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Interstate_95.png Interstate 95 or (I-95) is an interstate highway that runs 1907 miles (3070 kilometers) north and south along the eastern United States coast. The southernmost point is in the city of Miami, Florida; the northern terminus is at the Canadian border at Houlton, Maine and it continues as New Brunswick Provincial Route 95. (This is the only instance where an Interstate and its Canadian successor have the same route number.)
Length
Major Cities Along the Route
Intersections with other Interstates
Spur Routes
TollsPortions of the highway have or used to have tolls:
NotesInterstate 95 is one of the most well-known and travelled highways in the Interstate system, connecting the cities along the Northeast corridor with the sunny environs of Florida. The highway's spurs have set two records. There are seven separate I-295s, making this designation used for the most number of highways. Also, six I-695s were planned, but postponed or never built, setting another record. I-495 was supposed to link New Jersey and Long Island, but the portion across Manhattan was never built, and the New Jersey section of the freeway was downgraded to NJ 495. I-895 around Providence was also planned, but it was never built. There is a gap in New Jersey where local opposition groups managed to stop construction of the interstate through the area. This situation is scheduled to be fixed sometime in the 2010s when a new interchange is to be built, updated signage posted, and I-95 re-routed north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike. Some highway mavens think that this will be an inadequate solution, and want the Somerset Freeway built; others want the entire main trunk of the New Jersey Turnpike designated as I-95, as that is where most of the traffic goes anyway; however, this would bypass Philadelphia. Also, an I-895 was planned to connect I-95 and I-295 south of Trenton, with the bridge over the Delaware River being a replacement of the Burlington-Bristol Bridge, making a complete loop of Trenton. This was never built, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension would be the interstate in the area if a connection between it and I-295 were ever built. There are two unsigned spur routes from the Washington area. I-695 is an unsigned route that connects I-395 and I-295; and I-595 to Annapolis is better known as US 50/301. (There is another I-695 not too far to the north, a full beltway around Baltimore.) Originally, I-95 was supposed to go through Washington, D.C. instead of around it. The section through the city was re-designated as I-395; it does not connect with I-95 at the northern end, but does at the southern end. The Baltimore-Washington Parkway is not an interstate, but if it were, it would have been I-295; the section not controlled by the National Park Service is designated MD 295, while the portion of the Anacostia Freeway in Washington not designated I-295 is DC 295 – the District's only "state highway". The Capital Beltway article has more about this stretch of highway. The light towers along I-95 between the I-495 Capital Beltway and the Baltimore city line contain either mercury vapor or metal halide streetlights, both of which cast a soft white light. Once I-95 enters Baltimore, the light towers contain sodium lights, which are bright orange. North of Baltimore, there are mercury vapor/metal halide towers at four more interchanges. Light towers are very common on Interstate highways, especially in urban areas, and most of them contain sodium lighting. They usually carry three or four lights, but some light towers can carry as many as 12. At eight lanes wide, the Fort McHenry Tunnel is the widest underwater tunnel in the world. There are four tubes, each of them carrying two lanes. In Baltimore, two interstate highways (I-70 and I-83) were planned to intersect with I-95, but they were both cancelled, along with I-170 (which is now part of US 40). I-70 ends unceremoniously at a Park & Ride lot just before the Baltimore city line, and I-83 ends in the downtown district. Ramp stubs remain from both interchanges. Originally, a bridge, possibly a suspension bridge, was planned to carry I-95 over Baltimore Harbor, and a tunnel was planned for I-695. Opposition prevented the I-95 bridge from being built (because it would've blocked the view of the Baltimore skyline and Fort McHenry), and it switched positions with the I-695 tunnel, which had also been rejected. The two crossings became the Key Bridge for I-695, and the Fort McHenry Tunnel for I-95. The I-895 Harbor Tunnel Thruway in Baltimore intersects with I-95 at three different points. At one of those crossings (where the two Baltimore tunnels are located), there are no ramps between the Thruway and the I-95 freeway. I-395, a skyway into downtown Baltimore, is the shortest three-digit Interstate route in the country. I-95 was also supposed to go through Boston, Massachusetts instead of around it but locals nixed the idea of having the highway go through the city. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation did build a part of the highway north of Boston, then abandoned that section of road. It would have extended from the northend of Northeast Expressway in Revere, Massachusetts north to Saugus River in Saugus, Massachusetts paralleling the Salem Turnpike. On the south end, there is an abandoned stretch north of the trumpet interchange at I-95 and I-93. From aerial photographs, the planned configuration of the junctions is apparent. The Miami hip-hop group 95 South is named after this highway. The highway was known as a drug route and was nicknamed Cocaine Alley. DisastersOn the morning of June 28, 1983, a 100 ft (30 meter) section of the Mianus River Bridge in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, Connecticut collapsed, plunging northbound I-95 traffic into the river below, killing three. The collapse was blamed on the failure of the steel pins to hold the horizontal beams together and inadequate inspection prior to the collapse. Northbound traffic was diverted on this section of I-95 for 25 days. Southbound traffic was unaffected. On February 1, 2004, a tanker truck fell onto the northbound lanes of I-95 as it was entering the southbound side from the Harbor Tunnel Thruway in Howard County, Maryland, near Baltimore. The truck driver was killed, along with the occupants in additional vehicles traveling north on I-95 (including a pickup truck). The northbound lanes of I-95 were closed to traffic overnight, as cleanup crews cleared the highway of debris from the crash. It is believed that the truck fell onto I-95 while it was crossing the overpass marking the Thruway's southern terminus. On March 26, 2004 a bridge on I-95 near Bridgeport, Connecticut was partly melted by the explosion of a tanker truck carrying over 45,000 liters (11,900 gallons) of fuel oil. Repairs were estimated to take at least two weeks, but the highway was opened to northbound traffic in only a few days. Southbound traffic resumed about a week later. External linksSources
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