I-95 lane closures will cause backups near Christiana
Evening rush-hour drivers will run into backups near Christiana for more than two weeks as road crews replace the bridge deck on northbound I-95 over Del. 7, according to transportation officials.
The four available lanes on northbound I-95 will be reduced to two on that bridge starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday until Oct. 16. Roadwork will occur weekdays from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. and weekends from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
There should be two lanes open “most of the time,” said Bud Freel, spokesman for the Delaware Department of Transportation, but it’s possible that crews may need to close all but one at certain points during the night.
“We do expect some backups,” Freel said. The roadway “is in such bad shape they’re going to have to tear out whole sections.”
In addition to the lane closures on the interstate, the ramp that connects southbound Del. 7 to northbound I-95 also will be shut down during those nighttime hours. Typically DelDOT tries to plan nighttime closures so they do not impede rush-hour traffic, Freel said, but this project is an exception.
“The reason they need 12 hours is because they expect six hours to tear out the old sections and six hours to pour new concrete and allow it to cure.”
Councilman seeks federal probe into police shooting
An average of 21,500 vehicles use that northbound section of interstate during weekdays from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., according to DelDOT. Mobile message boards will be on the highway warning drivers of the closure. They will direct northbound vehicles to take an optional detour onto eastbound Del. 273, where they can connect to Del. 1 and re-enter I-95 north of the work zone, according to DelDOT.
“I can’t guess how many will take the detour and how many will try to go through,” Freel said.
Rear-end collisions are common in work zones like this one, said Jim Lardear, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. Although the night closure will reduce some of the possible congestion, drivers need to be alert while passing through these kind of road construction projects, he said.
“Drivers along I-95 in this area will need to stay focused,” he said.
Inspectors gave the bridge a “sufficiency rating” of 79 out of 100 in 2012, which means it was due for repair, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration.
Crews from Eastern Highway Specialists, a contractor from Wilmington, will be carrying out the concrete construction. That company has an open-ended contract with DelDOT until 2017 to make repairs and conduct preventative maintenance on bridges in New Castle County worth $1.9 million.
Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.