Interstate 76 and Route 42, many portions of Interstate 295 are concurrent with U.S. Route 130, and was in fact built as part of US 130 before the Interstate Highway System was created. The interchange with I-76 (exit 26) is a semi-directional T, and the nearby junction with Route 42 is a single Y, with through traffic on I-295 northbound forced to merge and re-exit from Route 42/I-76. Due to the complex interchange design and resulting weaving, the speed limit on I-295 through the area is 35 mph.

North of Camden, I-295 continues north, paralleling the New Jersey Turnpike. Upon reaching its interchange with Interstate 195 (one of the last portions of the freeway to be completed), it becomes a beltway around Trenton, looping to the north and west around the state capital. At exit 67 with U.S. Route 1, Interstate 295 formally ends and becomes Interstate 95 south to Pennsylvania. Interstate 295 originally continued approximately five miles beyond this point to a proposed interchange with the Somerset Freeway near Interstate 95's current exit with Route 31. Had the Somerset Freeway been completed, Interstate 295 would have ended here at a completed Interstate 95 between Philadelphia and New York City. When the Somerset Freeway was cancelled, Interstate 95 was extended and Interstate 295 was truncated to their current termini at US 1. The portion running through New Jersey is sometimes called the Camden Freeway.

History

File:P6140018.JPG

Northbound view of I-295 in Hamilton, New Jersey

Portions of what is now Interstate 295 were planned as early as the 1940s as a bypass replacement for U.S. Route 130 in southern New Jersey, as well as the Route 39 beltway around Trenton. The first section of the US 130 bypass in Gloucester County (between current exits 21 and 24) opened in 1948, with a second section (between exits 14 and 21) opening in 1954. Both these sections were originally signed only as US 130, but became a part of I-295 when the Interstate Highway System was created in 1958.

Also among the earliest portions of I-295 to be built are the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Delaware approach. When the bridge opened on August 16, 1951, so did the eastern two miles of I-295 in Delaware, between U.S. Route 13 and the bridge. The bridge was signed as a portion of U.S. Route 40, and also became a part of I-295 in 1958. The western section from US 13 to I-95 opened with the completion of the Delaware Turnpike in 1963, which – when combined with Interstate 95 and the New Jersey Turnpike – completed a nonstop freeway between Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The remainder of Interstate 295 through New Jersey was planned as Federal Aid Interstate Route 108, which was created by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in 1956 when the Interstate Highways System was being planned but not yet numbered. Interstate 295 was mostly complete (especially south of Trenton) by the 1980s; the last portion to be completed was around the Interstate 195/Route 29 interchange in 1994.

The freeway like many other interstates in New Jersey once had solar powered emergency call boxes every 1.0 mile, however with the advent of cell phones the usage of these call boxes became extremely limited. So to save on maintenance costs the NJDOT removed these call boxes in 2005, and with difficulty replacing parts, they are disappearing from many other freeways such as I-195, I-280, I-78, I-80, NJ 55, and NJ 208.

Future

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is currently planning to reconstruct the interchange with Interstate 76 and Route 42 south of Camden. The project is necessary to create a direct through connection for I-295 through the interchange, eliminate weaving between I-295 and I-76, and to fill in the missing movements between I-295 and Route 42 south of the interchange. There were several alternatives proposed for the interchange design, which were then shortlisted to five. A final preferred alternative will be selected sometime early in 2007. All of the shortlisted alternatives provide a direct connection for I-295 through the interchange without using the present substandard ramps, and also provide new connections from Route 42 northbound to I-295 southbound and from I-295 northbound to Route 42 southbound.

The northern portion of Interstate 295 will be affected by the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project in Bristol, Pennsylvania. With the completion of the project, Interstate 95 will be redesignated along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to connect with the New Jersey Turnpike (currently the northern section of I-95) at exit 6, and the I-95 designation will be removed from the section north of the interchange in Pennsylvania. Under the original plan, I-295 would have been extended past its current terminus at US 1 along current I-95, across the Scudders Falls Bridge, and into Pennsylvania to the new interchange.

However, in September 2005, the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania came to an agreement that, instead, Interstate 195 would be extended along this section of I-95. This means that the extended I-195 would replace the portion of I-95 between the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, and U.S. Route 1 in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It would also replace Interstate 295 north of exit 60 in Hamilton Township, New Jersey (its exit with I-195), truncating I-295 at that junction. This option would reduce the confusion of having I-295 parallel itself in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This proposal is waiting for approval by AASHTO.

Exit list

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Delaware
New Castle		0.00	Southern terminus of I-295. I-295 southbound defaults onto I-95 southbound.
			5B	File:Delaware 141.svg DE 141 north – Newport, Lancaster, PA	Exit numbered northbound only, numbering continues from I-95.
		1.43		I-95/US 202 north – Wilmington	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
				I-495 north – Port of Wilmington, Philadelphia
		1.93		US 13 south/US 40 west – New Castle, New Castle Airport, Dover
				US 13 north – Wilmington
		Southern terminus of I-295/ US 40 concurrency.
				Landers Lane	Northbound exit only.
		3.20		File:Delaware 9.svg DE 9 – Wilmington, New Castle	Last exit before bridge northbound.
Delaware / New Jersey state line. Delaware Memorial Bridge over the Delaware River. Toll: $3.00.
New Jersey
Salem	Pennsville Twp	Northern terminus of I-295/ US 40 concurrency.
		~0.7		US 40 east/New Jersey Turnpike north – Atlantic City, New York City	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		0.95	1A	File:New Jersey 49.svg NJ 49 east – Pennsville, Salem	Last exit before toll southbound; northbound exit numbered 1.
		0.95	1B	US 130 north – Penns Grove	No exit southbound.
	Carneys Point Twp	1.39	1C	CR 551, Hook Road
		1.60	2A	I-295 south/US 40 west – Delaware Memorial Bridge	Northbound exit only; U-turn for traffic from Hook Road.
		1.92	2B	US 40 east to New Jersey Turnpike	Exit utilizes File:New Jersey 140.svg NJ 140, though unsigned. single exit northbound, signed 2B-C.
		1.92	2C	To US 130 – Deepwater
		4.46	4	File:New Jersey 48.svg NJ 48 – Penns Grove, Woodstown
	Oldmans Twp	7.15	7	Pedricktown, Auburn
Gloucester	Logan Twp	10.30	10	Center Square Road, Swedesboro
		11.92	11	US 322 – Mullica Hill, Bridgeport, Commodore Barry Bridge, to New Jersey Turnpike	Northbound split into 11A (east) and 11B (west) No access from I-295 southbound to US 322 westbound.
		14.31	13	US 130 south/US 322 west – Bridgeport, Commodore Barry Bridge	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		Southern terminus of I-295/ US 130 concurrency.
		14.57	14	File:New Jersey 44.svg CR 684 to NJ 44 – Repaupo, Gibbstown
	Greenwich Twp	15.44	15	CR 607 – Gibbstown, Harrisonville
		16.06	16A	CR 653 – Swedesboro, Paulsboro
		16.42	16B	CR 673 – Gibbstown, Mickleton
	Greenwich Twp/East Greenwich Twp	17.25	17	To CR 680 – Gibbstown
	Greenwich Twp/Paulsboro Boro	18.34 18.49	18	CR 667/CR 678 – Paulsboro, Mount Royal, Clarksboro
	West Deptford Twp	19.43	19	File:New Jersey 44.svg CR 656 to NJ 44 – Mantua, Paulsboro
		20.62	20	File:New Jersey 44.svg to CR 643/CR 660/NJ 44 – Thorofare, Woodbury, Mantua
		21.87	21	File:New Jersey 44.svg NJ 44 south to CR 640 – Paulsboro, Woodbury
		22.94	22	CR 644 – National Park, Woodbury
		Northern terminus of I-295/ US 130 concurrency.
		23.68 23.98	23	US 130 north to CR 642 – National Park, Westville, Gloucester
	West Deptford Twp/Deptford Twp	24.53	24A	File:New Jersey 45.svg NJ 45 south – Woodbury	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
	Deptford Twp/Westville Boro	24.60	24B	CR 551 – Westville, Woodbury Heights	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
	Westville Boro	25.18	25A	File:New Jersey 47.svg NJ 47 south – Deptford, Glassboro	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
			25B	File:New Jersey 47.svg NJ 47 north – Westville	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
Camden	Bellmawr Boro	26.41	26	I-76 express to I-676 – Walt Whitman Bridge, Philadelphia, Camden	Northbound exit, southbound entrance (for southbound exit, see below).
		26.93		I-76 local to US 130/I-676 – Camden, Philadelphia	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
				File:New Jersey 42.svg NJ 42 south – Atlantic City	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		27.44	26	I-76 to I-676 – Philadelphia, Camden	Southbound exit, northbound entrance (for northbound exit, see above).
		28.16	28	File:New Jersey 168.svg NJ 168 to New Jersey Turnpike – Mount Ephraim, Bellmawr, Runnemede
	Haddon Heights Boro/Barrington Boro	30.00	29A	US 30 east – Lawnside, Berlin	Exit 29 southbound.
		30.22	29B	US 30 west – Barrington, Haddon Heights, Collingswood
	Lawnside Boro	30.65	30	Warwick Road – Lawnside, Haddonfield	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
	Haddonfield	31.74	31	Woodcrest Station
	Cherry Hill Twp	32.40	32	CR 561 – Haddonfield, Voorhees, Gibbsboro
		34.80	34A	File:New Jersey 70.svg NJ 70 east – Marlton
			34B	File:New Jersey 70.svg NJ 70 west – Cherry Hill, Camden
Burlington	Mount Laurel Twp	36.86	36A	File:New Jersey 73.svg NJ 73 south to New Jersey Turnpike – Berlin
			36B	File:New Jersey 73.svg NJ 73 north – Tacony Bridge
		40.60	40A	File:New Jersey 38.svg NJ 38 east – Mount Holly	Exit 40 southbound.
			40B	File:New Jersey 38.svg NJ 38 west – Moorestown
		43.10	43A	Rancocas Woods	Exit 43 northbound.
			43B	Delran
	Westampton Twp	44.94	45A	Mount Holly
			45B	Willingboro
	Burlington Twp	47.53	47A	CR 541 south to New Jersey Turnpike – Mount Holly
			47B	CR 541 north – Burlington
	Mansfield Twp	52.33	52A	Columbus
			52B	Florence
	Bordentown Twp	56.10	56	US 206 south to New Jersey Turnpike – Fort Dix, McGuire AFB	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		56.82	57A	US 130 north/US 206 north – Bordentown
			57B	US 130 south – Burlington	No exit northbound.
Mercer	Hamilton Twp	60.23	60A	I-195 to I-95/New Jersey Turnpike – Belmar	Future northern terminus of I-295. Exit 60 southbound.
			60B	File:New Jersey 29.svgFile:New Jersey 129.svg NJ 29/NJ 129 – Trenton
		61.40	61A	Arena Drive east, Whitehorse Avenue
			61B	Arena Drive west, Olden Avenue	No southbound exit.
		61.89	62	Olden Avenue north	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		63.93	63A	File:New Jersey 33.svg NJ 33 east to CR 535 – Mercerville	No southbound exit.
		64.01	63B	File:New Jersey 33.svg NJ 33 west – Trenton	Exit 63 southbound. No northbound entrance.
		64.61	64	File:New Jersey 33.svg CR 535 north to NJ 33 east – Mercerville	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		65.27	65A	Sloan Avenue east
			65B	Sloan Avenue west
	Lawrence Twp	67.63	67A	US 1 north – New Brunswick, Princeton	Exit 67 southbound.
			67B	US 1 south – Trenton
		67.79	Northern terminus of I-295. I-295 northbound becomes I-95 southbound.

External links

• I-295 on Kurumi.com
• NJDOT Straight Line Diagrams
• Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission I-95/I-276 Interchange Project Home
• I-295/I-76/Route 42 Direct Connection Overview
• AASHTO Homepage

Browse numbered routes
← DE 286	DE	→ DE 299
←	NJ