Portion Of PA Turnpike In Bucks Co. To Close This Weekend

LEVITTOWN, PA — A portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bucks County will be shut down this weekend as workers prepare for the long-awaited opening of an interchange between the Turnpike and I-95.

The Turnpike will be closed between the Bensalem exit (351) and the Delaware Valley exit (358) from 12:01 to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, the turnpike commission announced Friday. The closure will be needed to put up new signs and open newly built flyovers at the interchange. Motorists will be detoured through local roadways.

On Friday, Pennsylvania transportation officials will celebrate the opening of the interchange, which has been years in the making. There's been no word on exactly when motorists will be able to use the new interchange, but the turnpike will be closed overnight two nights in a row to prepare.

While turnpike authorities did not announce an official date that motorists can use the interchange, they had been eyeing Monday, Sept. 24, as the day it would open.

At a ceremony Friday near the Bucks County interchange, in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Mark Compton and turnpike Commissioner Pat Deon will offer media members a preview of the I-95 link to the turnpike, or I-276.

They say they'll be celebrating "completion of major, Stage-1 components" of the decades-old project.

The roughly $550 million project has involved massive amounts of work on and around the proposed interchange. Portions of what is now Interstate 295 are being redesignated as I-95 and parts of the current turnpike will become parts of 95 as well. Once finished, the project will create a continuous interstate from Pennsylvania into and through New Jersey and all the way to New York City.

New flyover ramps, toll plazas, bridges and highway widening all have been part of the project.

The project was approved by lawmakers in 1982, but an impact study for it was not completed until 2003. Design work took until 2006 and construction started in 2010.

It was not immediately clear on Wednesday exactly when the interchange may be open to the public or whether an announcement of that sort is planned for Friday's ceremony.

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