Traffic backs up as commuters navigate I-95 detours: What to know as work begins at collapse site

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

Action News Traffic Reporter Matt Pellman called the Tuesday morning commute the “real test” for Interstate 95 detours as work begins on repairing the collapsed section of the highway.

If you are heading northbound, you will be forced off I-95 at Aramingo Avenue.

If you are heading southbound, you will be forced off I-95 at Cottman Avenue.

On Tuesday morning, Chopper 6 showed a huge backlog on the southbound side of I-95 between Academy Road and Cottman Avenue.

Traffic is forced off and put onto State Road to Longshore Avenue before getting back onto I-95, but drivers are sitting for approximately an hour waiting to exit on the southbound side.

All the local streets are taking on a ton of traffic including: Torresdale Avenue, Frankford Avenue, Harbison Avenue, Levick Street, Robbins Street, Bridge Street and the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.

Other options like the Roosevelt Boulevard and the Schuylkill Expressway were also backed up heading into town.

Depending on where you are headed, there is the option of going into New Jersey.

You can do so by the Turnpike Connector Bridge or the Burlington-Bristol Bridge.

Then once you are in New Jersey, there’s Route 130, I-295, and the New Jersey Turnpike.

You can then take one of those down to the Ben Franklin Bridge, Walt Whitman Bridge or Commodore Barry Bridge back into Philadelphia.

But for the Tuesday commute, it’s not recommended to use the Delaware Memorial Bridge because there is construction with only two lanes getting by.

Demolition at the site of the I-95 collapse is happening around the clock. Only when it is finished can repairs begin and they are expected to take months.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to visit on Tuesday.

Pennsylvania State Police, Philadelphia police, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation have established the following detours around the I-95 collapse:

Detours

I-95 Southbound

• Route 63 West (Woodhaven Road), U.S. 1 South, 76 East, 676 East

I-95 Northbound

• I-676 West, I-76 West, U.S. 1 North to Route 63 East (Woodhaven Road)

Local Detour Routes:

Northbound I-95 detour

• Exit I-95 at Aramingo Avenue

• At the end of the ramp, make a left onto Aramingo Avenue

• Follow Aramingo Avenue to Tacony Street

• Turn right on Tacony Street

• Take Tacony Street northbound around Tacony-Palmyra Bridge loop to New State Road. Continue northbound

• Travel New State Road to Milnor Street and re-enter I-95 northbound

Southbound I-95 detour

• Exit I-95 southbound at Cottman Avenue

• At the end of the ramp, right on Bleigh Street

• Follow Bleigh to State Road, make a left onto State Road

• Travel State Road South to Longshore Avenue

• Re-enter I-95 southbound at State Road and Longshore Avenue

Other Traffic Advisories

Castor Avenue on-ramp for I-95 northbound

• Closed

Aramingo Avenue/I-95 on and off-ramps

• On-ramp to I-95 northbound closed

• Betsy Ross off-ramp to I-95 northbound closed

Bridge Street ramp

• I-95 on-ramp at Bridge Street closed.

• All traffic on Tacony Street will flow northbound only from Bridge Street to New State Road.

Tacony Street and Tacony-Palmyra Bridge

• Tacony Palmyra Bridge traffic onto Tacony Street closed. All traffic continues westbound onto Levick Street.

Cottman Avenue exit and State Road closures

• State Road from Cottman Avenue to Longshore Avenue will be one-way, southbound travel only.

“This is really going to have a ripple effect throughout the region,” AAA spokesperson Jana Tidwell said Monday. She advised people to avoid peak travel times.

Tidwell also anticipated that drivers will incur additional costs – “more gasoline, more wear and tear on their cars, additional tolls, in terms of leaving Pennsylvania into New Jersey and then back into Pennsylvania.”

State officials also launched a website to provide updates on detours, road closures, and repairs relating to I-95.

SEPTA Updates

SEPTA has added extra capacity to its services following the highway’s collapse.

“We’re adding capacity on the Trenton, West Trenton and Fox Chase lines. That means additional cars on scheduled trains. We’re going to bus the Cynwyd Lines so that we can repurpose equipment and personnel and get them over to the Trenton Line,” said Leslie S. Richards, SEPTA CEO and general manager.

SEPTA is running three extra Trenton Line trains during the morning and evening rush.

In the morning, those trains will run at 6:40 a.m. and 8:03 a.m. from Trenton, along with one at 8:25 a.m. from Holmesburg Junction.

In the evening, trains will run at 3:05 p.m. from Suburban Station to Holmesburg Junction, along with trains at 4:30 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. to Trenton.

“Thanks to our partners at the Philadelphia Parking Authority, there will be free parking at their three park-and-ride lots at Fern Rock, at Fox Chase and at Torresdale,” added Richards. “There’s also free parking and all SEPTA own Regional Rail lots as well as at the Frankford Transportation Center for access to the Market-Frankford Line.”

For more information on the expanded SEPTA services, click here.