Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main highway on the East Coast of the United States, paralleling the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Florida and serving some of the most populated urban areas in the country, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Miami. It is one of the north-south routes of the Interstate Highway System, and replaced older U.S. Highways, mainly U.S. Route 1. The oldest sections of I-95, including several toll roads, predate the Interstate System; the route has yet to be completed in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey area. Construction of the missing connection is scheduled to be completed by the 2010s (tentatively 2014).

I-95's two pieces total . The southern terminus of I-95 is at U.S. Route 1 in southern Miami, Florida. The highway heads north along the Atlantic through Jacksonville, Florida to Savannah, Georgia, and then takes a slightly more inland route through South Carolina and North Carolina to Richmond, Virginia. From Richmond past Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland, I-95 follows the fall line, where the Atlantic Coastal Plain meets the Appalachian Piedmont. The highway continues northeast through Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, after which traffic must use other roads to continue towards Newark, New Jersey until the completion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project (planned for 2014). I-95 crosses the George Washington Bridge into New York City, and then passes through New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island, around Boston, Massachusetts, and through Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Augusta, Maine on its way to the Houlton/Woodstock Border Crossing to the short New Brunswick Route 95, which connects to the Trans-Canada Highway.

It is the longest north-south Interstate Highway (five east-west routes are longer: Interstate 10 ( ), Interstate 40 ( ), Interstate 70 ( ), Interstate 80 ( ), and Interstate 90 ( )), and it passes through more states—fifteen—than any other Interstate; the Interstate that passes through the second-most number of states is Interstate 90, at thirteen. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only five counties along the route — two in South Carolina, one in southern Virginia, and two in northern Maine — are completely rural. According to the I-95 Corridor Coalition, the region served by I-95 is "over three times more densely populated than the U.S. average and as densely settled as much of Western Europe".

As of 2007, I-95 is the only non-cancelled long-distance Interstate in the original plans that has not been completed. A discontinuity exists between two separate sections in New Jersey due in part to the freeway revolts of the 1960s and 1970s; thus it is not possible to directly travel the entire length of I-95 without interruption, since the two sections are about apart from each other (though this gap is currently being addressed).

Route description

Florida to South Carolina

Main articles: Interstate 95 in: Florida | Georgia | South Carolina

Interstate 95 begins at U.S.Route 1 just south of downtown Miami, Florida, and follows a path north along the Atlantic coast of Florida, passing near such locations as Florida's Space Coast and Daytona Beach before continuing north through Jacksonville and entering Georgia.Interstate 95 in Georgia travels through the marshlands of eastern Georgia, closely following the coast to Savannah, where it crosses into South Carolina.In South Carolina, I-95 travels further inland than its paths to the south, and passes the South of the Border attraction immediately before crossing into North Carolina.

North Carolina and Virginia

Main articles: Interstate 95 in: North Carolina | Virginia

Interstate 95 in North Carolina is one of four major north-south corridors through the state (the others being U.S.Route 220(Interstate 73)/U.S.Route 29, Interstate 77, and Interstate 26). I-95 informally serves as separation between the piedmontand coastal plainregions of North Carolina. In Virginia, Interstate 95 roughly follows the same line between the regions, and passes by its state capital, Richmond, before entering into Northern Virginia and then crossing via the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into Maryland.

Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania

Main articles: Interstate 95 in: Maryland | Delaware | Pennsylvania

Interstate 95 enters Maryland on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, where a small, approximately portion of the highway passes through the southernmost corner of the District of Columbia.In Maryland, I-95 follows the Capital Beltwayaround Washington, D.C. Once leaving the Beltway north of the city, I-95 travels diagonally through the middle of the state, through Baltimore (see Interstate 95 in Baltimore).After this, I-95 goes through northeastern Maryland, crossing over the Millard E.Tydings Memorial Bridge over the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace along the way.On the other side of the bridge is a tollbooth. The highway then goes east to the Delaware border and then toward the city of Wilmington.

I-95 is the most heavily traveled route in Delaware, linking Washington and south with Philadelphia and north.After the road enters Delaware from Maryland, a Delaware Turnpike toll barrier is placed about 2 miles (3 km) from the Maryland border.I-95 continues for to Pennsylvania.

Interstate 95 enters Pennsylvania along the Delaware River near Marcus Hook, traveling along its western bank through the city of Philadelphia, and heading north where it currently enters New Jersey near Trenton in Ewing Township via the toll-free Scudder Falls Bridge.

New Jersey and New York

Main articles: Interstate 95 in: New Jersey | New York

There is currently a gap in I-95 that is in the process of being filled.I-95 ends north of Trenton, but begins on the New Jersey Turnpikesouth of Trenton.

Traffic is directed to continue south in Lawrence Township where I-95 becomes Interstate 295 south at I-95 milepost 8.7/I-295 milepost 68 near the U.S.1exit. Traffic is led down the 295 expressway, and directed to exit at Exit 60A for Interstate 195 east in Hamilton Township.Traffic is instructed to continue on the 195 expressway east upon reaching Exit 6 for the New Jersey Turnpike (NJ Turnpike Exit 7A) in Robbinsville Township.

I-95 then follows the New Jersey Turnpike north through Newark and into New York on the George Washington Bridge.I-95 travels through Washington Heights, The Bronx, and southern Westchester County before crossing into the state of Connecticut.

New England

Main articles: Interstate 95 in: Connecticut | Rhode Island | Massachusetts | New Hampshire | Maine

Interstate 95 enters New England in Connecticut, and follows along the southern part of the state within miles of the coast in a more east-west direction.It then curves back northward, passing into Rhode Island, and traveling through its capital of Providence.Interstate 95 then enters Massachusetts, heading not into but around Boston via Route 128 before turning north and passing briefly into and through New Hampshire, and then into Maine, following the Maine Turnpike to the Canadian border and entering the province of New Brunswick as Route 95.

History

Portions of the highway have or used to have tolls. Many parts of I-95 were made up of various toll roads that had already been constructed or planned, particularly in the northeast. Many of these routes still exist today, but some have removed their tolls. An interesting aspect of the highway is that every current toll facility is compatible with the E-ZPasselectronic payment system.

Florida

Until the gap in the Treasure Coast section of I-95 was filled in 1987, a 41 mile section from Palm Beach Gardens to Ft.Pierce was cosigned with Florida's Turnpike.

The Fuller Warren Bridge spans the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida.The old bridge was a drawbridge that until the 1980s was tolled. The current bridge was completed in 2002.

The other bridge is the Trout River Bridgeover the Trout Rivernorth of Jacksonville.

Virginia

Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike was a toll road in central Virginia.The Turnpike was established in 1955, and opened in July 1958. It extended from the northern limits of Richmond to just south of Petersburg on what is now Interstate 85.In August 1958, most of the route was designated Interstate 95. Tolls were removed in 1992.

Maryland and Delaware

Fort McHenry Tunnel is underneath the harbor of Baltimore, Maryland.This tunnel opened in 1985 and completed, with the exception of the large gap in New Jersey, Interstate 95.

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Highwayis north of Baltimore. This highway was opened in 1963, and it and the Delaware Turnpike were both dedicated by President John F. Kennedy. The highway extended from the northern Baltimore city limits to the Delaware state line.After his assassination, the highway and the Delaware Turnpike were named the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.This highway had a toll in both directions until 1991, when the southbound tolls were canceled. This highway currently has a toll only northbound.

The Delaware Turnpike which was opened in 1963, extends I-95 from the Maryland state line to south side of Wilmington at the I-295 interchange.There is a toll in the southbound direction between Delaware state route 896 (exit 1) and the Maryland state line.

New Jersey and New York

New Jersey Turnpikeopened in 1952, and currently I-95 is signed from Exit 6 (the Pennsylvania TurnpikeConnector) outside Philadelphia north to the New York state line. By 2012, I-95 should follow said connector into Pennsylvania.

George Washington Bridge carries I-95, US highways 1 and 9, and US 46 across the Hudson River between New Jersey and Upper Manhattan.The upper deck of this two-level, fourteen-lane bridge was opened in 1931, and the lower deck was opened in 1962. Northbound traffic (which actually travels slightly southward over this bridge) must pay a toll on the New Jersey end before crossing this bridge into New York.

New England Thruway in New York extended from the Pelham Parkway interchange in the Bronx, just north of I-695 to the Connecticut state line.Construction of the NET began in 1951, but the highway was not completed until 1961. In 1956, this Thruway was designated as part of I-95. Tolls were originally levied in both directions, but these were removed from the southbound direction in the late 1980s during a reconstruction of the NET. Currently, tolls are levied on northbound traffic only.

New England

The Connecticut Turnpikewas completed in 1958 and designated as part of I-95. I-95 follows the turnpike through Connecticut from the New York state line to its intersection with I-395 in Waterford, then continues eastward to the Rhode Island state line.Tolls were removed from the turnpike in 1985 after a notorious fatal car accident at a toll plaza in 1983. In January 2007, the Connecticut Department of Transportationannounced a $4-million study into the feasibility of reinstating tolls on the Connecticut Turnpike.

The New Hampshire Turnpike is designated as I-95 in New Hampshire.All of I-95 except approximately the northernmost one mile (1.6 km) in New Hampshire is designated the Blue Star Turnpike, part of the New Hampshire Turnpike System. The Turnpike System diverges from I-95 in Portsmouth at the interchange with U.S.Route 4. Tolls are collected once at a mainline plaza in Hampton.

The Maine Turnpikewas built in two sections, completed in 1947 and 1955. Beginning in 2004, the entirety of the Maine Turnpike was designated as Interstate 95. The Turnpike extends from the New Hampshire line north to just south of Augusta.The Maine Turnpike uses entrance tolls at exits south of including Gray, and uses barrier toll plazas north of Gray.This allows travel on the southern section without having main line tolls causing major backups and the northern section saves money by requiring fewer toll collection employees. As a sidenote, the shifting of I-95 onto the Maine Turnpike also ushered in a change from sequentially-numbered exits to a mile-based system, making it the only such area in New England on I-95.

Future

Between Richmond, Virginia and New Jersey are a few large projects that are helping to ease traffic along the corridor.The reconstruction of the Springfield Interchange in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, helped to ease traffic at the intersection of Interstate 95, Interstate 495, and Interstate 395, and surrounding interchanges.The Springfield Interchange is one of the busiest highway junctions on the East Coast, serving between 400,000 and 500,000 vehicles per day. With the exception of HOT laneson the Capital Beltway (I-495/95), this project was completed in July 2007.

A few miles to the east is another major project: the Woodrow Wilson Bridgereplacement. The bridge carries Interstates 95 and 495 over the Potomac River. The former Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which has since been demolished, was a six-lane bridge that was severely over-capacity. The new bridge will be two bridges comprising a total of twelve lanes; five in each direction, with and additional lane in each direction for future use (rapid-bus or train). This project is nearly complete. The ten lanes opened on the 13th of December 2008 greatly reducing the traffic delays on the beltway. The lanes are divided into 2 thru-lanes and 3 local lanes in each direction. About 30 miles north of the Wilson Bridge (and about 20 miles south of Baltimore) near the City of Laurel, a large new interchange is under construction as of 2008 and scheduled for completion in late 2011, which will connect I-95 to Maryland Route 200, the long-planned InterCounty Connector toll road.

Farther north in Pennsylvania, a project is underway at the intersection of I-95 and I-276.The Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project will construct an interchange between Interstate 95, Interstate 276, and once completed, Interstate 195, as I-95 will no longer go through Trenton, New Jersey (actually the townships of Hopewell, Lawrence and Ewing).This project will result in another toll being added to the route, that of the Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge over the Delaware River.The toll, much like the other crossings of the river, will be for traffic leaving New Jersey only — that's I-95 southbound. More critically, completion of this project will close the remaining gap in the route.

In 2006, the Virginia General Assembly passed SJ184, a resolution calling for an interstate compact to build a toll highway between Dover, Delaware and Charleston, South Carolina as an alternative to I-95 that would allow long-distance traffic to avoid the DC Metropolitan area.

Federal legislation has identified I-95 through Connecticut as High Priority Corridor 65. A long-term multibillion dollar program to upgrade the entire length of I-95 through Connecticut has been underway since the mid-1990s and is expected to continue through at least 2020. Several miles of the Connecticut Turnpike through Bridgeport were recently widened and brought up to Interstate standards. Work has shifted to reconstructing and widening of I-95 through New Haven, which includes replacing the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge.Environmental studies for reconstructing and widening 60 miles (95 km) of I-95 from New Haven to the Rhode Island state line are also progressing.

From Florida to Virginia there are plans to expand the I-95 corridor from Petersburg, Virginia to Florida through a U.S. multi-state agreement to look at and studies how to improve the corridor eventually widening reconstruction , reducing congestion, and overall safety for years to come.

Georgia and Florida continue to complete widening projects. Most of Georgia's stretch has been upgraded to six lanes down to Jacksonville. The section from Jacksonville to the I-4 junction in Daytona Beach was completed to six lanes in 2005. As of 2009, widening projects continue in Brevard County from the SR 528 junction in Cocoa to Palm Bay as well as northern Palm Beach County.

Major intersections

• Interstate 4 in Daytona Beach, Florida
• Interstate 10 in Jacksonville, Florida
• Interstate 16 in Savannah, Georgia
• Interstate 26 near Harleyville, South Carolina
• Interstate 20 in Florence, South Carolina
• Interstate 40 in Benson, North Carolina
• Interstate 85 in Petersburg, Virginia
• Interstate 64 for 4 miles (6.4 km) in Richmond, Virginia
• Interstate 76 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Interstate 78 in Newark, New Jersey
• Interstate 80 in Teaneck, New Jersey
• Interstate 87 in New York City, New York
• Interstate 91 in New Haven, Connecticut
• Interstate 93 in Canton, Massachusetts
• Interstate 90 in Weston, Massachusetts
• Interstate 93 in Reading, Massachusetts

Auxiliary routes

Interstate 95 has many auxiliary routes.

• Florida: I-195- Miami to Miami Beach; I-295- bypass of Jacksonville; I-395- Miami to south Miami Beach; I-595- Interstate 75 to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades
• North Carolina: I-295- Future loop around Fayetteville; I-795- Spur past Wilson, North Carolina to Goldsboro
• Virginia: I-195- Spur into Richmond, Virginia; I-295- Bypass of Petersburg and Richmond; I-395- Spur into Washington, D.C.; I-495- Loop around Washington, D.C.

:Defunct: I-595

• Washington, D.C.: I-295- Loop into Washington, D.C.; I-395- Spur into Washington, D.C.; I-695- Short, unsigned connector between I-395 and I-295

:Defunct: I-195

• Maryland: I-195- Spur to Baltimore-Washington International Airport; I-295- Loop into Washington, D.C.; I-395- Spur into Baltimore; I-495- Loop around Washington, D.C.; I-595- Non-signed spur to Annapolis, Maryland; I-695- Loop around Baltimore; I-795- Spur off of I-695 west of Baltimore to Reisterstown; I-895- Loop inside Baltimore containing the Harbor Tunnel

:Defunct: I-595 (Baltimore)

• Delaware: I-295- Bypass of Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Trenton, New Jersey; I-495- Bypass of Wilmington, Delaware

:Defunct: I-895

• Pennsylvania

:Defunct: I-695; I-895

• New Jersey: I-195- Spur to the New Jersey Shore; I-295- Bypass of Philadelphia and Trenton; Route 95W- Western spur of the New Jersey Turnpike

:Defunct: I-695

• New York: I-295, I-695, I-895- Various connectors around New York City; I-495- Loop into Long Island
• Connecticut: I-395- Spur to Worcester, Massachusetts
• Rhode Island: I-195- Spur to I-495 in Massachusetts; I-295- Bypass around Providence

:Defunct: I-895

• Massachusetts: I-395- Spur from Connecticut to Worcester; I-495- Wide radius bypass around Boston and its suburbs

:Defunct: I-695

• Maine: I-195- Spur into Old Orchard Beach, Maine; I-295- Loop through Portland; I-395- Spur into Bangor and Brewer; I-495- Non-signed connector between I-95 and I-295 in Falmouth

References

1. David Montgomery and Josh White, Washington Post, 128 Cars, Trucks Crash in Snow on I-95, February 23, 2001, p. A1
2. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table1.htm FHWA Interstate Highway Route Log
3. Haya El Nasser, USA Today, Small-town USA goes 'micropolitan', June 27, 2004
4. FDOT GIS data
5. (PDF)
6. Federal Highway Administration Route Log and Finder List, Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways as of October 31, 2002
7. Maryland State Highway Administration, December 31, 2004 Highway Location Reference
8. New Jersey Department of Transportation, 2005 Straight Line Diagrams
9. Connecticut State Numbered Routes and Roads as of December 31, 2004 (PDF)
10. RIGIS data - "Roads - Primary" and "Roads - State"
11. GRANIT GIS data - NH Public Roads
12. Maine State Route Log (via floodgap.com)
13. AP: Legislators consider possibility of reviving tolls
14. http://www.maineturnpike.com/html/about/history.html Maine Turnpike Authority
15. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission I-95/I-276 Interchange Project Meeting Design Management Summary - DRAFT: Design Advisory Committee Meeting #2
16. Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project
17. SJ 184 Interstate Route 95; construction and operation of controlled access highway as alternative thereto.
18. http://virginiadot.org/news/statewide/2009/five_states_and_usdot38435.asp
19. Map
20. Map
21. Map
22. Map
23. Map
24. Map
25. Map
26. Map
27. Map
28. Map
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34. Map

FL
382.17
615.04
GA
112.03
180.29
SC
198.76
319.87
NC
181.71
292.43
VA
178.73
287.64
DC
0.07
0.12
MD
109.05
175.50
DE
23.43
37.71
PA
51.08
82.21
NJ
77.96 (main route) 8.77 (Trenton area) 11.03 (west spur) 97.76 (total)
125.46 14.11 17.75 157.33
NY
23.50
37.82
CT
111.57
179.55
RI
43.3
69.7
MA
91.95
147.98
NH
16.20
26.08
ME
303.2
488.0