DelDOT’s massive restoration project on the I-95 corridor around Wilmington is just weeks away.
The Restore the Corridor project is meant to extend the life of the bridges that take the major interstate highway through the City of Wilmington.
Construction on some on-ramps is already complete. But lane restrictions start Feb. 12, and major construction will start in early March.
Work will happen around the clock, six days a week — and is still expected to take at least two years to finish.
There will be significant impacts to traffic. I-95 will be narrowed in some places to a single lane in each direction for much of the project.
Neil Leary is on the project team with Whitman, Requardt and Associates. He urged people to use alternate routes at a virtual information session Thursday.
“Can’t stress that enough. I-495 has excess capacity,” Leary said. “We want people to use those as routes as the primary diversion to get in and out of the city. I-495 and [Rt.] 13 are two great routes that can supplement the additional loss in capacity on I-95. ”
Detour maps will be available on DelDOT’s Restore the Corridor Website.
DelDOT will monitor some intersections for traffic jams and can change the signal timing in real time. They’ll also put up electronic signs with travel time estimates to help drivers decide which routes to take.
Members of the public expressed concern about noise Thursday. Donnie Arant is with the construction contractor, Kiewit.
“The reason why we are implementing night time work is to try to keep this project to as short a schedule as possible,” he said. “We understand we have to be very good neighbors, and we will do everything we can to keep all these impacts to a minimum.”
DelDOT officials say they have also worked with EMS agencies on plans for emergency transportation around the construction.
