Essex Ave Overpass 8/2014

A new traffic pattern has recently been put in place on 295N to facilitate the re-construction of the Essex Ave overpass. Near the Creek Road overpass all three north bound lanes now shift to the left and now pass over the newly constructed center section of the Essex Ave overpass. Just after the overpass the left lane continues on the the ramp to I-76, and the right two lanes curve to the right onto the existing ramp that takes you to 295 N. This change will allow them to re-build the side of the Essex Ave overpass that carried 295N over the road.

 

The start of the lane shift.

 

All the trees have been cleared along the right side of the road.

 

The lanes of 295N going over the center of the Essex Ave overpass. The road rises and tilts to the left here which eventually connect to the new 295 N overpass.

Demolition work on the Essex Ave overpass.

St Mary’s Cemetery Area

A lot of the work on contract two is happening in an unused section of St Mary’s Cemetary in Bellmawr. There has been a lot of land clearing and excavation going on in this area.

 

Here is a view of the area from the Browning Road overpass.

 

The construction access road off of Browning Road.

 

Another shot of the area from the Browning Road overpass.

Looking at the St Mary’s area from 295 North.

Drilling rig at the back of the cemetery. 295 North is just beyond those trees.

295 North Ramp

 

Part of contract 1 is to build a new ramp from 295 N to 76 West to replace the existing ramp. This ramp is currently being built right next to the existing one.

Land has been cleared next to the start of the old ramp and they have begun the work to construct the support for that side of the ramp.

This picture shows the new support that has been constructed between the North and South bound lanes of 42.

This column between the interim ramp and the old ramp will hold a support for this end of the new ramp.

Here work is being done on the support for the other end of the ramp which is between the old ramp and the new interim ramp.

295 Black Horse Pike to Al-Jo Curve

Here is an update on the work along 295 from the Black Horse Pike to the Al-Jo curve.

 

Work continues along 295 Southbound right before the curve. This will eventually become the beginning of a new ramp that will take 295 S to with 76 West or 42 South this replacing the Al-Jo curve.

 

Contract 2 has recently started which will include major work on this section of 295. You can start to see some of the preliminary work for this. Here is the 295 North exit to the Black Horse Pike. They have cleared all the trees inside the ramp loop. There has also been some work done in the area in the foreground which up till now has been used as a staging area.

 

They have started to remove the noise barriers along 295 Northbound.

Bell Road Overpass 7/2014

With two construction contracts currently underway there has been a lot of activity recently, so I will cover the current progress over the course of a couple posts. Let’s start with the work on the Bell Road overpass. The second half of the bridge is now well underway.

 

Here you can see the new center support under construction. Since this picture was taken the columns have been complete and they have started working on the cross piece. In the background you can see the old support on the 295 Northbound side. They have started to build the new one behind the old one and have just started taking out the old one.

 

The support on the 295 Southbound side appears to be complete.

 

Here’s another picture of the support on the 295 Southbound side. You can also see the rebar on the side of the finished section of the road.

Google Street View

Google Street View has recently been updated in the construction zone. The update is from sometime in the Fall of 2013. The aerial view is till showing the area pre-construction.

 

Here is an image from Street View showing the work on the Bell Road bridge.

 

Photo Update May 2014

42 North just before the 295 north bound ramp to 42. They are in the process of building the supports for the new ramp that will go along the side of the old one. You can just see the rebar cages for the support columns behind the red container.

Another view of the same area. The yellow cylinders are forms for the support columns.

Piles being driven in between the new interim ramp to 295 North and the old 295 North to 42 ramp. I assume this will also be part of the new ramp.

A closer view of this work.

The new retaining wall along 42 North between the 295 ramps. Not much going on here at the moment.

They continue to raise the area next to 295 South right before the Al-Jo curve. It appears that the new highway will be a bit higher then the current one.

They have started to construct the paths to the temporary pedestrian bridge over 42 next to the Creek Road overpass. Work to re-construct this overpass will likely start soon.

The median between 295 North and South, South of Essex Ave has been paved right up to the new Essex overpass and a new median barrier has been installed. This barrier was cast in place so it probably permanent. They have also prepped the land on the other side of the Essex Ave overpass and it looks like it will be paved soon.

This container recently showed up along 295 by the Black Horse Pike. Conti is the contractor for the second phase of the construction and they have already started work. They appear to be doing some work around the Blackhorse Pike exit, and have also started to do some land clearing in other area.

Land has been cleared by the 76 North to 295 North along the Al-Jo curve.

They have started to clear the trees along St Mary’s Cemetery.