Interstate 476
Interstate 476 (abbreviated I-476, portions of which are nicknamed the Blue Route and The Northeast Extension) is a 130.5-mile long combination Interstate loop and spur highway that travels between I-95 near Chester, Pennsylvania and I-81 near Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The first 20.5 miles is a freeway built to Interstate Highway standards, while the remaining 110 miles is part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike system as the Turnpike's Northeast Extension which was completed in 1957. The non-turnpike part generally parallels Pennsylvania Route 320, and upon the completion of an interchange between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-95 near Bristol, Pennsylvania in 2009 (The Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project), will then become part of a multi-county beltway around Philadelphia. The highway is mostly four lanes, with an 11-mile section between PA Route 3 and the Mid-County barrier toll on the Pennsylvania Turnpike having six lanes.
History
The portion of Interstate 476 between Interstate 95 and Interstate 276, running north-south through Delaware County, Pennsylvania is nicknamed the Blue Route, but is officially called the Mid-County Expressway. Originally planned as far back as 1928, I-476 was later incorporated as a so-called "Chester Extension" of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the late 1940's. Since the beginnings of the Interstate Highway system, the PA Turnpike Commission dropped the Chester Extension project and the forerunner to the present-day Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) picked up the project, designating it first as I-480 (as I-76 back then was designated as I-80S), and later as I-495. The present-day I-476 designation was given in 1974 when I-80S became I-76.
As one of the most controversial Interstate Highways in Pennsylvania, construction of I-476 began in 1968, but was not completed until 1991, due mainly to litigation between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and residents in Marple Township, Pennsylvania. An agreement in 1984 led to the present lane configuration. The compromise, due to Swarthmore residents' desire to limit pollution to its district, led to the throttling down from three lanes of traffic in each direction to two. Ironically, this has led to bottleneck conditions in the area, and ultimately, more pollution from slowed down vehicles spending more time in this stretch of roadway [citation needed]. The connection with the Pennsylvania Turnpike was not completed until 1994.
The highway is designated as a federal scenic route, thus prohibiting the erection of advertisement billboards along the entire 20.5-mile length of the Blue Route portion of the highway.
This designation was tested shortly after 9/11 when two local residents took it upon themselves to erect a flagpole bearing the American Flag at the Pennsylvania Route 3 interchange of the roadway, which officials initially believed was a violation of the prohibition. However, the flag remains erect to this day. High above the northbound lanes near the interchange with U.S. Route 1 in Marple Township, a private resident displays illuminated "Jesus" signage, narrowly avoiding violation since the sign is technically on private property that just happens to face the Blue Route.
The 'Blue Route' name derives from a 1958 location report indicating various proposed geographic configurations of a proposed north-south mid-county expressway with lines of various colors on a map. The "blue route" won out over other contenders, which included a more easterly "red route" and "yellow route" and a more westerly "green route". Prior to receiving the current Interstate highway designation, it was numbered as I-480 (as I-76 was designated as I-80S before 1974), and I-495 on planning maps.
The portion of Interstate 476 north of the I-276 interchange is the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and was formerly designated Pennsylvania Route 9 until being redesignated as an interstate highway on November 1, 1996.
In 2005, the Blue Route began a massive, yet much-needed, rehabilitation between Interstate 95 and Pennsylvania Route 3. Paving, bridge repair, and ramp maintenance were just a sampling of the improvements performed on the roadway. Construction continued in 2006 with the section between PA Rt. 3 and Interstate 76, with 2007 being slated for the total rehabilitation of the origial pre-1970 section between I-76 and the PA Turnpike. Long-term solutions for the Marple Township/Swarthmore bottleneck conditions includes an extension of the Norristown High Speed Line connecting Montgomery County with the Media-Sharon Hill Trolley, via 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby, to an outright widening project favored by Congressmen Curt Weldon and Jim Gerlach (I-476 lies mostly within their districts), U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, and local state politicians.
It remains one of the few highways in the Philadelphia region to feature ramp meters, which utilize a type of traffic signal that controls the amount of vehicles entering the road during rush hours. Deactivated for a lengthy period of time shortly after their initial installation, PennDOT recently decided to reintroduce the meters to ease massive traffic flow from the MacDade Boulevard, Baltimore Pike, U.S. Route 1, Pennsylvania State 3, and U.S. Highway 30 interchanges.
At 130.5 miles (209 km), I-476 is America's longest three-digit interstate, surpassing I-495 in Massachusetts, with a total distance of just under 130 miles. It's even longer than the following 2-digit interstates: Interstate 12, Interstate 19, Interstate 27, the western Interstate 86, Interstate 97, and Interstate 99 (though I-99 will eventually become longer). By comparison, the average length of a three-digit interstate is 21 miles (34 km). Nevertheless, no three-digit interstate is longer than its parent (to compare, this road's parent, the eastern Interstate 76, runs 434 miles--almost 700 km).
Exit list
Until 2002, exit numbers on I-476, like that of all Pennsylvania Interstates as well as the Pennsylvania Turnpike system, were numbered in sequence. In 2002, PennDOT started changing the exit numbers to the new milepost system, while the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission did the same a short time later, along with renumbering all of the Northeast Extension's mileposts to reflect the starting of I-476 in Chester, as the Northeast Extension originally started counting its miles at the old interchange with the East-West Mainline (Interstate 276) in Norristown.
| Exit numbers | Exit name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| new | old | ||
| Junction with Interstate 95 | Access to Chester, Widener University, and Commodore Barry Bridge | ||
| 1 | 1 | MacDade Boulevard | Becomes E. 22nd Street in Chester |
| 3 | 2 | Media-Swarthmore | (Baltimore Pike – Swarthmore College and Pennsylvania Institute of Technology, this exit) |
| 5 | 3 | Lima-Springfield (U.S. Route 1) | (Penn State University's Delaware County Campus and Strayer University, this exit) |
| 9 | 4 | Broomall-Upper Darby (PA 3) | |
| 13 | 5 | Villanova-Saint Davids (U.S. 30) | (Villanova University, St. Joseph's University, and Rosemont College this exit) |
| 15 | 6 | Valley Forge-Philadelphia (I-76) | |
| 16 | 7 | Conshohocken, Pennsylvania | |
| 18 | 8 | Germantown Pike--EAST-Plymouth Meeting | |
| 19 | 9 | Mid County Interchange--Germantown Pike--WEST-Norristown | Connection to East-West Turnpike (I-276) from I-476 N.B. |
| Begin Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension (I-476) | |||
| 31 | 31 | Lansdale (PA 63) | |
| 44 | 32 | Quakertown (PA 663) | |
| 56 | 33 | Lehigh Valley (U.S. Highway 22) | Connects with Interstate 78 |
| Lehigh Tunnel located at mile marker 72 (still in use) | |||
| 74 | 34 | Mahoning Valley (U.S. Highway 209) | Access to western Pocono towns of Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, Palmerton |
| 95 | 35 | Pocono (PA 940) | Connects with Interstate 80 to Delaware Water Gap |
| 105 | 36 | Wilkes-Barre (PA 115) | |
| M.P. 112.5 | Wyoming Valley Toll Plaza (barrier toll) | Begin all-cash collection | |
| 115 | 37 | Wyoming Valley (PA 315) | Connects with Interstate 81 |
| M.P. 122.1 | Keyser Avenue Toll Plaza (barrier toll) | ||
| 123 | 38 | Keyser Avenue | |
| M.P. 130.7 | Clarks Summit Toll Plaza (barrier toll) | ||
| 131 | 39 | Clarks Summit (Interstate 81) | Original Exit 38. Known as Scranton before opening of Keyser Avenue |
External links
| Browse numbered routes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
←  PA 8 | PA | →  PA 10 | ||