Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania

Interstate 80
Keystone Shortway Z.H. Confair Memorial Highway[1]
Route information
Maintained by PennDOT
Length:	311.07 mi[2] (500.62 km)
Major junctions
West end:	I-80 at Ohio state line in Shenango Township
	I-376 / PA 760 near Sharon I-79 near Mercer I-99 / US 220 / PA 26 near Bellefonte US 15 near New Columbia I-180 / PA 147 in Milton US 11 in Lime Ridge I-81 near Hazleton I-476 / Penna Turnpike NE Extension / PA 940 near Hickory Run State Park I-380 in Tunkhannock Township
East end:	I-80 at New Jersey state line in Delaware Water Gap
Location
Counties:	Mercer, Venango, Butler, Clarion, Jefferson, Clearfield, Centre, Clinton, Union, Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, Luzerne, Carbon, Monroe
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Pennsylvania State Route System Interstate US State Scenic Byways Legislative ← PA 79 PA 80 →

The transcontinental Interstate 80 (I-80) is designated across northern Pennsylvania as the Keystone Shortway, officially the Z.H. Confair Memorial Highway.^[1] This route was built mainly along a completely new alignment, not paralleling any earlier U.S. Routes, as a shortcut to the tolled Pennsylvania Turnpike and New York State Thruway. It does not serve any major cities in Pennsylvania, and serves mainly as a cross-state route on the Ohio-New York City corridor. Most of I-80's path across the state goes through hilly and mountainous terrain, with relatively flat areas playing home to the freeway toward the western tier of the state.

Route description

Interstate 80 intersects cities such as DuBois, Sharon, Hazleton, and Stroudsburg.

Western Pennsylvania

I-80 enters the Western Pennsylvania area which encompasses Mercer, Venango, Butler, Clarion, Jefferson, and Clearfield Counties from the state of Ohio. I-80 intersects I-376 (serving the Pittsburgh International Airport and on to Downtown Pittsburgh) and I-79 (serving Erie to the north and Pittsburgh to the south) in Mercer County in Shenango and Findley Township respectively. Jefferson County at mile marker 73 is known for the city of Punxsutawney, the location of the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil who predicts the weather on Groundhog Day. In Clearfield County, I-80 reaches its highest elevation east of the Mississippi River, 2,250 feet (690 m), although other interstate highways east of the Mississippi, including I-26 in North Carolina and Tennessee, reach higher elevations. This point is just east of Exit 111. A sign prominently displays this unusual fact about the Interstate. At mile marker 101, I-80 passes by the city of Dubois.

Centre, Clinton, and Union counties

I-80 enters Centre County around mile marker 138 and intersects I-99 at exit 161, the main connecting point to the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76 and I-70) and the Pennsylvania State University. US 220 is concurrent between exits 161 and 178 where it heads towards Lock Haven.

At mile marker 199, I-80 approaches the Williamsport area, the venue of the Little League World Series in Union County. I-80 intersects I-180 at exit 212.

Northeastern Pennsylvania

Interstate 80 from an overpass in Hemlock Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania

I-80 enters the Northeastern Pennsylvania area to include points Northumberland County and east to New Jersey. In Montour County at mile marker 224, it approaches the Bloomsburg area, home to the Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, which is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. I-80 also passes by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area in Luzerne County. At exit 260, a connection can be made via I-81 to Harrisburg to the south and Binghamton, NY to the north.

I-80 intersects I-476 at exit 274 in Carbon County for connections to Allentown and Philadelphia to the south and I-380 for a connection to I-84 to New England and Scranton. Around mile marker 305, I-80 approaches Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg, home to the East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania and the ski resort areas generally known as the Poconos. After passing by the Delaware Water Gap, I-80 enters the state of New Jersey via the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge.

History

I-80 near the exit for PA 611 in Stroudsburg.

Sign noting the highest point on I-80 east of the Mississippi River located in Clearfield County.

The corridor now served by I-80 was originally to be a branch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Sharon to Stroudsburg. Planning was shifted to the Pennsylvania Department of Highways in 1956 with the passage of the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.^[3]

In early plans for the Interstate Highway System, the connection across northern Pennsylvania would have paralleled U.S. Route 6N and U.S. Route 6 from what became Interstate 90 near West Springfield, Pennsylvania east to Scranton. (From Scranton east to Hartford, Connecticut, Interstate 84 was built parallel to US 6.) From Scranton a route went southeast along U.S. Route 611 to the Stroudsburg area, and then east along U.S. Route 46 to near New York City. On May 22, 1957, a request by Pennsylvania to move the corridor south was approved by the Federal Highway Administration.^[4] (The Scranton-Stroudsburg connection was kept, and the new alignment merged with it west of Stroudsburg.) However, when the initial numbers were assigned later that year, they were drawn on a 1947 map, and so the corridor across northern Pennsylvania became part of Interstate 84, while the Scranton-New York route became Interstate 82. (I-80 ran along the Pennsylvania Turnpike - later Interstate 80S - to Harrisburg, where it split into I-80S to Philadelphia and I-80N (later Interstate 78) to New York.)^[5] This was corrected the next year, as the Keystone Shortway became part of I-80, and the southern route became I-80S (later I-76) and I-78. I-84 was truncated to Scranton, and the Scranton-Stroudsburg connection became Interstate 81E (later renumbered Interstate 380).^[6]

The first section of present I-80 to open was the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge, opened December 16, 1953. This had been built as part of U.S. Route 611 and connected back to its old alignment soon after crossing into Pennsylvania. Construction on the rest of I-80 began in 1959 and was completed in 1970.^[3]

In 1993, exit 43 (now exit 284) of I-80, which serves the Pocono Raceway, was designated the Richard Petty Interchange in honor of the NASCAR legend that drove the #43 car.^[7][8]

On March 7, 2011, the supporting wall on the eastbound I-80 bridge over Sullivan Trail in Tannersville collapsed from snow and rain. As a result, eastbound I-80 was reduced to one lane and Sullivan Trail was closed.^[9]

On July 10, 2014, a criminal rock throwing incident known as the I-80 rock throwing took place along I-80 in Union County, critically injuring and permanently disfiguring a passenger. Four local youths were responsible.^[10]

Toll proposal

In an effort to keep the Pennsylvania Turnpike system under public control, in June 2007, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission proposed tolling Interstate 80 as a means of raising transportation revenue. It is seeking the permission to put tolls on the highway through a Federal Highway Administration pilot program that allows three states to place tolls on interstates. Missouri's Interstate 70 and Virginia had already taken two of the spots.^[11] Under the plan, the PTC would assume all maintenance and toll-taking operations on I-80. The plan calls for up to ten toll plazas along the length of I-80 in Pennsylvania with a toll rate of 8 cents per mile (5.0 ¢/km), which would be comparable to the rate on the Pennsylvania Turnpike following a projected toll increase.^[12] Originally, I-80 was part of the PTC's 1,000 Mile Turnpike system, but with the passage of the Interstate Highway Act in 1954, the PTC abandoned the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) system and only maintained the original east–west Turnpike and its Northeastern Extension. Currently the only toll on I-80 in Pennsylvania is at the Delaware Water Gap bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.^[13] Tolling on I-80 was to be completed by 2010.^[14] On October 15, 2007, the lease for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to toll I-80 was signed.^[12]

This plan faced opposition from Northern Pennsylvania politicians who feared tolls would hurt the economy in the region^[15] and who did not want their tolls going toward funding mass transit. Congressmen John E. Peterson and Phil English proposed a federal transportation bill that would ban the tolling of I-80. The chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission promised that the tolls would be used on highway projects in Pennsylvania and not on mass transit.^[16] On December 12, 2007, the FHWA rejected the plan, and returned Pennsylvania's application for tolling I-80 with questions asking why the state should place tolls on the highway.^[11]

On September 11, 2008, the Federal Highway Administration rejected Pennsylvania's application to toll Interstate 80 for the second time.^[17]

On April 6, 2010, the Federal Highway Administration rejected this application for the third time.^[18]

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Old exit [19]	New exit [19]	Destinations	Notes
Mercer	Shenango Township	0.00	0.00	–	–	I-80 west – Youngstown	Continuation into Ohio
		4.00	6.44	1	4	I-376 east / PA 760 north – New Castle, Sharon	Split into exits 4A (I-376) and 4B (PA 760); exit 1 on I-376; termini of I-376 and PA 760
	East Lackawannock Township	14.90	23.98	2	15	US 19 – Mercer
	Findley Township	19.10	30.74	–	19	I-79 – Pittsburgh, Erie	Split into exits 19A (south) and 19B (north); exit 116 on I-79
	Worth Township	23.70	38.14	3A	24	PA 173 – Grove City, Sandy Lake
Venango	Barkeyville	28.90	46.51	3	29	PA 8 – Barkeyville, Franklin
	Clinton Township	34.70	55.84	4	35	PA 308 – Clintonville
	Scrubgrass Township	41.90	67.43	5	42	PA 38 – Emlenton
Butler	No major junctions
Allegheny River		44.30	71.29	Emlenton Bridge
Clarion	Richland Township	45.70	73.55	6	45	PA 478 – Emlenton, St. Petersburg	Westbound ramps are via PA 38 / PA 208
	Beaver Township	53.50	86.10	7	53	To PA 338 – Knox	Access via Canoe Ripple Road
	Paint Township	60.10	96.72	8	60	PA 66 north – Shippenville	West end of concurrency with PA 66
	Monroe Township	61.90	99.62	9	62	PA 68 – Sligo, Clarion
	Clarion Township	64.50	103.80	10	64	PA 66 south – New Bethlehem, Clarion	East end of concurrency with PA 66
		70.30	113.14	11	70	US 322 – Strattanville, Corsica
Jefferson	Union Township	72.90	117.32	12	73	PA 949 – Corsica
	Brookville	78.30	126.01	13	78	PA 36 – Brookville
	Pine Creek Township	81.10	130.52	14	81	PA 28 – Hazen
	Winslow Township	86.40	139.05	15	86	Fuller Road – Reynoldsville
		90.60	145.81	–	90	PA 830 east – DuBois Regional Airport
Clearfield	Sandy Township	96.40	155.14	16	97	US 219 – DuBois, Brockway
		100.90	162.38	17	101	PA 255 – DuBois, Penfield
	Pine Township	110.40	177.67	18	111	PA 153 – Clearfield, Penfield
	Plymptonville	119.40	192.16	19	120	PA 879 – Clearfield, Shawville
	Lawrence Township	122.70	197.47	20	123	PA 970 to US 322 – Woodland, Shawville	Alternative route to State College
	Cooper Township	132.60	213.40	21	133	PA 53 – Phillipsburg, Kylertown
Centre	Snow Shoe	147.00	236.57	22	147	To PA 144 – Snow Shoe	Access via local roads
	Boggs Township	157.40	253.31	23	158	PA 150 / US 220 Alt. south – Milesburg, Blanchard	West end of concurrency with US 220 Alt
	Spring Township	160.20	257.82	24	161	I-99 south / US 220 south / PA 26 – Bellefonte, Howard	East end of concurrency with US 220 Alt; west end of concurrency with US 220; temporary northern terminus of I-99
Clinton	Porter Township	172.70	277.93	25	173	PA 64 – Pleasant Gap, Mill Hall
	Lamar Township	177.50	285.66	26	178	US 220 north – Lock Haven, Williamsport	East end of concurrency with US 220; Future I-99 North
	Greene Township	185.20	298.05	27	185	PA 477 – Loganton, Salona
		191.90	308.83	28	192	To PA 880 – Loganton, Jersey Shore	Access via East Valley Road
Union	West Buffalo Township	198.90	320.10	29	199	Mile Run Road	Access to Bald Eagle State Forest
	White Deer Township	209.70	337.48	30	210	US 15 – Lewisburg, Williamsport	Signed as exits 210A (south) and 210B (north)
Northumberland	Milton	211.40	340.22	31	212	I-180 west / PA 147 south – Williamsport, Milton	Split into exits 212A (PA 147) and 212B (I-180); termini of PA 147 and I-180
	East Chillisquaque Township	214.80	345.69	32	215	PA 254 – Limestoneville
Montour	Valley Township	223.50	359.69	33	224	PA 54 – Danville, Washingtonville
Columbia	Hemlock Township	231.70	372.89	34	232	PA 42 – Buckhorn
	Bloomsburg	235.30	378.68	35	236	PA 487 – Bloomsburg, Lightstreet	Split into 236A (north) and 236B (south) westbound
	South Centre Township	240.20	386.56	36	241	US 11 – Lime Ridge, Berwick
	Main Township	241.40	388.50	37	242	PA 339 – Mainville, Mifflinville
Luzerne	Sugarloaf Township	255.50	411.19	38	256	PA 93 – Conyngham, Nescopeck
	Butler Township	259.20	417.14	–	260	I-81 – Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre	Split into exits 260A (south) and 260B (north); exit 151 on I-81
		262.10	421.81	39	262	PA 309 – Hazleton, Mountain Top	Access to Nescopeck State Park
	White Haven	273.00	439.35	40	273	PA 940 / PA 437 – Freeland, White Haven
Carbon	Kidder Township	274.50	441.76	41	274	PA 534 – Hickory Run State Park
		277.20	446.11	42	277	I-476 / Penna Turnpike NE Extension / PA 940 – Allentown, Wilkes-Barre	Exit 95 (Pocono) on I-476 / Penna Turnpike NE Extension
Monroe	Tobyhanna Township	284.00	457.05	43	284	PA 115 – Brodheadsville, Blakeslee
	Jackson Township	293.60	472.50	–	293	I-380 north – Scranton	Southern terminus of I-380; exit 1 on I-380
	Pocono Township	298.00	479.58	44	298	PA 611 – Scotrun	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		298.90	481.03	45	299	PA 715 – Tannersville	Westbound entrance via Sullivan Trail
	Hamilton Township	302.80	487.31	46	302A	PA 33 south to US 209 south – Snydersville	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
					302B	PA 611 – Bartonsville	Signed as exit 302 westbound
	Stroud Township	304.90	490.69	47	303	Ninth Street (PA 611)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		305.50	491.65	46A	304	US 209 south to PA 33 south – Snydersville	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; west end of concurrency with US 209
	Stroudsburg	306.00	492.46	48	305	US 209 Bus. (Main Street)
		306.40	493.10	49	306	Dreher Avenue	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		307.30	494.55	50	307	PA 611 (Park Avenue) to PA 191	Eastbound exit and entrance
						PA 191 (Broad Street)	Westbound exit and entrance
	East Stroudsburg	308.30	496.16	51	308	East Stroudsburg	Access via Prospect Street
	Smithfield Township	309.50	498.09	52	309	US 209 north / PA 447 north – Marshalls Creek	East end of concurrency with US 209
	Delaware Water Gap	310.50	499.70	53	310	PA 611 – Delaware Water Gap, Welcome Center	Potential commuter rail park & ride to New York City and Scranton via the Lackawanna Cutoff
				Delaware River Toll Plaza (westbound only)
Delaware River		311.07	500.62	Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge
				–	–	I-80 east – New Jersey	Continuation into New Jersey
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Tolled

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• Pennsylvania portal

References

1. "Pennsylvania Highways: Interstate 80". Pahighways.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
2. "Route Log - Main Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 1". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
3. "Interstate 80". Pennsylvania Highways. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
4. Ask the Rambler - Was I-76 Numbered to Honor Philadelphia for Independence Day, 1776?
5. Official Route Numbering for the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as Adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials, August 14, 1957
6. Official Route Numbering for the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as Adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials, Approved June 27, 1958
7. SENATE BILL No. 432, General Assembly of Pennsylvania, 1993, retrieved March 6, 2011
8. Frassinelli, Mike (June 28, 1995). "Racer Petty To Be Honored At Exit 43 Introducing 43, An Interstate 80 Exit Named For Petty". The Morning Call. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
9. Medgle, Raegan (March 7, 2011). "I-80 Bridge Collapse". WNEP-TV. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
10. Beauge, John (3 December 2014). "Gag order sought in I-80 rock-throwing case in which Ohio woman was injured". The Patriot News. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
11. Nussbaum, Paul (December 14, 2007). "I-80 toll plan is kicked back". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
12. Nussbaum, Paul (October 17, 2007). "I-80 toll plans moving forward". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
13. "Senate Transportation Committee". Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
14. "Transportation Funding". WHP-TV. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
15. Nussbaum, Paul (October 2, 2007). "Interest to lease turnpike is broad". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
16. Nussbaum, Paul (October 4, 2007). "I-80 tolls not for mass transit". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
17. Federal Highway Administration press release, September 11, 2008
18. Federal Highway Administration press release, April 6, 2010
19. "Pennsylvania Exit Numbering" (PDF). Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 2, 2007.

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

• I-80 Interchange Browser - Central PA/MD Roads