I-79
Begin	Mount Morris
End	Erie
Length	183 mi
Length	294 km
Route West Virginia1 Mount Morris 7 Kirby 14 Waynesburg 19 Jefferson 23 Marianna 30 Amity 33 Laboratory 34 → Philadelphia 20 Washington 19 Murtland Avenue 38 → Wheeling 40 Meadow Lands 41 Race Track Road 43 Eighty Four 45 Canonsburg 48 Southpointe 54 Bridgeville 55 Heidelberg 57 Carnegie 59 → Pittsburgh 60 Crafton 64 Coraopolis 65 Neville Island 66 Emsworth 68 Mount Nebo Road 72 → Pittsburgh 73 Wexford 75 Warrendale 76 Cranberry 77 → Cleveland / Philadelphia 78 Seven Fields 83 Evans City 85 Jackson 87 Zelienople 88 Zelienople 96 Portersville 99 New Castle 105 Slippery Rock 113 Grove City 116 → Cleveland / New York 121 Mercer 130 Greenville 141 Geneva 147 Meadville 154 Conneautville 166 Albion 174 McKean 178 → Cleveland / Buffalo 180 Millcreek 182 Erie International Airport 183 Erie

Interstate 79 or I -79 is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Pennsylvania. The highway forms the westernmost north-south route in the state, running from Mount Morris on the West Virginia border through the metropolitan area of ​​Pittsburgh to the city of Erie on Lake Erie, where the highway ends. The route is 294 kilometers long.

• SEARCHFORPUBLICSCHOOLS: Provides a list of all public primary and high schools in Pennsylvania, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.

Travel directions

I-79 at Canonsburg in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The interchange between I-76 and I-376 west of Pittsburgh.

I-79 over de Ohio River.

Southwestern Pennsylvania

At Mount Morris, Interstate 79 in West Virginia crosses the Pennsylvania border, then heads north through wooded and hilly terrain. US 19 runs parallel to the highway. The highway has 2×2 lanes here, and runs through a fairly sparsely populated area. After about 50 kilometers you reach the town of Washington, where the highway merges with Interstate 70. Both roads then have a double numbering of a few kilometers. I-70 is the highway from Columbus to Baltimore and Philadelphia. After Washington you pass through a less hilly and wooded area, with more meadows. Here are already some suburbs of Pittsburgh, which itself is still about 50 kilometers away.

Pittsburgh

The highway does not pass through Pittsburgh itself, but through the suburban area west of it. Pittsburgh’s suburbs are quite small, and sparsely built up due to the hilly area. The highway then has 2×3 lanes, and at Carnegie it intersects with US 22, which goes downtown, and west to the airport and Weirton in West Virginia. I-79 then narrows to 2×2 lanes as most traffic heads downtown. At Coraopolis one crosses the Ohio River. This long river valley is highly urbanized. Interstate 279. ends at Franklin Parkon I-79. I-279 comes from downtown in the southeast. The I-79 then has 2×3 lanes again. Not far after that, at Warrendale, it crosses Interstate 76, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which runs from Cleveland toward Philadelphia. I-79 then narrows again to 2×2 lanes.

• USPRIVATESCHOOLSFINDER.COM: Provides a list of all private primary and elementary schools in Pennsylvania, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.

Northwestern Pennsylvania

North of Pittsburgh, US 19 parallels the highway again. You then come back through wooded area. At Rose Point, you cross US 422, a highway heading southeast. The landscape flattens to the north, with regular lakes. At Grove City you cross the Interstate 80, via a simple cloverleaf. There is not much interaction between the two highways. I-80 comes from Cleveland and heads toward New York. To the north of this, the area is less densely forested, and one passes through rather sparsely populated rural areas. At Meadville one crosses US 6, which leads to Warren, a small town south of New York State. Just before the city of Erie you reach Interstate 90, the highway from Cleveland to Buffalo. The highway then continues for a few more miles into downtown Erie, a city of 104,000, and ends at US 20.

History

The history of Interstate 79 in Pennsylvania coincides with that of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In 1953, the Northwestern Extension to Erie was approved by the Toll Commission, including a crossover between Ohio and New York, which would later become I-90 along Erie. In 1955, the Southwestern Extension was approved to run south to the West Virginia border. However, the highway was constructed as a toll-free Interstate Highway, as funding that became available from 1956 came from the federal government.

The highway has been put into operation at a rapid pace over a period of 15 years. The first part opened near Washington in 1962, after which the focus was on building the highway between Washington and the south side of Pittsburgh, and the stretch through rural northwestern Pennsylvania. By 1970, I-79 here had been substantially completed, and by 1973 nearly all of the highway was completed except for the southernmost portion and the Pittsburgh bypass, which opened in 1974 and 1976. On September 3, 1976, the last section of I-79 opened the bridge over the Ohio River west of Pittsburgh.

Road numbering around Pittsburgh changed quite a bit in the 1960s. Originally, Interstate 70 was to run north from Washington and then go east through Pittsburgh and join the Pennsylvania Turnpike east of the city. This north-south section would later become I-79. It was also planned at the time to run I-79 through downtown Pittsburgh, and I-279 as a western bypass. Later this was reversed so that I-79 forms the bypass of Pittsburgh. Because I-76 is also located outside of Pittsburgh, it is the only major city in the United States not served directly by a major Interstate Highway route.

Between 2000 and 2002, a direct interchange between I-76 and I-79 was constructed at Cranberry. Between 2005 and 2009, the interchange between I-79 and US 30 west of Pittsburgh was upgraded with direct flyovers. On November 16, 2013, a new flyover opened at the eastern interchange between I-70 and I-79. This flyover replaced a trumpet node.

Opening history

I-79 at Canonburg.

van	nasty	length	datum
Exit 33	Exit 34	2 km	00-00-1962
Exit 30	Exit 33	5 km	00-00-1963
Exit 34 (east)	Exit 38 (west)	6 km	00-00-1963
Exit 85 Zelienople	Exit 87 Harmony	3 km	00-00-1963
Exit 88 Little Creek Road	Exit 96 Portersville	13 km	00-00-1964
Exit 38	Exit 41 McGovern	5 km	00-00-1965
Exit 96 Portersville	Exit 99	5 km	00-00-1965
Exit 14 Waynesburg	Exit 19	8 km	00-00-1967
Exit 23 Marianna	Exit 30	11 km	00-00-1967
Exit 41 McGovern	Exit 54 Bridgeville	21 km	00-00-1967
Exit 99	Exit 121 Jackson Center	35 km	00-00-1967
Exit 19	Exit 23 Marianna	6 km	00-00-1968
Exit 54 Bridgeville	Exit 55 Heidelberg	2 km	00-00-1968
Exit 178	Exit 182 Erie	6 km	00-00-1968
Exit 154 Seagertown	Exit 166 Edinboro	19 km	00-00-1969
Exit 55 Heidelberg	Exit 57 Carnegie	3 km	00-00-1970
Exit 78 Cranberry	Exit 85 Zelienople	11 km	00-00-1970
Exit 121 Jackson Center	Exit 141 Geneva	32 km	00-00-1970
Exit 166 Edinboro	Exit 178	19 km	00-00-1970
Exit 60 Moon Run	Exit 64 Caraopolis	6 km	00-00-1972
Exit 141 Geneva	Exit 147 Meadville	10 km	00-00-1972
Exit 57 Carnegie	Exit 60 Moon Run	5 km	00-00-1973
West Virginia state line	Exit 1 Mount Morris	2 km	00-00-1974
Exit 1 Mount Morris	Exit 14 Waynesburg	21 km	00-00-1976
Exit 64 Caraopolis	Exit 78 Cranberry	23 km	03-09-1976

Traffic intensities

Every day, 14,000 vehicles cross the border into West Virginia, which remains stable until Washington. The double numbering with the I-70 counts 51,000 vehicles per day, after which the intensities north of Washington drop to 32,000 vehicles. The road then runs along the west side of Pittsburgh and has a maximum of 94,000 vehicles per day. Between I-279 and I-76 is a second peak of 89,000 vehicles per day. After I-76, the intensity drops to 27,000 vehicles. 20,000 vehicles per day drive around I-80, there is not much interaction between the two highways. The last stretch in the city of Erie has 30,000 vehicles per day.