(abbreviated '''I-76''') is an
Interstate Highway in the
United States , running 435 miles (700 km) from an interchange with
Interstate 71 west of
Akron, Ohio east to
Interstate 295 near
Camden, New Jersey . East of Akron, I-76 joins the
Ohio Turnpike and heads around the south side of
Youngstown . In
Pennsylvania , I-76 runs across most of the state on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike , passing near
Pittsburgh and
Harrisburg before leaving the Turnpike to enter
Philadelphia on the
Schuylkill Expressway , crossing the
Walt Whitman Bridge into
New Jersey . From its end at I-295,
Route 42 and the
Atlantic City Expressway continue the
Freeway to
Atlantic City .
I-76 begins at
Interstate 71 at exit 209, east of
Lodi, Ohio ;
U.S. Route 224 continues west from the end of I-76. The
Interchange is a
Double Trumpet , a type rarely used off toll roads due to weaving on the connector road. Officially I-76 begins at the beginning of the ramp from I-71 north; it merges with US 224 at mile 0.61 (km 0.98). After passing through
Rural Medina County , I-76 enters
Summit County and soon crosses
State Route 21 (old
US 21 ), once the main north-south route through the area until
Interstate 77 replaced it, at a
Cloverleaf Interchange . I-76 then passes
Barberton and enters
Akron ; this section of road was built as US 224.
Soon after entering Akron, I-76 exits the main freeway, which continues east as
Interstate 277 , onto the short
Kenmore Expressway ;
U.S. Route 224 leaves I-76 there and continues east as a surface road after I-277 ends at
Interstate 77 . Shortly after heading north from the I-277 interchange, I-76 meets I-77 and again turns east, joining southbound I-77 through downtown Akron on the
West Expressway . A partial interchange provides access to
State Route 59 , the
Innerbelt , and then I-76 crosses through the
Central Interchange , where I-77 goes south (on the
South Expressway ) and
State Route 8 begins to the north (on the
North Expressway ); I-76 switches from the West Expressway to the
East Expressway .
west of
Youngstown ]]
Leaving the Akron area, I-76 again heads through rural areas, crossing
Portage County and entering
Mahoning County . West of
Youngstown , the freeway crosses the
Ohio Turnpike . Officially I-76 ends at the Turnpike overpass and I-76K begins on the Turnpike at the overpass, with a similar change happening with
Interstate 80 and I-80K (east on the freeway to Youngstown and west on the Turnpike). In reality, access between the roads is via a
Double Trumpet connection in the northeast corner of the crossing, along which I-76 and I-80 both run in opposite directions.
through most of Pennsylvania. Access to many other freeways is indirect (in this case,
US 11 is used to reach
I-81 ).]]
The Ohio Turnpike and
Pennsylvania Turnpike carry I-76 into and across most of Pennsylvania, bypassing all major cities -
Youngstown to the south,
Pittsburgh to the north and
Harrisburg to the south. At
Valley Forge , northwest of
Philadelphia , I-76 leaves the Turnpike to run into Philadelphia on the
Schuylkill Expressway , while
Interstate 276 continues east on the Turnpike. Immediately after exiting, I-76 interchanges with the
U.S. Route 202 and
U.S. Route 422 freeways, and then crosses
Interstate 476 and begins running along the southwest shore of the
Schuylkill River . Interchanges provide access to the
Roosevelt Expressway (
U.S. Route 1 ) and
Vine Street Expressway (
Interstate 676 ); the latter runs through downtown Philadelphia while I-76 bypasses to the south.
The last interchange before the
Walt Whitman Bridge over the
Delaware River into New Jersey is with
Interstate 95 . Some of the ramps involve
Traffic Signal s, as the ramps to I-95 were retrofitted into an existing interchange when I-95 was built, and the
Toll Booth for the bridge lies west of the crossing of the two roads. Just after crossing the river, I-76 turns south along the
North-South Freeway , which carries
Interstate 676 north to downtown
Camden ; the unsigned
Route 76C connector runs east to
U.S. Route 130 and
Route 168 . The
Exit Number s in New Jersey are backwards, running from east to west.
From the I-676 interchange to the end, I-76 originally had local and express lanes in both directions, but the eastbound barrier has been removed, and now the separation is westbound only. I-76 ends at an interchange with
Interstate 295 on the
Mount Ephraim /
Bellmawr town line, where the local/express split begins heading westbound.
Route 42 continues south on the North-South Freeway, feeding into the
Atlantic City Expressway to
Atlantic City . While the
South Jersey Transportation Authority (which owns the ACE) is not against the idea of making Route 42 and the ACE an eastern extension of I-76, they feel that making the change without a compelling reason would only add to motorists' confusion in southern New Jersey.
Bolded cities are officially-designated
Control Cities for signs.
- Interstate 176 runs north from I-76 at Morgantown, Pennsylvania to U.S. Route 422 outside of Reading .
- Interstate 276 runs east from I-76 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge , where it currently ends at the state line. Interstate 95 continues north along the New Jersey Turnpike . It will be truncated by several miles at its east end when the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project is completed and I-95 is connected.
- Interstate 376 runs west from I-76 at Monroeville, Pennsylvania to Interstate 279 in downtown Pittsburgh .
- Interstate 476 begins at Interstate 95 near Chester, Pennsylvania and heads north, crossing I-76 near Conshohocken and I-276 near Plymouth Meeting . From there it continues north on the Northeast Extension Of The Pennsylvania Turnpike to Interstate 81 at Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania , north of Scranton . I-476 is the longest Three-digit Interstate .
- Interstate 576 is a planned southern bypass of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania .
- Interstate 676 is a loop through downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey , crossing the Ben Franklin Bridge . It runs through several Traffic Signal s in Philadelphia, in violation of Interstate Standards .
- Interstate 876 was the number for present Interstate 579 in the early 1970s.
The majority of I-76, along the
Pennsylvania Turnpike , includes the first long-distance rural
Freeway in the U.S.; the
Ohio Turnpike and
Schuylkill Expressway are also pre-Interstate freeways. By 1955, the section of that route from west of
Youngstown to downtown
Philadelphia was included in the planned Interstate Highway System, as was present I-76 from west of Youngstown to
Akron . (Some early plans called for a new freeway along
Ohio State Route 14 to the Pennsylvania state line; it is unclear when the proposed route was shifted to the Turnpikes.) In 1957 the route from
Cleveland east to
Harrisburg , running roughly along the State Route 14 corridor in Ohio and the Turnpike in Pennsylvania, was labeled
Interstate 80 , and the rest of the route from Harrisburg to Philadelphia was assigned . (
Interstate 80N would have run from Harrisburg to
New York City .)
Interstate 78 was assigned to a route from
Norwalk, Ohio , paralleling
Ohio State Route 18 through
Akron to
Youngstown , and turning south there to end at the planned I-80.
;
I-80 would have run via
Akron , using what is now I-76 east of Akron.]]
However, the 1957 numbering was drawn on a map from 1947, which did not include several changes that had been approved, specifically the
Keystone Shortway across Pennsylvania. (The route in that corridor ran further north, along
U.S. Route 6 , and was numbered
Interstate 84 .) Thus, the final numbering, approved in 1958, assigned I-80 to the Norwalk-Youngstown route to reach the Keystone Shortway. The former alignment through Cleveland became
Interstate 80N ; the Turnpike was still not assigned a number from near
Elyria (where I-80N and
I-90 would split from it) to west of Youngstown. The route from west of Youngstown to Philadelphia was assigned , and extended east to
I-295 in New Jersey when the
Three-digit Interstate s were assigned in 1959. (The planned I-80N in Pennsylvania became
I-78 .) Initial spurs of I-80S were I-180 (now
I-176 ), I-280 (now
I-276 ), I-480 (now
I-476 ) and I-680 (now
I-676 , though it swapped with I-76 in 1972).
I-80 was realigned in Ohio by 1962, largely taking over former
I-80N , which ran through
Cleveland , joining the Turnpike southwest of Cleveland. However, while I-80N was planned to split from I-80 near
Kent and run northwest to
Cleveland along
State Route 14 , the new alignment of I-80 used the Turnpike between the crossing west of Youngstown and the crossing with State Route 14 at
Streetsboro . The former I-80 from near Youngstown west to
Akron became part of I-80S, as did a new alignment (already built as
U.S. Route 224 ) from Akron west to
I-71 east of
Lodi ; the rest of proposed I-80 west to near Norwalk (which would have crossed I-71 near
Medina ) was removed from the Interstate Highway System. Ca. 1971, I-80 was moved to the Turnpike between Streetsboro and southwest of Cleveland; the old route became
I-480 .
On
April 16 ,
1963 , due in part to the extension of
I-79 south from the
Pittsburgh area, Pennsylvania proposed a partial renumbering. A new number, tentatively designated I-76, would run from downtown Pittsburgh east on what was then
I-70 (
I-70S bypassed Pittsburgh to the south on what is now I-70) to the Pennsylvania Turnpike at
Monroeville , and then east along the remainder of I-80S to I-295. I-80S would remain on the section of turnpikes from west of Youngstown to Monroeville. This was approved
February 26 ,
1964 , and included the renumbering of all X80 spurs to X76.
It has been suggested that the number was chosen because the
United States Declaration Of Independence was signed in
Philadelphia in 1776, but there is no evidence of this. 76 was within the numbering system, lying between 70 and 80, and 74 and 78 were already taken.
On
June 29 ,
1970 , a renumbering was approved in the Pittsburgh area, with the main effect being rerouting
I-79 to bypass Pittsburgh to the west on the former
I-279 . I-279 was moved to the former I-79 north of downtown, and the former I-79 from downtown southwest to new I-79 became a western extension of I-76. (It was then that
I-876 was designated for former
I-479 .) A realignment and extension of I-76 into Ohio, taking over the rest of I-80S to I-71 east of Lodi, was approved
January 11 ,
1972 . The former I-76 from Monroeville west into downtown Pittsburgh became
I-376 , and I-279 was extended southwest from downtown along former I-76 to I-79. (I-876 was renumbered to
I-579 then.) Signs in Ohio were changed
September 1 ,
1972 ; the old I-80S signs remained for about a year.
On
August 29 ,
1972 , a swap of I-76 and
I-676 in Philadelphia and
Camden was approved. I-76 had been routed along the
Vine Street Expressway and
Ben Franklin Bridge (now I-676) through downtown Philadelphia, while I-676 used the
Schuylkill Expressway and
Walt Whitman Bridge to bypass downtown to the south. The switch was made because of delays in building the Vine Street Expressway and better
Interchange geometry at the splits.
Shields are shown at intersections with other Interstates.
