PENNSYLVANIA ROUTE 73

'Pennsylvania Route 73' is a 61 mile long east-west state highway located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. The western terminus is at Pennsylvania Route 61 in Leesport. The eastern terminus is at the New Jersey state line on the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in Philadelphia, where PA 73 continues as New Jersey Route 73.

Contents

Route description

Berks County

Montgomery County

Philadelphia

Communities along the route

Major intersections

History

References

Route description

Berks County

PA 73 begins at an intersection with Pennsylvania Route 61 in Leesport, north of Reading. It runs east along the shore of Lake Ontelaunee, meeting U.S. Route 222 in Maiden Creek. The route winds its way southeast, intersecting with Pennsylvania Route 12 near Pricetown and Pennsylvania Route 662 in Oley. It enters Boyertown as Pennsylvania Avenue, meeting the eastern terminus of Pennsylvania Route 562 in the middle of town, and entering Montgomery County at the Boyertown-Gilbertsville border.

Montgomery County

On the county border, PA 73 interchanges with Pennsylvania Route 100, then continues southeast through Gilbertsville. It then heads east as Big Road, where Pennsylvania Route 663 briefly joins the route from the south before leaving again on its own alignment. PA 73 continues southeast through Frederick and Zieglerville, where it joins with Pennsylvania Route 29 to head south on Gravel Pike, paralleling the Perkiomen Creek and Perkiomen Trail. The road turns into Main Street through central Schwenksville. PA 73 leaves for its own alignment, known as 'Skippack Pike', south of Schwenksville, crossing the Skippack Creek before heading southeast once again, entering the outer suburbs of Philadelphia.
The route continues past Graterford Prison, entering central Skippack, where it meets Pennsylvania Route 113. It briefly crosses Evansburg State Park, intersecting Bustard Road which provides access to Interstate 476 before heading through Worcester Township, where it intersects Pennsylvania Route 363. It passes under Interstate 476 without a direct interchange before entering Blue Bell, where it intersects with U.S. Route 202. It continues southeast through Blue Bell, passing Fort Washington State Park before crossing the Wissahickon Creek, and turning south onto Bethlehem Pike for a brief distance before again turning east onto Church Road.
PA 73 continues east through the dense northern Philadelphia suburbs, interchanging with the Fort Washington Expressway in Springfield, and intersecting with Pennsylvania Route 152 in Glenside. It briefly turns northwest onto Washington Lane before turning southeast again onto Township Line Road, which forms the boundary between Cheltenham and Abington townships. It intersects with Pennsylvania Route 611 before entering the city of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia

The road continues as 'Cottman Avenue' through Northeast Philadelphia, meeting Pennsylvania Route 232 at an intersection locally known as the "Five Points". Passing through the Lawncrest and Rhawnhurst neighborhoods, it intersects Roosevelt Boulevard at a massive intersection near Pennypack Park. It continues through the Mayfair neighborhood, meeting U.S. Route 13 on Frankford Avenue. It then briefly operates as a one-way pair along Torresdale and Princeton Avenues and State Road and Cottman Avenue, before interchanging with Interstate 95 and turning southwest onto New State Road. This road turns into a traffic circle at the foot of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge; PA 73 traverses the circle and crosses the bridge into New Jersey, where it continues as New Jersey Route 73.

Communities along the route

★ Leesport

★ Boyertown

★ Gilbertsville

★ Schwenksville

★ Skippack

★ Blue Bell

★ Philadelphia

Major intersections

History

PA 73 between Skippack, Pennsylvania and Bethlehem Pike, known as 'Skippack Pike', dates back to 1713, when settlers in Skippack petitioned Philadelphia officials for a road to their community for purposes of hauling grain to the mill in Whitemarsh.^[2] During the American Revolutionary War, the road played a large role in the Battle of Germantown and the Battle of White Marsh.
In its original 1928 routing, PA 73 deviated from its current route west of Oley, instead following what is now Friedensburg Road to Reading and continuing south along current Pennsylvania Route 625 to end at Pennsylvania Route 23 near Blue Ball.^[3] The route was truncated in Reading in 1962, with the Goodville to Reading segment redesignated as PA 625; two years later, in 1964, PA 73 was moved to its current route between Leesport and Oley, bypassing Reading to the north.^[4]

References

1. Pennsylvania Highways - Pennsylvania Route 73
2. http://www.skippack.org/skippackroad.htm
3. ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_pdf_files/Maps/Statewide/Historic_OTMs/1950fr.pdf
4. http://www.pahighways.com/state/PA51-100.html