Portal:New Jersey/Selected article/24

Interstate 295 (abbreviated I-295) in New Jersey and Delaware is an auxiliary Interstate Highway, designated as a bypass around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The route begins at a junction with Interstate 95 south of Wilmington, Delaware, and runs to another junction with I-95 north of Trenton, New Jersey. The route heads east from I-95 and crosses the Delaware River from Delaware to New Jersey on the Delaware Memorial Bridge concurrent with U.S. Route 40. Upon entering New Jersey, the two routes split and I-295 runs parallel to the New Jersey Turnpike for most of its course in New Jersey. After a concurrency with U.S. Route 130 in Gloucester County, I-295 interchanges with Interstate 76 and Route 42 in Camden County. The route continues northeast toward Trenton, where it intersects Interstate 195 and Route 29 before bypassing the city to the east and ending at an interchange with U.S. Route 1 in Lawrence Township, where the route becomes I-95 southbound.

Two portions of I-295 predate the Interstate Highway System, the Delaware Memorial Bridge, built in 1951, and the portion concurrent with US 130, built in two sections that opened in 1948 and 1954. The route was designated on these sections in 1958. The portion of I-295 connecting to I-95 in Delaware opened in 1963 while most of the route in New Jersey was finished by the 1980s. The last portion of I-295 to be completed, near the interchange with I-195 and Route 29, was completed in 1994. Interstate 95 was originally supposed to continue northeast from the routes' junction near Trenton on the proposed Somerset Freeway, but this plan was canceled, limiting I-295's capability as a true bypass between Baltimore and New York City. Today, traffic on Interstate 295 is directed to take Interstate 195 (or surface street connections further south) to the New Jersey Turnpike to reach New York City. The same route is prescribed for traffic on I-95 in Pennsylvania and near Trenton to bridge the gap with I-95 further north. I-295 previously extended a few miles past the US 1 interchange to where it would have met the Somerset Freeway; in 1993, the portion past US 1 became part of I-95. As a result of the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, I-295 was originally planned to continue past its northern terminus along I-95, crossing into Pennsylvania and heading south to the interchange. Instead, it was decided that I-195 would be extended into Pennsylvania, moving the northern terminus of I-295 to the I-195 interchange south of Trenton.