Interstate 95

Interstate 95 marker
Interstate 95
Map
I-95 highlighted in red
Route information
Length1,923.80 mi[2] (3,096.06 km)
Existed1956–present
HistoryCompleted on September 22, 2018[1]
NHSEntire route
Major junctions
South end US 1 in Miami, FL
Major intersections
North end Route 95 at the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing
Location
CountryUnited States
StatesFlorida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine
Highway system

Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States,[3] running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The highway largely parallels the Atlantic coast and US 1, except for the portion between Savannah, Georgia, and Washington, D.C., and the portion between Portland and Houlton in Maine, both of which follow a more direct inland route.

I-95 serves as the principal road link between the major cities of the Eastern Seaboard. Major metropolitan areas along its route include Miami, Jacksonville, Savannah, and Richmond in the Southeast; Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington–Philadelphia, Newark, and New York City in the Mid-Atlantic; and New Haven, Providence, Boston, and Portland in New England. The Charleston, Wilmington, and Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan areas, the three major coastal metros bypassed by the highway's inland portion, are connected to I-95 by I-26, I-40, and I-64, respectively.

I-95 is one of the oldest routes of the Interstate Highway System.[1] Many sections of I-95 incorporated preexisting sections of toll roads where they served the same right-of-way.[4] Until 2018, there was a gap in I-95's original routing in Central New Jersey caused by the cancelation of the Somerset Freeway. An interchange between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-95 was completed September 22, 2018; this allowed I-95 to be rerouted along the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike into Pennsylvania, creating a continuous Interstate route from Maine to Florida for the first time.[1]

With a length of 1,924 miles (3,096 km), I-95 is the longest north–south Interstate and the sixth-longest Interstate Highway overall.[2] I-95 passes through 15 states (as well as a brief stretch in the District of Columbia while crossing the Potomac River), more than any other Interstate. According to the US Census Bureau, only five of the 96 counties or county equivalents along its route are completely rural,[5] while statistics provided by the I-95 Corridor Coalition suggest that the region served is "over three times more densely populated than the U.S. average and as densely settled as much of Western Europe".[6] According to the Corridor Coalition, I-95 serves 110 million people and facilitates 40 percent of the country's gross domestic product.[7]

  1. ^ a b c Sofield, Tom (September 22, 2018). "Decades in the Making, I-95, Turnpike Connector Opens to Motorists". Levittown Now. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Starks, Edward (January 27, 2022). "Table 1: Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways". FHWA Route Log and Finder List. Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on April 22, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  3. ^ Montgomery, David & White, Josh (February 23, 2001). "128 Cars, Trucks Crash in Snow on I-95". The Washington Post. p. A1.
  4. ^ Samuel, Peter (December 10, 2010). "Penn Pike Moving—Very Slowly—To End Gap in I-95". TollRoadsNews. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  5. ^ El Nasser, Haya (June 27, 2004). "Small-Town USA Goes 'Micropolitan'". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "I-95 Corridor Facts". I-95 Corridor Coalition. March 30, 2008. Archived from the original on March 8, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
  7. ^ Griffin, Riley (August 20, 2018). "No Thanks to New Jersey, I-95 Is Finally Done 60 Years Later". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2018.