Interstate 376 - Route Description

Route Description

I-376 begins at a cloverleaf interchange with I-80 located four miles east of Ohio within the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau. From there, it travels in a southern direction, following the former route of PA 60 along the Beaver Valley Expressway. Paralleling Pennsylvania Route 18, I-376 has its first official interchange with that state highway in West Middlesex, though as PA 760 it also meets that same route about a mile west-northwest of where the Interstate designation now begins (at I-80).

I-376 soon meets US 422 and forms an overlap with that highway along the west side of New Castle. After an interchange with US 224 in Union Township, I-376 eastbound widens to three (and eventually four) lanes in preparation of its split from US 422. Southwest of the city in Taylor Township, I-376 finally exits the roadway to the south with two lanes, leaving US 422 to circle around the southern edge of the city with the other two lanes. At this point, I-376 becomes a tolled freeway.

I-376 continues southward, still paralleled by PA 18, with both that road and the Beaver River to the east. Shortly after entering Beaver County near Koppel, the route interchanges with its parent I-76 – the Mainline of the Pennsylvania Turnpike – for the first time. It also has an indirect connection with Pennsylvania Route 351 at this interchange. Around this area, I-376 crosses into the Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, where it remains for the remainder of its length.

I-376 then passes to the east of West Mayfield and becomes a non-tolled highway again at its first interchange with Pennsylvania Route 51 in Chippewa Township, just west of Beaver Falls. The freeway then weaves through mountainous terrain, interchanging with Pennsylvania Route 68 in Vanport just before crossing the Vanport Bridge over the Ohio River. It then has its second interchange with PA 18 near Kobuta and continues south from there. I-376 passes to the west of Aliquippa before leaving Beaver County and entering Allegheny County.

Approaching Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), the freeway diverges to the south onto the Southern Expressway, while Business Loop 376 (the former Business Route of PA 60) branches off to the east. I-376 circles around the southern edge of the airport, interchanging with the north edge of the Southern Beltway (Pennsylvania Route 576) at the main entrance to PIT then recombining with BL-376 shortly thereafter.

Now traveling east-southeastward, the route features a recently rebuilt cloverleaf interchange with the Penn-Lincoln Parkway (US 22 and US 30) and Steubenville Pike (now the northern/western terminus of what remains of Pennsylvania Route 60) in Robinson Township. The two U.S. Highways join I-376 here, continuing east-southeastward bearing the Penn-Lincoln Parkway name, and soon reach an interchange with I-79. From that point eastward, along what was known for many years as I-279, the Parkway West freeway (now designated I-376) runs east-southeast through Rosslyn Farms and Carnegie before turning northeast and passing through Green Tree.

Entering the city of Pittsburgh along the former I-279, the Parkway West winds its way northeast to I-376's second interchange with PA 51 at Saw Mill Run Boulevard, which is also part of a spread-out and somewhat confusing series of ramps linking Banksville Road (US 19) and US 19 Truck. This junction, located just before the freeway passes under Mount Washington in the Fort Pitt Tunnel, features the infamous wrong-way concurrency of US 19 Truck. In addition to running concurrent with its parent route the wrong way, US 19 Truck is wrong-way concurrent onto itself, with both north and southbound traffic of US 19 Truck briefly running on I-376 eastbound.

At the northeastern portal of the tunnel, I-376 emerges onto the double-deck Fort Pitt Bridge, crossing over the Monongahela River. There are single-lane westbound exit and eastbound entrance ramps connecting Carson Street to the freeway between the tunnel's portal and the bridge. Once across the river, the route touches down in Downtown Pittsburgh at the famous Golden Triangle in Point State Park. Here, the now-truncated I-279 begins, branching off to cross the twin Fort Duquesne Bridge and heading out through the North Side to eventually meet up with its parent Interstate. From this same complex interchange, which also includes access ramps for Liberty Avenue, the I-376/US 22/US 30 freeway (named the Penn-Lincoln Parkway East from this point on) turns east to follow the left upstream bank of the Monongahela River through the south side of the downtown area - as well that of as its adjacent neighborhoods, Soho and Oakland. The Parkway East eventually turns away from the river near the southwestern corner of Schenley Park and runs along that park's southern border before passing through Squirrel Hill Tunnel under Squirrel Hill.

Exiting the city of Pittsburgh near the southeastern corner of Frick Park, US 30 leaves the Parkway East freeway shortly thereafter at Pennsylvania Route 8 in the suburb of Wilkinsburg. I-376 continues a general easterly stretch through Churchill, Wilkins Township, Penn Hills, and finally Monroeville, where it eventually meets the toll plaza of the Pittsburgh Interchange leading back onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike's mainline. Just before that plaza, US 22 exits the freeway as well, joining the William Penn Highway (its original routing prior to the construction of the Penn-Lincoln Parkway). I-376 then finally reaches its eastern terminus, at its parent I-76.