March 28, 2025
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The Lombard Circle ramp to Interstate 95 from Columbus Boulevard will be closed for two years starting Monday, April 7. PennDOT will be doing work to cap the highway. The cap eventually will support the planned Penn's Landing Park in Old City.
The Lombard Circle ramp to Interstate 95 North will close for two years starting Monday, April 7, due to the development of Penn's Landing Park in Old City, transportation officials said Friday.
The ramp, which connects Columbus Boulevard to I-95, is being closed so workers can demolish a concrete pier and build a foundation for an expanded cap over I-95. That cap will support the 11 1/2-acre, waterfront park being built over Columbus Boulevard and I-95 from Chestnut to Walnut streets.
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The $329 million capping project must replace the covered sections of I-95 before the waterfront park can be developed. While the Lombard Circle ramp is closed, motorists will be detoured to the I-95 North on-ramp at Summer Street, about 1 mile north on Columbus Boulevard.
Penn's Landing Park, set to open in 2029, will have an ice rink, public gardens, food trucks, playgrounds and a mass-timber pavilion. The park phase of the development project will be led by the city and the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. with support from PennDOT, the Federal Highway Administration and private donors, including the William Penn Foundation.
Provided Image/HargreavesJonesAn aerial rendering shows plans for the 11 1/2-acre Penn's Landing Park.
The park also will include an extension to the South Street Bridge that connects it to the Delaware River Trail, which is being extended 2 miles from Spring Garden Street to Washington Avenue. PennDOT expects the bridge extension to be finished as soon as later this year.
The cap and park construction will cause a series of overnight road closures, detours and lane shifts on I-95 and adjacent ramps in the coming years. PennDOT expects detours and travel restrictions also will affect Columbus Boulevard, Front Street and other roads at various construction phases.
