Skip to main content

Interstate 495 in Delaware

By


Interstate 495 within Delaware is a 11.47-mile auxiliary of Interstate 95 and bypass of downtown Wilmington.  Interstate 495 opened during 1977 and between 1978-1980 briefly served as mainline Interstate 95 while the South Wilmington Viaduct was being reconstructed.  Interstate 495 in addition to bypassing downtown Wilmington serves as access to the Port of Wilmington.  


Part 1; the history of Interstate 495

During 1948 the Wilmington Transportation Study proposed two limited access corridors to connect from Wilmington to the Pennsylvania State Line.  The first corridor would have followed what is now Interstate 95 (Plan A) whereas the second followed what is now modern Interstate 495 (Plan B) as a bypass of Wilmington.  By 1950 Plan A was selected as a limited access corridor from downtown Wilmington to the Pennsylvania State Line.  

On June 29th, 1956, the Federal Highway Aid Act of 1956 was signed into law on the Federal Level.  The Federal Highway Aid Act of 1956 was the genesis point of the Interstate Highway System and established the corridor of Federal Aid-Interstate #3.  Federal Aid-Interstate #3 would go through the process of design during 1960 and be assigned the designation of Interstate 495 during 1962.  

Construction of Interstate 495 would commence during 1968.  The Christina River Bridge would be completed by 1975 and first completed segment of Interstate 495 between US Route 13 to Interstate 95 in Claymont would open during 1976.  During June 1977 the remainder of Interstate 495 would open to traffic. 

On June 28, 1978, the AASHTO approved realigning Interstate 95 onto Interstate 495.  Existing Interstate 95 through Wilmington was requested to be designated as Interstate 595.  The justification for moving Interstate 95 to Interstate 495 was the higher capacity of the then new freeway bypass which had been completed during 1977.  A secondary justification is noted to be the reconstruction of Interstate 95 through Wilmington.  The designation of existing Interstate 95 through Wilmington as Interstate 595 was deferred by the AASHTO in favor of designating a suggested even numbered three-digit Interstate. 








What had been Interstate 95 through Wilmington was approved to be signed as Interstate 195 and Interstate 395 by the AASHTO on October 27, 1978.  Interstate 395 was to be designated from US Route 202 in Wilmington to what had been the Interstate 495 interchange near the Pennsylvania State Line.  Interstate 195 was to be designated from what was the southern Interstate 495 interchange to Delaware Route 141 in Wilmington.  





Interstate 195 and Interstate 395 through Wilmington were approved by the AASHTO to be renumbered to Interstate 895 on June 26, 1979.  








Interstate 95 was redesignated along the corridor of Interstate 895 by the AASHTO on November 15, 1980.  Likewise, the corridor Interstate 495 was restored to what had been briefly designated as Interstate 95.  The justification for restoring the corridor of Interstate 95 was that the project through Wilmington had been completed. 





During June 2014 the Christina River Bridge on Interstate 495 was closed for emergency repairs after tilting support columns were discovered.  The southbound lanes of Interstate 495 would reopen on July 31st whereas the northbound lanes would reopen on August 23th.  


Part 2; a drive on Interstate 495

South of Wilmington, Interstate 495 splits from northbound Interstate 95 via a right-hand transition.  Traffic headed to Philadelphia and the Port of Wilmington are directed onto Interstate 495. 




Traffic on Interstate 495 northbound is advised the Port of Wilmington is 2 miles away whereas Philadelphia is 30 miles.  Interstate 495 is named the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway. 


Interstate 495 northbound Exit 1 accesses US Route 13 Business in Wilmington. 



Interstate 495 northbound Exit 2 accesses Delaware Route 9A and the Port of Wilmington.  



Interstate 495 northbound crosses the Christina River Bridge and accesses 12th Street at Exit 3.  





Northbound Interstate 495 Exit 4 accesses Delaware Route 3 and US Route 13 in Edgemoor.




Interstate 495 northbound follows the shore of the Delaware River to Exit 5/US Route 13 in Claymont.  Interstate 495 terminates at Interstate 95 in Claymont approaching the Pennsylvania State Line.  






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
2 comments
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more