Interstate 495 (Delaware)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Interstate 495
Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System

Length:

11.47 mi^[1] (18.46 km)

Formed:

1970s

South end:

I-95/295 in Newport

Major
junctions:

US 13

North end:

I-95 in Claymont,

Routes in Delaware
< DE 491		DE 896 >

Interstate 495 (abbreviated I-495) in Delaware is a six-lane three-digit bypass of Interstate 95 around the city of Wilmington, Delaware. Built in the mid-1970s and opened as the "Wilmington Bypass", the highway became, between 1978 and 1982, the route of I-95 around Wilmington, while the original highway through the city, redesignated as I-895, was reconstructed at the Wilmington Viaduct. In 1982, I-95 was rerouted back onto the original highway, and the bypass became I-495 again. A similar occurrence happened in 2000 when I-95 was closed off for a total rebuild project between U.S. Highway 202 and the Pennsylvania state line.

Although the most recent of all three of Delaware's Interstate highways, I-495 had to be totally rebuilt in the mid-1990s when the concrete surface, developed in France, failed prematurely and had to be totally replaced in sections, resulting in one-lane operations for nearly four years (a similar total rebuild project had to be done on Delaware Route 141 in Newport in the early 2000s). In addition, the bridge over the Christina River, at the Port of Wilmington, suffered severe damage when a truck went over the side of the bridge and exploded on impact, damaging support beams, and forcing traffic onto I-95, creating traffic snarls on the four-lane highway.

As a major bypass, officials in the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) has encouraged through traffic (by placing the "Baltimore" and "Philadelphia" control cities on its green signs) to use I-495 instead of I-95, as it has six lanes and a higher speed limit (65 mph instead of 55 mph on I-95). Since 2000, DelDOT officials have proposed rerouting I-95 back onto I-495 in the same arrangement used between 1978 and 1982, and renaming the current I-95 through Wilmington as "Business Route I-95," like that on Interstate 83 in York, Pennsylvania. The mayor of Wilmington has staunchly rejected the proposal.

[edit] Exits

These are the current exits on I-495, and the proposed exit numbers if I-95 was rerouted as in the 1978-1982 arraignment.

County	Exit numbers		Exit name	Notes
County	Current	Proposed	Exit name	Notes
New Castle		5C	(I-295) Delaware Memorial Bridge-New Jersey/New York	Southbound exit ramp only
New Castle			FLY-OVER RAMP FOR (Del. 141)	Ramp eliminates any weaving between I-95/I-495 junction and Del. Rt. 141.
New Castle	1	6	(U.S. 13) Wilmington-Dover
New Castle	2	7	(Del. 9A) Terminal Avenue-Port of Wilmington	To Del. 9
New Castle	3	8	12th Street
New Castle	4	9	(U.S. 13/Del. 3) Governor Printz Blvd.-Edgemoor
New Castle	5	10	(U.S. 13) Philadelphia Pike-Claymont
New Castle	6	11A	(Del. 92) Naamans Road	Southbound exit only
New Castle		11B	(I-95) Wilmington

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 95
	Current and Future (F)	Former
	Florida - Maine - Maryland - Massachusetts/Rhode Island - New Jersey - Virginia
	Delaware/New Jersey - District of Columbia/Maryland - Florida - Massachusetts/Rhode Island - Maine - New York - North Carolina - Virginia
	Connecticut/Massachusetts - District of Columbia/Virginia - Florida - Maryland - Maine
	Delaware - District of Columbia/Maryland/Virginia - Maine - Massachusetts - New York	New Jersey - Pennsylvania
	Florida - Maryland	Virginia
	District of Columbia - Maryland - New York	Massachusetts - New Jersey - Pennsylvania
	Florida (F) - Maryland	Virginia
	Maryland - New York	Delaware - New Jersey/Pennsylvania - Rhode Island/Massachusetts - Virginia