Drivers urged to take alternate routes as major construction on I-95 northbound gets underway
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Drivers are being forced to adjust their travel plans Saturday as a major construction gets underway on I-95 north. PennDOT is warning commuters to expect significant backups in the area.
Plumes of dust billowed into the air as I-95 north at Penn's Landing was transformed into a construction zone.
For 36 hours, all northbound lanes are shut down between Columbus Boulevard and I-676.
"Probably it'll cause a lot of traffic in the city, a lot busier now. People are probably going to be quite frustrated," Danielle Bryson said.
The lanes are closed so crews can demolish the concrete cap covering I-95 between Chestnut and Walnut Streets. The demolition forced Michael Hart from North Jersey to find another way home after he left the Sixers game at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday night.
"This is crazy. I wouldn't have came to this game if I knew that," Hart said.
Shea McCormick from Conshohocken said he knew about the closure in advance, so he used public transportation to avoid problems.
"I wasn't driving down here this weekend," McCormick said. "I just saw everything on the news this week, so definitely not going to take the roads."
The city and PennDOT are replacing and expanding the concrete cap so they can build a 12-acre park that partially covers the highway.
"I think it's going to be awesome," Karen Wolford said. "It's going to be something that Philadelphia has needed for a long time."
The construction is part of a $330 million project to connect Center City and the Delaware River waterfront. While people CBS Philadelphia talked to are generally supportive of the project, they're worried about the extra congestion.
"You only have so much road and our traffic is more than the roads can handle now," Wolford said.
Drivers are being urged to take alternate routes like 76 and 676. The northbound lanes will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday.
More options are available on 511PA.com, which is a free and always available tool travelers can use that provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
For more information on the I-95 CAP closure detours, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has an interactive map on its website.
