User:Djamaliyev64/Interstate 76 in Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From the Ohio border, the Pennsylvania Turnpike carries I-76 into and across most of Pennsylvania, bypassing Youngstown to the south and Pittsburgh to the north. There is a free interchange with US 19 and I-79 near Wexford. At one point, I-76 used to begin in Pittsburgh on a route that is now signed as I-376, around the 1970s. It intersects with this highway in Monroeville.
Route information | ||||
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Maintained by PennDOT | ||||
Length | 352 mi (566 km) | |||
NHS | Entire route | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | I-76 Toll west / Ohio Turnpike west at the Ohio state line | |||
Major intersections |
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East end | I-76 east at the New Jersey state line | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | Pennsylvania | |||
Highway system | ||||
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From New Stanton to Breezewood, I-76 is concurrent with I-70. In this section are the bypass (built in the 1960s) of the Laurel Hill Tunnel, then the still-in-use Allegheny Mountain Tunnel in a relatively unpopulated section of South Central Pennsylvania, and then an indirect connection with I-99 in Bedford. The highway also passes through a wind farm in Somerset County[1] and is the closest Interstate Highway to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville.
At Breezewood, I-70 exits the turnpike (making use of a short stretch of the old alignment of the Pennsylvania Turnpike), while I-76 bypasses the Rays Hill and Sideling Hill tunnels along a new alignment built in the 1960s. The major features of this section are more mountains with the Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel and then a double tunnel (Kittatinny/Blue Mountain) prior to Pennsylvania Route 997 (PA 997) near Shippensburg. I-76 intersects I-81 (indirectly) in Carlisle then I-83 and I-283 near Harrisburg, bypassing Harrisburg to the south. The Susquehanna River Bridge is a six-lane bridge that was constructed in 2003 using precast segments that replaced an older bridge across the Susquehanna River.[2] In Morgantown, I-176 provides a connection north to Reading. At Valley Forge, I-76 diverges toward Philadelphia, but the Turnpike (as I-276) bypasses it to the north.
At Valley Forge, northwest of Philadelphia, I-76 leaves the Pennsylvania Turnpike to run into Philadelphia on the Schuylkill Expressway (while the Pennsylvania Turnpike continues east as I-276). Immediately after exiting the Turnpike, I-76 interchanges with the US 202 and US 422 freeways near King of Prussia. I-76 later crosses I-476 near Conshohocken and begins running along the southwest shore of the Schuylkill River. I-76 then enters the city/county limits of Philadelphia where interchanges provide access to the Roosevelt Expressway (US 1) and the Vine Street Expressway (I-676); the latter runs through Center City Philadelphia while I-76 bypasses to the south.
After the Grays Ferry Avenue exit near University City, I-76 crosses the Schuylkill Expressway Bridge to go toward the South Philadelphia Sports Complex near Lincoln Financial Field, Wells Fargo Center, and Citizens Bank Park.
The last interchange before the Walt Whitman Bridge over the Delaware River into New Jersey is with I-95. Some of the ramps involve traffic signals, as the ramps to I-95 were retrofitted into an existing interchange when I-95 was built, and the tollbooth for the bridge lies west of the crossing of the two roads.