Missing Moves Project

The 295 direct connect project has still got a few years to go, but another major project is about to start up on 295, the Missing Moves project. The goal of this project is to add ramps from 42 North to 295 South, and 295 North to 42 South. Below is a drawing of the project. The 295 end of the ramps will be right around the Creek Road overpass which will be rebuilt as part of the project. The other end of the ramps will be just south of the Bellmawr 42 exit. As part of the project the exit from 42 onto Leaf Road in Bellmawr will be moved a little further south. Finally, the ramp from 55 North to 295 North will become 2 lanes. You can see a video of the finished configuration here: http://www.rdvsystems.com/portfolio/i295-missing-moves-nj/

The first visible work has started with some land clearing along 295 South just north of Creek Road. Jersey barriers have also been installed along the shoulders on both the North and South bound sides of 295.

February 2020

Work on the project is starting to pick back up, mainly around the foundations for what will become the overpass supports. Here are some pictures of the area along 42 North just after the Browning Road overpass. First is the section of the plans for this area, I have circles the location of three foundations that are being build.

In this picture you can see the yellow forms for  the foundation that was poured a while back. This is the foundation circled in blue on the plans.

A pit has been dug between the existing foundation and the highway, this will be for the foundation circled in red on the plans.

Another pit has been dug below where the temporary Browning Road overpass will go. This is for the foundation circled in yellow.

Here is a look at the area from 42.

Works is also going on at two other locations were there will eventually need to be bridge supports. There are ground heaters setup at these locations probably to facilitate concrete work.

February 2020

42Freeway.com has posted a good article looking at the current progress of the direct connect project along with some aerial video of the current state. The article also provides some information on what has delayed the project, now scheduled to be completed in 2024, and why it seems to have been going so slow recently. 42Freeway is a great blog for getting updates on various construction projects in the South Jersey area.

https://www.42freeway.com/direct-connect-295-76-42-project-update-feb-2020-aerial-photos-and-video/

January 2020

Just like the past few months, not a lot of visible progress this month. There was some paving work on the southern section of the mainline. There also has been work going on just below the cemetery near the Browning Road overpass, although I have not been able to figure out exactly what they have been doing.

In this post I thought I would take a look at some of the recent aerial photos from Bing Maps. These appear to be from the fall of 2019.

In this picture you can clearly see the northern portion of the new mainline, this will ultimately connect the northern and southern portions for 295.

In this picture the blue lines show where the rest of the new mainline overpass will go. The red lines show the ramp from 42 north to 295 north a small portion of which has already been built. The yellow shows where the new ramp from 76 East to 295 South will be.

The yellow lines show where the rest of the 76 West to 295 South ramp will be. It will start on the ramp from 76 East to 295 North, cross over where the end of the Al-Jo curve is now, run along 42 South under Browning Road and then come up and join the mainline overpass. The blue shows where the ramp from 295 South to 76 East/42 South will go. This will start on the ramp from 295 South to 76 West cross under the 76 East to 295 North ramp, cross under 76 and come up on the other side and join the road southbound. Tunneling this ramp under 76 is going to be an interesting part of this project.

When everything is done, the current ramp from 42 North to 295 North, and the Al-Jo curve will be removed.

The current ramp that connects the southern portion of 295 to 76 will also be removed. Traffic from 76 East to 295 South will use the new ramp as shown above, and all traffic from 295 North to 76 West will use the ramp that is currently shared by the 295 North and 76 West local traffic.

December 2019

As has been the case for the past few months, there has not been much working happening on the project recently. This week I did see what could be some progress on the temporary Browning Road overpass. In these pictures you can see them pumping concrete just below where the cemetery side of the temporary bridge will be.

November 2019

I haven’t posted an update in a while because there hasn’t been much going on with the project, things have really slowed down over the past few months. At this point it looks like a lot of the work is being held up by the need to rebuild the Browning Road overpass. They started that part of the project quite a while ago, but it stopped at some point and has still not resumed.

The shoulder of 42 South has been widened and new drainage added right around the split for 42 and 295 south.

Rumble strips have been added to the upside of the ramp from 295 North to 76 West. This may be a result of the truck accident that happened a while back and damaged the noise barrier.

Speaking of noise barriers, the ones along that ramp have been removed. The noise barrier plans for the project do show a barrier there, so I am not sure if this removal was just due to the truck damage, of if there were always plans for a different barrier configuration there.

This is the start of what will eventually be the ramp from 42 North to 295 North. This section look complete.

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A little bit of cleanup and paving work has been done where 295 North splits off of 76 West.

The hole in the wall that was being used for construction access has been completely closed up.

New trees have been planted around the Black Horse Pike exit.

August 2019

Contact 2 seems to be wrapping up, so a lot of cleanup work is going on. Here is a look at the area  between 76 West and the 295 North ramp. The area has been cleaned up and graded. The line of “bumps” poking out of the earth is going to be where the ramp from 295 South to 42 South will eventually be. This will be built as part of the fourth contract.

They have started to close in the hole in the retaining wall for the new main line. This was used for construction access to that area.

Here is a look at the northern portion of the main line ramp. Guard rails and sign structures have been installed.

A lot of cleanup work has been done in the area between the new main line and the ramp from 295 South to 76 West.

Here is another look at the area where the ramp from 295 South to 42 South will eventually be built.

The start of the ramp from 42 North to 295 North has been paved.