Pennsylvania Route 60 - History

History

The entirety of modern PA 60 was originally designated as part of US 22 and US 30 in the 1920s. In 1956, US 22 and US 30 were realigned to follow a new highway between Robinson Township and Pittsburgh's West End that bypassed Crafton to the south. Its former alignment through Crafton became PA 60. By 1960, a new highway was constructed between the Orange Belt north of Pittsburgh International Airport near Carnot and the junction of US 22, US 30, and PA 60 in Robinson Township. The new road became part of an extended PA 60 in 1962. At the end of the highway, PA 60 followed the Orange Belt north to Carnot, where it met PA 51.

Construction began in the 1960s on the Beaver Valley Expressway, a north–south freeway extending from Pittsburgh International Airport to Sharon via New Castle. By 1970, the highway was completed and opened to traffic near West Middlesex and Beaver. The segment of the freeway between Clinton Road northwest of the airport and Beaver was completed by the following year. PA 60 was rerouted and extended northward over the freeway to modern exit 36 by 1973. The remainder of the freeway south of what is now exit 31 was complete by 1980, resulting in another extension of PA 60. Also completed by this time was the New Castle – Sharon segment of the highway, which was also designated as PA 60 upon opening. At the time, PA 60 ended at Interstate 80 while a short extension of the expressway to PA 718 south of Sharon was designated but not signed as State Route 3004 (SR 3004). PA 60 was extended northward over SR 3004 to PA 18 at some point between 1990 and 1997 and northwestward along SR 3004 and PA 718 to US 62 Business in Sharon at some point between 1997 and 2004.

The 16.5-mile (26.6 km) gap in the highway, and thus PA 60, between West Mayfield and New Castle went unfilled for almost a decade. On October 20, 1989, ground was broken on a bridge over the Mahoning River in Lawrence County, marking the start of a $260 million project to complete the missing link in the freeway. The highway, built by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as a toll road, opened to traffic on November 20, 1992. Meanwhile, ground was broken August 27, 1990, on the Southern Expressway, a $190 million, 7.5-mile (12.1 km) highway built to serve a new terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport. The new highway began at the Beaver Valley Expressway northwest of the airport and followed the western and southern edges of the airport to meet the Penn-Lincoln Parkway in Robinson Township. It was opened to traffic as the Airport Expressway on September 9, 1992. PA 60 was realigned to follow the new highway around the southwestern edge of the airport while its former routing around the northeastern edge became PA 60 Business.

On October 17, 2005, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and U.S. Representative Melissa Hart announced that the Interstate 376 designation would be extended westward over Interstate 279, US 22, US 30, and northward over PA 60 to a new terminus at the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Beaver Falls in 2009. I-376 replaced I-279 on June 10, 2009. It was extended again on November 6, 2009, to Interstate 80 near Sharon, overlapping US 22 and US 30 along the Parkway West and replacing PA 60 from Steubenville Pike north to I-80. PA 60 was truncated to its junction with US 22 and US 30 as a result. The former routing of PA 60 in the vicinity of Sharon became PA 760 while PA 60 Business became Business Loop I-376. On August 1, 2010, signage along the former Turnpike 60 was officially changed to I-376.