Interstate 279

Interstate 279
Parkway North
I-279 highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route of I-79
Maintained by PennDOT
Length	13.20 mi[1] (21.24 km)
Existed	October 2, 1972[2]–present
Major junctions
South end	I-376 / US 22 / US 30 in Pittsburgh
Major intersections	I-579 / PA 28 / PA 65 in Pittsburgh US 19 Truck in Pittsburgh US 19 in Ross Township
North end	I-79 in Franklin Park
Location
Counties	Allegheny
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Pennsylvania State Route System Interstate US State Scenic Byways Legislative
← PA 278 → I-280

Interstate 279 (I-279), locally referred to as Parkway North, is a north–south Interstate Highway spur that lies entirely within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Its southern end is at Interstate 376 at the Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh, and the north end is in Franklin Park at Interstate 79. It primarily serves at the main access route between Pittsburgh and its northern suburbs.

Route description[]

View of I-279 from the Swindell Bridge, roughly two miles north of downtown Pittsburgh.

The southern terminus of I-279 is at I-376 in downtown Pittsburgh. It runs concurrently with U.S. Route 19 Truck from its southern terminus to exit 4. (US Route 19 Truck continues on Interstate 376 west.) I-279 crosses the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River, providing easy access to Heinz Field and PNC Park. Interstate 579 intersects I-279, but is only accessible by southbound traffic; likewise, traffic from I-579 can only head northbound on I-279 by the . I-279 features two reversible high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. The HOV lanes end at exit 5, which is an interchange with US 19. The road becomes more suburban and rural as it continues to head north. It has two additional interchanges, Bellevue/West View and Camp Horne Road. After Camp Horne Road, there are no exits until its terminus five miles later. The interstate terminates at its parent, Interstate 79. Like the interchange with I-579, this is also a partial interchange. Traffic on I-279 is only permitted to exit northbound on I-79, while only traffic heading southbound on I-79 can exit on to I-279 south.

The section from exit 1B to exit 2B is also known as the North Shore Expressway.^[3][4]

History[]

I-279 inbound from the North Hills of Pittsburgh

Interstate 279 was first proposed in 1958, to run along what is now I-79 between the current I-376 in Carnegie and the current I-279 in Franklin Park. On October 2, 1972, its route was swapped with I-79, putting I-279 onto its current route, although only the downtown portion and the Fort Duquesne Bridge were built at the time.^[2]

In 1973, the designation was extended from downtown over Parkway West (what is now I-376) to I-79.^[5] This section became part of I-376 in 2009, and the I-279 signs were taken down there.^[6]

I-279 from Fort Duquesne Bridge to its current northern terminus in Franklin Park was approved on June 4, 1975 but constructed from 1985 to 1989, opening in its entirety with a Governor Casey ribbon cutting on September 16, 1989.^[7] From 1997 to 2003, various ramps, the Fort Pitt Bridge, and nearby tunnels were reconstructed. A direct connection from I-279 south to I-376 east was opened in 2002.^[8]

A tragedy occurred on the reversible HOV lanes in 1995 when a negligent highway worker failed to close the outbound gates, leading to a head-on 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.^[9]

Unearthed cemetery[]

During the last phases of construction of I-279 in 1987, a long-forgotten cemetery dating from the 19th century was unearthed near the site of the current I-279/I-579 split. Archaeologists spent four months exhuming the graves for cultural studies at the Smithsonian Institution, putting PennDOT significantly behind schedule. It was determined that the graves belonged to Swiss and German immigrants that were members of a local church located next door to the cemetery in what was then Allegheny City, with 727 graves buried at the one-half acre (20 a) site between 1833 and 1861. The graves were forgotten about by 1911 when the church did an addition to the building and had the foundation unintentionally go through about fifteen graves, with the churchyard housing the cemetery later becoming a parking lot in 1950. Aside from a pair of stillborn twins, none of the graves were identified, and archaeologists were unable to find any living descendants due to the obscurity of the cemetery. The remains were reburied with one marker at the church's current cemetery in the Troy Hill section of Pittsburgh in 2003 after the Smithsonian Institution finished studying them; the congregation itself disbanded in 1984 after PennDOT bought the church property via eminent domain for I-279 and only had 21 members at that point. Today, it is the largest number of 19th century graves (Native American graves notwithstanding) ever studied archaeologically in America.^[10][11]

Exit list[]

The entire route is in Allegheny County. ^[12]

Location[12]	mi[13]	km	Old exit	New exit[14]	Destinations	Notes
Pittsburgh	0.000	0.000	8[a] 6A[b]	–	To I-376 east – Downtown Pittsburgh, Monroeville I-376 west – Fort Pitt Bridge, Pittsburgh International Airport	Exit 70C on I-376, southern terminus of I-279
	0.313	0.504	10[a] 6C[b]	1A	Convention Center, Strip District Fort Duquesne Boulevard	Southbound left exit and northbound entrance
	0.236– 0.496	0.380– 0.798	Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River
	0.494– 0.803	0.795– 1.292	11A[a][c] / 12[a][d] 7A[b]	1B	North Shore	Left exit northbound; no northbound entrance; southern end of HOV lane
			11B[a][c] / 12[a][d] 7B[b]	1C	US 19 (Ohio River Boulevard) / PA 65 north	Left exit and entrance northbound; US 19 only appears on northbound signage
	1.020	1.642	13[a] 7C[b]	1D	PA 28 north / Chestnut Street / Ohio Street – Etna	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	1.098	1.767	–	–	9th Street	Southbound left exit and northbound entrance
	1.237	1.991	–	–	I-279 south	Southbound exit only
	1.677	2.699	–	–	PPG Paints Arena	Southbound left exit and northbound entrance
	1.845	2.969	14[a] 8A[b]	2A	I-579 south – Veterans Bridge	Northern terminus of I-579; southbound exit and northbound entrance
	1.910	3.074	15[a] 8B[b]	2B	To PA 28 / East Ohio Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance. Exit originally designated as East Street until December 2017
	2.903	4.672	16[a] 9[b]	3	Hazlett Street	Northbound exit and entrance
	3.834	6.170	17[a] 10[b]	4	East Street	Southbound exit and entrance. Exit originally designated as Venture Street until December 2017
	4.081	6.568	18[a] 11[b]	4	US 19 Truck north (McKnight Road) / Evergreen Road	Northern end of concurrency with US 19 Truck; northbound exit and southbound entrance HOV: northbound exit and southbound left entrance
Ross Township	5.469	8.802	19[a] 12[b]	5	US 19 (Perrysville Avenue)	HOV: northbound left exit and southbound left entrance
	5.535	8.908	Northern end of HOV lanes
	7.304	11.755	20[a] 14[b]	7	Bellevue, West View
Ohio Township	8.410	13.535	21[a] 15[b]	8	Green Belt (Camp Horne Road)
Franklin Park	13.307	21.416	20[b]	–	I-79 north – Erie	Exit 72 on I-79, northern terminus of I-279
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       HOV only       Incomplete access

See also[]

•  U.S. Roads portal
•  Pennsylvania portal

References[]

External links[]

Route map:

• Kitsko, Jeffrey. "Interstate 279". Pennsylvania Highways.