I-79 | |||
Begin | Mount Morris | ||
End | Erie | ||
Length | 183 mi | ||
Length | 294 km | ||
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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.
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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.
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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.