Another major construction project will start this weekend on I-95 at the Route 896 interchange in Newark.
This project - like the Restore the Corridor construction in Wilmington - has the main goal of making the area safer because there have been a lot of crashes according to DelDOT community relations director C.R. McLeod.
"Just since 2019 alone there have been more than 700 crashes at this interchange including a couple of fatalities as well. So that is just an extremely high number of crashes that we've seen," said McLeod.
The work will include the reconfiguration of existing interchange ramps at I-95 and Route 896.
McLeod says that includes adding two flyovers to this interchange.
"One taking traffic from 896 southbound to I-95 northbound, and the other flyover will be taking traffic from 95 southbound to 896 southbound. So those are really the two critical areas where we'll see those flyovers built,” said McLeod. “We'll be widening I-95 to allow for longer merges and for vehicles to get up to highway speed before merging."
The ramp from I-95 south to Route 896 south is scheduled to be completed sometime in the summer of 2024 with the other ramp expected to be wrapped up by the end of 2024.
The project will include bridge widening on the I-95 bridge that goes over Route 72, new highway sign structures, and new highway lighting and Intelligent Traffic Management Systems (ITMS) infrastructure.
Construction begins Sunday night. Updates on the construction project can be found at 95896improvements.com, where you can also sign up for alerts.
