The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) will hold an open house public meeting on Thursday, April 24, to provide information and solicit public comment on projects to improve Interstate 95 and its interchanges at Bridge Street and the Betsy Ross Bridge/Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia.

The meeting will be held at Frankford High School at Oxford and Wakeling streets in Philadelphia from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.  The meeting facility is accessible to the disabled.

At the meeting, PennDOT and its engineering teams will report on the recommendations from a recently completed combined traffic study for both interchange areas.  The recommendations include changes to the interchanges’ ramp systems to improve access to the interstate and remove commercial traffic from some neighborhood streets.
The traffic study was conducted as part of the Preliminary Engineering phase for the I-95 Bridge Street Interchange and I-95 Betsy Ross Interchange improvement projects.

PennDOT also will present preliminary plans for reconstructing the three-mile stretch of I-95, which includes the two interchanges, from south of the Cottman Avenue Interchange through the Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange, and the replacement of 18 bridges.  The status of environmental and historical studies that are being done during Preliminary Engineering also will be reviewed.

PennDOT expects to complete the Preliminary Engineering phase of both projects in late 2008 and begin Final Design in 2009.  Final Design is expected to last three years.  Construction will start at the completion of the Final Design phase.