President Dwight Eisenhower’s vision of a grand interstate highway system is about to come to fruition with the connection of the Turnpike to Interstate 95, writes Don Steinberg for Philadelphia magazine.

The $420 million highway project that will be finished this fall represents a practical and historic milestone. It will connect the state’s two busiest highways for the very first time.

The connection was part of a bill signed by Eisenhower in 1956 that allocated $25 billion in federal funds to construct 41,000 miles of highways across America, now known as the Interstate Highway System.

It will also remedy a 50-year-old oversight, the miles-long gap in central New Jersey along I-95. By the fall, Philadelphia and New York will be connected directly through I-95. This will help commuters and improve sightseeing and interstate commerce.

Work on the Turnpike/I-95 project has been financed by federal funds and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Read more about the highway connection in Philadelphia magazine by clicking here.