PennDOT to Open New Cottman Avenue Ramp to I-95 South in Northeast Philadelphia

​Philadelphia, PA -- The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that the new ramp from Cottman Avenue to southbound Interstate 95 will open to traffic on Tuesday, July 2, substantially completing the third and final contract to reconstruct the Cottman Avenue Interchange and widen I-95 to four continuous lanes between Rhawn and Levick streets in Northeast Philadelphia.

Crews expect to open the new ramp, which was built as part of the $52.7 million I-95 Section CP3 contract, at approximately 12 noon on Tuesday.

The opening of the new ramp follows the completion in late May of the new I-95 bridge and northbound off-ramp at Cottman Avenue that replaced the ones that were destroyed in a June 11, 2023, tanker truck crash.

Section CP3 construction was done under a $52.7 million contract which began in mid-2022. In addition to building the new Cottman Avenue on-ramp, PennDOT's contractor improved several surface streets serving the Cottman Avenue Interchange and rerouted a sanitary sewer for construction of the new ramp. Reconstruction of Wissinoming Street between Cottman and Princeton avenues, also part of the CP3 contract, will be completed later this summer.

C. Abbonizio Contractors, of Sewell NJ, is the general contractor on Section CP3, a contract that was financed with 90 percent federal and 10 percent state funding.

The first phase of PennDOT's I-95/Cottman Avenue Interchange Improvement Project (Section CP1) began in 2009 and was completed in mid-2012. Under that $34 million contract, PennDOT built two new ramps - a new southbound on-ramp at Longshore Street and a new northbound on-ramp from Milnor Street -- and rebuilt the existing on-ramp to I-95 north from Princeton Avenue.

Additional improvements to Cottman Avenue, Princeton Avenue and State Road in the vicinity of the interchange completed under CP1 were designed to move traffic to and from I-95 in a manner that enhances pedestrian and vehicular traffic movement in the adjacent Tacony neighborhood.

Section CP2 construction began in late 2012 and ended in late 2017. Under this contract, PennDOT rebuilt and widened northbound and southbound I-95 and its bridges to four continuous lanes between Rhawn Street and Levick Street under a $212 million contract that at the time was the largest construction contract in the agency's history.

Section CP2 also reconstructed and improved the existing southbound off-ramp to Bleigh Avenue, extended Princeton Avenue from State Road to Milnor Street, rebuilt a section of New State Road, and installed a new 84-inch water main adjacent to southbound I-95 between Cottman and Princeton avenues.

For more information on PennDOT's I-95 reconstruction program, visit www.95revive.com.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.

For a complete list of construction projects impacting state-owned highways in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties, visit the District 6 Traffic Bulletin.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District6.

Information about infrastructure in District 6, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.pa.gov/D6Results. Find PennDOT's planned and active construction projects at the PennDOT Projects page.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Krys Johnson, [email protected]​

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