INTERSTATE 279

(Redirected from I-279)

'Interstate 279' (abbreviated 'I-279') is a north-south interstate highway spur that lies entirely within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It terminates at both ends at Interstate 79, the north end being in Wexford, Pennsylvania and the south end in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. It primarily serves at the main access route between Pittsburgh and its northern and western suburbs. I-279 defies typical AASHTO rules in that I-79 and I-279 are "backwards" -- i.e. I-79 should head directly through Pittsburgh while I-279 bypasses it to the west (as I-79 does). In fact, for a short time, this was actually planned (see "External links").

Contents

Route Description

History

Future

Exits

References

External links

Route Description

Major cities 'Bolded cities' are officially-designated control cities for signs
'Pittsburgh'
'Carnegie'
Green Tree
'Pittsburgh International Airport'
'Downtown Pittsburgh'
'North Shore (Pittsburgh)'
'Erie' ★

The highway is locally referred to as "Parkway North" or "Parkway West" (since the southern seven miles are more west-east than north-south) depending on one's relative position to downtown Pittsburgh. At the southern terminus of 279, the highway continues as U.S. Highway 22 and U.S. Highway 30, and after those routes split off, it becomes PA 60 leading to Pittsburgh International Airport. I-279 also has a concurrency with U.S. Route 19 Truck for 6 miles from exit 5 to exit 11. I-279 intersects Interstate 376 in downtown Pittsburgh. Interstate 579 also intersects I-279, but is only accessible by southbound traffic; likewise, traffic from I-579 can only head northbound on I-279 by the Interstate 279 Interchange. The best-known landmark on 279 is the Fort Pitt Tunnel and Bridge due to its "surprising" view of the Pittsburgh skyline. 279 also crosses the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River, providing easy access to Heinz Field and PNC Park. The Parkway North features two reversible HOV lanes. A related tragedy occurred in 1995 when a negligent highway worker failed to close the outbound gates, leading to a headon collision that killed six. In 2006, to help prevent a repeat of this incident, automatic "fast acting gates" were activated at the southern entrances to these HOV lanes in downtown Pittsburgh.

History

The southern portion of the highway, from the southern interchange with Interstate 79 to downtown Pittsburgh was a completed highway long before the section that runs from north of downtown, from downtown Pittsburgh to the northern interchange with Interstate 79. In fact, the I-279 designation was once used for the sections of Interstate 79 west of Pittsburgh, with the idea being that once the North Hills extension was completed, that the highway west of the city would be numbered Interstate 279, and the highway running through Pittsburgh would be numbered as Interstate 79. Plans were made to extend I-279 to its current northern terminus in Franklin Park, and construction began in the mid 1980s, and the construction concluded in September 1989. During the late 1990s and the early 2000s, several rehabilitation and construction projects were done on the Fort Pitt Bridge and the tunnels, creating detours and traffic problems during the construction projects.

Future

There has been debate as to whether or not I-279 will be slightly truncated at the Fort Pitt interchange, whenever the planned extension of I-376 up the current PA Route 60's alignment offically goes into effect on New Year's Day 2009. While it has been confirmed that 60 itself will be truncated at some point in Allegheny County, a final decision for I-279 hasn't been made yet. While some maps have the future truncation noted, other maps simply have I-279 remaining at status quo and being concurrent with I-376, U.S 22, and U.S 30 up to the current southern terminus with I-79.

Exits

Shields are shown at intersections with other Interstates or United States Routes.

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Southern terminus of I-279/ US 22/ US 30 concurrency
Allegheny	Rosslyn Farms	0.51	1A	I-79 Erie, Washington	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		0.82	1B	Rosslyn Farms	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
	Carnegie	1.33		West Busway	Buses only all other vehicles prohibited.
		1.73 1.80	2	PA 50 west - Heidelberg, Carnegie	Northbound only.
				To PA 50 - Heidelburg, Carnegie	Southbound only.
	Green Tree	3.49	4A	PA 121 - Green Tree, Mount Lebanon
	Pittsburgh	4.18	4B	Parkway Center Drive	Southbound exit, northbound entrance. To Parkway Center Mall.
		4.86	5A	US 19 Banksville Road, Mount Lebanon	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		US 19 has a concurrency with (I-279, US 19 TRK, US 22, and US 30) for 0.3 miles. Southern terminus of US 19 TRK concurrency with I-279/US 22/US 30.
		5.10	5B	US 19 TRK south/ PA 51 south - Uniontown, Dormont	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		5.18	5C	US 19 north/ PA 51 north - West End	Northbound exit, southbound entrance. Station Square.
		5.80	Fort Pitt Tunnel
		6.07	5C	PA 837 north to PA 51 (Carson Street) - West End	Southbound exit, northbound entrance. Station Square.
		6.19	Fort Pitt Bridge Northern terminus of I-279, US 19 TRK, US 22, and US 30 concurrency.
		6.22	6A	I-376 east/ US 22 east/ US 30 east - Monroeville	Downtown - Ft. Pitt Boulevard southbound only.
		6.24	6B	Boulevard of the Allies, Liberty Avenue	Northbound exit only. To Mellon Arena and Gateway Center.
		6.47	6C	Fort Dusquene Boulevard, Strip District
		6.59	Fort Duquesne Bridge
		6.82	7A	PA 65 north to US 19 (Ohio River Boulevard)
		7.07	7C	North Shore	To PNC Park and Heinz Field.
		Begin/End HOV lanes
		7.43	7C	To PA 28 north (East Ohio Street) - Chestnut Street, Etna	Northbound exit, Southbound entrance.
		7.73	8A	I-579 (Crosstown Boulevard) south - Liberty Bridge	Southbound exit, northbound entrance. To I-376 east Monroeville, Oakland. Mellon Arena, Downtown Pittsburgh.
		8.15	8B	To PA 28 north (East Street)
		9.06	9	Hazlett Street	Northbound exit, northbound entrance.
		10.13	10	Venture Street	Southbound exit, southbound entrance.
		Northern terminus of I-279/ US 19 TRK concurrency.
		10.45	11	US 19 TRK north (McKnight Road) - Evergreen Road	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	Ross Township	11.64	12	US 19 (Perrysville Avenue)
		Begin/End HOV lanes
		13.27	14	Bellevue, West View
	Ohio Township	14.61	15	Camp Horne Road
	Franklin Township	19.52	20	I-79 north - Erie	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.

References

#1. Route Log - Auxiliary Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 2

#Exit list
#DeLorme computer program

External links

★ http://www.pahighways.com/interstates/I279.html