In the
1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering,
Route 39 was legislated to begin at the
Yardley–Wilburtha Bridge and bypass Trenton to the north and east before continuing south to
Hammonton along present-day US 206. Route 39, which was not built around Trenton, was decommissioned in the
1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering. The concurrent Route 44 designation was removed from US 130 in the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering and was later assigned to the former surface alignment of US 130 through Carneys Point and between Bridgeport and Westville. In 1958, the US 130 bypass of Carneys Point and the freeway in Gloucester County was designated as part of I-295. Construction on the Delaware Memorial Bridge began in 1949. At the same time, work was underway on the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach in Delaware, a divided highway which would begin at a
directional T interchange with US 13/US 202 in Farnhurst and head east to a cloverleaf interchange at New Castle Avenue (present DE 9) before leading to the bridge. Construction on the US 13/US 202 interchange at Farnhurst began on July 12, 1950. On August 16, 1951, the Delaware Memorial Bridge opened to traffic. The Delaware Memorial Bridge and the approach road to US 13/US 202 became a part of US 40 following the opening of the bridge. I-295 was designated onto the New Jersey approach of the bridge in 1958. A year later, the Farnhurst interchange and the bridge approach were upgraded to
Interstate Highway standards, and it was designated as part of I-295. Construction at the interchange connecting to the Delaware Turnpike at Farnhurst was completed in July 1961. On November 14, 1963, the Delaware Turnpike opened to traffic, with I-295 extended west (south) to I-95 at the northern terminus of the Delaware Turnpike, which continued south as I-95. In the middle of 1964, work began on a second span at the Delaware Memorial Bridge due to increasing traffic volumes. The second span of the bridge was opened to traffic in late 1968. The remainder of I-295 through New Jersey was planned as Federal Aid Interstate Route 108, which was created by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in 1956. I-295 was built between Big Timber Creek and Route 42 in 1958. In 1960, the section of the Interstate between Route 42 and Warwick Road was finished. The highway was built between US 130 and Route 45 in 1960 and was extended east to the Big Timber Creek a year later. In 1963, I-295 was completed between Warwick Road and just south of Route 70. A year later, the roadway was extended north to Route 73. The freeway was built between Route 73 and Route 38 in 1966. In 1968, the section of I-295 between Carneys Point and Bridgeport was finished. In 1975, the roadway was constructed from south of the Route 33 interchange north to US 1. The section of I-295 between Arena Drive and south of Route 33 was finished in 1984. In 1987, I-295 was built between I-195/Route 29 and Arena Drive, with the highway between I-195/Route 29 and Route 33 opened to traffic on August 16 of that year. The final section of I-295 between US 130 in Bordentown and I-195/Route 29 was finished in 1994. In 1983, the Somerset Freeway portion of I-95 was canceled as a result of community opposition. In the 1990s, the northern terminus of I-295 was moved to the exit for US 1 in Lawrence Township, with the route west of there replaced by an extended I-95. Due to the cancellation of the Somerset Freeway, a gap existed along I-95 in New Jersey. To bridge the gap, motorists from northbound I-95 were directed to follow I-295 southbound and I-195 eastbound to reach the New Jersey Turnpike at exit 7A to continue north along I-95, and vice versa. Days after the plaque was installed, it was stolen and later mailed to Stern. In 2003, the rest areas along I-295 in Burlington County were closed as part of funding cuts in Governor
Jim McGreevey's budget, saving the state $1 million a year. In 2004, reconstruction was completed on the portion between exits 32 and 40. Sound walls were also installed along the rest of the road. I-295, like many other highways in New Jersey, once had solar-powered emergency
callboxes every mile (); the use of the callboxes became limited due to the increasing popularity of cellphones. To save on maintenance costs, the New Jersey Department of Transportation removed these callboxes in 2005. An improvement of exit 19 was completed in 2009. In its place, I-295 was extended, ending at the unfinished interchange. The New Jersey Department of Transportation and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission completed Phases 1 and 2 of the redesignation in March 2018, extending the route from US 1 in Lawrence Township across the Scudder Falls Bridge to Taylorsville Road in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation finished Phase 3 in July of the same year, signing their section as east–west despite its north–south alignment to avoid a change in direction from north to south on the same route. Between September 2005 and May 2015, New Jersey and Pennsylvania intended to extend I-195 around Trenton instead of I-295. This would have also truncated I-295 to its interchange with I-195 and Route 29. However, in 2015, plans changed once again to extend I-295. This was because of guidelines set by the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which state that auxiliary Interstates with an odd-numbered first digit should only connect with their parent route once. Since the extended route would have two junctions with the parent route (I-95), a route number with an even-numbered first digit was considered more appropriate. On September 22, 2018, the first stage of the interchange opened, allowing for I-95 to be routed onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike to connect to the New Jersey Turnpike, truncating the eastern terminus of I-276 to the new interchange and completing I-95 from
Miami to the
Canadian border. However, there remains no access between I-295 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276), nor between I-295 westbound and I-95 northbound and vice versa. The next stage of the project will complete the movements at the interchange. In early 2015, the Delaware River and Bay Authority began a project to reconstruct southbound I-295 between US 13/US 40 and I-95/I-495. The first phase, which took place between early 2015 and late 2016, reconstructed and repaved the left lanes of southbound I-295, reconstructed and repaved the right side of the ramps to US 13/US 40, I-495, and northbound I-95, and closed the ramp from northbound US 13 to southbound I-295 and built a new loop ramp. The second phase, which took place between 2016 and 2017, reconstructed and repaved the right lanes of southbound I-295, completed construction on the ramps from southbound I-295, and built a tunnel carrying the Jack A. Markell Trail under I-295. The final phase, which took place between 2017 and 2018, reconstructed the ramp from southbound US 13 to southbound I-295, removed the former ramp from northbound US 13 to southbound I-295, and reconstructed the left lane and shoulder on the ramps from southbound I-295 to I-95. The structurally deficient Scudder Falls Bridge, which carried I-295 over the
Delaware River between
Lower Makefield Township, Pennsylvania, and
Ewing, New Jersey, needed to be replaced. Construction on a dual-span replacement bridge began in April 2017. The first span opened to Pennsylvania-bound traffic on July 10, 2019, and opened to New Jersey-bound traffic on July 24. Demolition of the original span commenced right after and construction of the second new span began afterwards, which opened in August 2021. The new bridge has six through-traffic lanes (three in each direction), acceleration and deceleration lanes, shoulders, and a shared bicycle and pedestrian path. Additionally, the two adjoining interchanges with
Route 29 and Taylorsville Road were reconstructed. Previously a toll-free crossing, on July 14, 2019, an
electronic toll was instituted for Pennsylvania-bound traffic, payable using
E-ZPass or
toll by plate. The New Jersey Department of Transportation had also announced another project to address the missing connections between I-295 and Route 42 to provide an easier connection between the
Philadelphia metropolitan area and points south to
Atlantic City and vice versa. This project, dubbed the I-295/Route 42 Missing Moves, would provide connections from I-295 northbound to Route 42 southbound and Route 42 northbound to I-295 southbound by constructing two ramps just south of the I-295/I-76/Route 42 interchange. Construction began in March 2020, and the ramps opened to traffic on November 28, 2023. On August 5, 2024, construction will begin to build an additional northbound lane for I-295 between the I-95 and US 13/US 40 interchanges. This project will provide a third lane for I-295 at the exit from I-95. This lane is being built to reduce traffic congestion along this stretch of road, which often backs up onto I-95. Construction is planned to be completed in the latter part of 2025. In 2013, the New Jersey Department of Transportation broke ground on a project to construct a straighter roadway for I-295 near the interchange of Route 42. This project, dubbed the I-295/I-76/Route 42 Direct Connection, will reconstruct the dangerous and congested Route 42/I-295/I-76 interchange, which currently requires traffic on I-295 to use ramps that merge onto the North–South Freeway for a short distance, among a series of other indirect connections. In 2007, "Alternative D" for the reconstructed interchange was selected, calling for I-295 to cross over the North–South Freeway. This interchange was projected to cost $900 million (equivalent to $ in ). The project is being constructed in four phases and was originally scheduled to be complete in 2021. However, delays in construction, including the collapse of a
retaining wall on March 25, 2021, pushed the expected completion date to 2028. The collapsed retaining wall was eventually rebuilt. ==Exit list==