Schuylkill Expressway

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Route information
Length	25.2 mi (40.6 km)
Major junctions
	I-476 in Conshohocken; US 1 in Philadelphia; US 13/US 30 in Fairmount Park; I-676/US 30 in Center City; I-95 in Philadelphia
Location
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
Counties	Montgomery, Philadelphia
Highway system
	Interstate Highway System; Main; Auxiliary; Suffixed; Business; Future; Pennsylvania State Route System; Interstate; US; State; Scenic; Legislative;

The Schuylkill Expressway, locally known simply as the Schuylkill,^[2] is a freeway through southeastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 in the state of Pennsylvania. It extends from the Valley Forge exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in King of Prussia, paralleling its namesake Schuylkill River for most of the route, to the Walt Whitman Bridge in South Philadelphia. It serves as the primary corridor into Philadelphia from points west.

Constructed over a period of ten years from 1949 to 1959, a large portion of the expressway predates the 1956 introduction of Interstate Highway System; many of these portions were not built to contemporary standards.^[3] The rugged terrain and limited riverfront space covered by the route has largely stymied later attempts to upgrade or widen the highway, despite the road being highly over-capacity; it has become notorious for its chronic congestion.^[4]

The Schuylkill Expressway is the busiest road in Philadelphia, as well as in the entire state of Pennsylvania.^[5] An average 163,000 vehicles use the road daily in Philadelphia County,^[6] and an average of 109,000 use the highway in Montgomery County.^[7]

Route description

The Schuylkill Expressway begins at the Valley Forge Interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in King of Prussia. The Interstate 76 designation continues west on the Turnpike from this point, while the Turnpike from this point east is designated Interstate 276. Immediately southeast of the interchange, the expressway interchanges with U.S. Route 202, U.S. Route 422, and the King of Prussia Mall. It continues eastward though Upper Merion, interchanging with Pennsylvania Route 320 in Gulph Mills. It continues towards Conshohocken, where it interchanges with Interstate 476 and Pennsylvania Route 23.^[8]

The highway then begins to run along a narrow cliff-top route high above its namesake Schuylkill River, which it parallels from this point. East of Conshohocken, it curves sharply southeast in a 90-degree turn locally known as the "Conshohocken Curve".^[9] Continuing southeast, interchanges provide access to the Main Line community of Gladwyne and the Philadelphia neighborhood of Manayunk.^[8]

The expressway then enters the city of Philadelphia, interchanging with City Avenue (U.S. Route 1); U.S. 1 briefly enters the expressway at this point. Entering Fairmount Park, U.S. 1 splits off as the Roosevelt Expressway to the northeast. The Schuylkill Expressway continues south through the park towards Center City, with Boathouse Row on the opposite bank of the river. At the southern end of the park, the Vine Street Expressway (Interstate 676) splits off to the east.^[8]

The road then dips down below street level, running immediately adjacent to the river on the eastern edge of University City. It crosses the river and skirts the eastern edge of the Philadelphia Gas Works to an interchange with Pennsylvania Route 291 and Oregon Avenue. South of the interchange, the expressway curves sharply east. It interchanges with Pennsylvania Route 611 and Interstate 95, and crosses the Delaware River on Walt Whitman Bridge into New Jersey.^[8]

History

Plans for a limited-access highway along the west bank of the Schuylkill River originated in 1932, as part of a proposed cars-only parkway system for the Philadelphia area similar to the contemporary system being built in New York City. The "Valley Forge Parkway" was to have run from Fairmount Park to Valley Forge State Park, with plans for a later extension to Reading via Pottstown. However, planning for the proposed parkway system stalled and the plan was eventually abandoned.^[3]^[4]

Planning for today's expressway began in 1947, when the city of Philadelphia approved plans to develop a freeway connecting the city with the terminus of the planned Philadelphia Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Valley Forge. The highway was designed by engineers Michael Rapuano, who had previously aided in the design of the Garden State Parkway, and Bill Allen of Gannett Fleming. The new expressway largely followed the earlier planned parkway route from Valley Forge to Fairmount Park, while also extending into southern Philadelphia and across the Delaware River into New Jersey. Two alternatives were proposed south of University City: one routing would continue along the west bank of the river into Southwest Philadelphia to its confluence near Philadelphia International Airport, where it would tunnel underneath the Delaware to Paulsboro, New Jersey; the other would cross the Schuylkill south of University City and bisect South Philadelphia, crossing the Delaware into Gloucester City, New Jersey. Planned expansions of the airport in the path of the former proposal led to adoption of the routing through South Philadelphia.^[3]^[4]

Construction of the road began in 1949. The road was completed in stages, with a short segment near King of Prussia opening in 1951 along with the Turnpike's Philadelphia Extension, with the section from King of Prussia to Conshohocken opening a year later. The section between Conshohocken and City Avenue opened in 1954. The Walt Whitman Bridge opened in 1957. The expressway was completed through Fairmount Park in 1959, and in 1960 the entire expressway was complete with the opening of the segment through University City.^[4]

Immediately after its completion, operational studies performed on the Schuylkill Expressway found that the route would be unable to cope with the area's growing traffic demands, due to the many substandard design elements and compromises incorporated to cope with the rugged, difficult routing of the road. In 1962, plans were announced for a parallel expressway along the east bank of the Schuylkill, known as the Manayunk Expressway; however, these plans were quickly withdrawn due to substantial opposition.^[3] An alternative plan was then introduced to widen the entire highway to eight lanes in time for the United States Bicentennial in 1976; however, these plans were also shelved due to local disapproval. A scaled-down widening project was successfully undertaken from 1969 to 1972 to widen a short section of the road to six lanes through Fairmount Park.^[3]

In the decades since its opening, congestion on the expressway has steadily increased. Plans to expand the expressway to eight lanes by building an upper deck, including high-occupancy toll lanes, were advocated by former Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel, but have not come to fruition due to a lack of funding.^[4]

Exit list

County	Location	Mile^[1]	Exit #		Destinations	Notes
County	Location	Mile^[1]	Old	New	Destinations	Notes
Valley Forge Interchange. I-76 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike continue west towards Harrisburg.
Montgomery	King Of Prussia	326.96	24	326	I-76 west/276 east (Pennsylvania Turnpike) - Harrisburg, New Jersey
			Valley Forge barrier toll.
		327.65	25	327	North Gulph Road, Mall Boulevard - Valley Forge	Access to King of Prussia Mall and Valley Forge National Historic Park.
		327.96	26	328A	US 202/to US 422 - West Chester
		328.22	26	328B	US 202 north - King of Prussia, Norristown
	Upper Merion Township	330.92	27	330	PA 320 - Gulph Mills
	West Conshohocken	332.02	28	331A	I-476 - Chester, Plymouth Meeting
		332.28	28	331B	I-476 - Chester, Plymouth Meeting
		332.28	28	331B	PA 23 - Conshohocken	Eastbound exit.
		332.95	29	332	PA 23 - Conshohocken	Westbound exit, entrances both directions.
	Gladwyne	337.36	30	337	Gladwyne (Hollow Road)	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
	Belmont Hills	338.57	31	338	Belmont Avenue, Green Lane	Access to Manayunk and Roxborough.
Philadelphia	Philadelphia	340.13	33	339	US 1 south (City Avenue)	Access to Saint Joseph's University.
		340.01	32	340A	Lincoln Drive, Kelly Drive	Access to Germantown.
		340.70	34	340B	US 1 north (Roosevelt Boulevard)	Access to Northeast Philadelphia.
		342.31	35	341	Montgomery Drive, West River Drive	No Trucks.
		343.41	36	342	US 13/US 30 west (Girard Avenue)	Access to Fairmount Park and Philadelphia Zoo.
		Western terminus of I-76/ US 30 concurrency.
		344.58	37	343	Spring Garden Street, Haverford Avenue	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
		Eastern terminus of I-76/ US 30 concurrency.
		344.82	38	344	I-676/US 30 east - Central Philadelphia	Access to Benjamin Franklin Bridge and Independence Hall.
		345.10	39	345	30th Street, Market Street	Access to Drexel University.
		345.92	40	346A	South Street	Access to University of Pennsylvania.
		346.29	41	346B	University Avenue, Grays Ferry Avenue	Access to University City.
		347.43	42	346C	28th Street, Vare Avenue, Mifflin Street
		348.03	43A	347A	to I-95 south/to PA 291 (Penrose Avenue) - International Airport	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance. Access to Philadelphia International Airport.
		348.19	43B	347B	Passyunk Avenue, Oregon Avenue
		349.18	44	348	PA 291 west (Penrose Avenue)	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance. Access to Philadelphia International Airport.
		349.58	45	349	PA 611 - Sports Complex	Access to Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field, Wachovia Center, and Wachovia Spectrum.
		350.09	46	350	I-95 (Packer Avenue)	Access to Philadelphia Ports.
		350.51	47	351	I-95 (Front Street) - Trenton, Chester	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
New Jersey/ Pennsylvania state line I-76 continues into New Jersey on the Walt Whitman Bridge over the Delaware River. Westbound: $3.00 toll or EZ-Pass.