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Key Artery In Port Richmond Reopens To Traffic

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Road crews today are re-opening a key street in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia that runs parallel to Interstate 95.

Drivers will welcome the return of Richmond Street between Aramingo Avenue and Anne Street, which had been closed since February 2014 for major reconstruction and a re-alignment. PennDOT's Gene Blaum says the project involved railroad bridges, as well as other items found along a busy industrial artery.

"A number of utility lines were relocated and moved underneath," Blaum says. "And, as part of this, Richmond Street also was upgraded with a number of streetscape improvements – lighting, landscaping. That is all part of the I-95 project, not only to rebuild the highway above, but to enhance the local streets underneath the highway."

Blaum says before its closure, Richmond Street was used by thousands of drivers on a weekly basis and he's expecting many will return.

He says work on nearby I-95, however, will expand early next month with the closure of the on-ramp to I-95 north at the Girard Avenue interchange. That project will result in slight detours for the next 18 months.

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