Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey)

This article is about the Interstate Highway in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. For the Interstate Highway in Colorado and Nebraska, see Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska).

Interstate 76
Route information
Length	434.87 mi (699.86 km)
Existed	1964-present
History	Originally Interstate 80S
Component highways	Pennsylvania Turnpike, Ohio Turnpike
Location
Country	United States
States	Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Interstate 76 (I-76) is an Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States, running about 434 miles (700 km) from an interchange with I-71 west of Akron, Ohio, east to I-295 in Bellmawr, New Jersey.

Just west of Youngstown, I-76 joins the Ohio Turnpike and heads around the south side of Youngstown. In Pennsylvania, I-76 runs across most of the state on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, passing near Pittsburgh and Harrisburg before leaving the Turnpike to enter Philadelphia on the Schuylkill Expressway, crossing the Walt Whitman Bridge into New Jersey. After I-76 reaches its eastern terminus, the freeway continues as Route 42 and the Atlantic City Expressway to Atlantic City.

Route Description

Ohio

I-76 begins at I-71 at exit 209, east of Lodi, Ohio; U.S. Route 224 (US 224) continues west from the end of I-76. Officially, I-76 begins at the beginning of the ramp from I-71 north and it merges with US 224 at mile 0.61. After passing through rural Medina County, I-76 enters Summit County and soon crosses State Route 21 (SR 21, old US 21), once the main north–south route through the area until I-77 replaced it, at a cloverleaf interchange. I-76 then passes Barberton and enters Akron; this section of road was built as US 224.

Soon after entering Akron, I-76 exits the main freeway, which continues east as I-277, onto the short Kenmore Expressway; US 224 leaves I-76 there and continues east as a surface road after I-277 ends at I-77. Shortly after heading north from the I-277 interchange, I-76 meets I-77 and again turns east, joining southbound I-77 through Downtown Akron on the West Expressway. A partial interchange provides access to SR 59, the Innerbelt, and then I-76 crosses through the Central Interchange, where I-77 goes south (on the South Expressway) and SR 8 begins to the north (on the North Expressway); I-76 switches from the West Expressway to the East Expressway.

Leaving the Akron area, I-76 again heads through rural areas, crossing Portage County and entering Mahoning County. West of Youngstown, the freeway crosses the Ohio Turnpike. Officially I-76 transfers to the Turnpike at the overpass, with a similar change happening with I-80 (east on the freeway to Youngstown and west on the Turnpike). In reality, access between the roads is via a double trumpet connection in the northeast corner of the crossing, along which I-76 traffic and I-80 traffic run in opposite directions.

Youngstown Area and East

Main article: Ohio Turnpike

The Ohio Turnpike carries I-76 starting from around Youngstown, Ohio until the Pennsylvania border.

Pennsylvania

Ohio to Valley Forge

Main Article: Pennsylvania Turnpike

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Carries I-76 from the Ohio Border to Valley Forge, where it interchanges with I-276.

Schuylkill Expressway

At Valley Forge, northwest of Philadelphia, I-76 leaves the Turnpike to run into Philadelphia on the Schuylkill Expressway (while the Turnpike continues east as I-276). Immediately after exiting the Turnpike, I-76 interchanges with the US 202 and US 422 freeways near King of Prussia. I-76 later crosses I-476 near Conshohocken, and begins running along the southwest shore of the Schuylkill River. I-76 then enters the city/county limits of Philadelphia where Interchanges provide access to the Roosevelt Expressway (US 1) and the Vine Street Expressway (I-676); the latter runs through Downtown Philadelphia while I-76 bypasses to the south.

After the Grays Ferry Avenue exit near University City, I-76 crosses the Schuylkill Expressway Bridge to go towards the South Philadelphia Sports Complex near Lincoln Financial Field, Wells Fargo Center, and Citizens Bank Park.

The last interchange before the Walt Whitman Bridge over the Delaware River into New Jersey is with I-95. Some of the ramps involve traffic signals, as the ramps to I-95 were retrofitted into an existing interchange when I-95 was built, and the toll booth for the bridge lies west of the crossing of the two roads.

New Jersey

Just after crossing the Delaware River on the Walt Whitman Bridge, I-76 turns south and becomes the North-South Freeway, which carries I-676 north to Downtown Camden; the unsigned Route 76C connector runs east to US 130 and Route 168. The exit numbers in New Jersey are backwards, running from east to west. Though signed eastbound towards Atlantic City, the route ends near Gloucester City in western Camden County at an interchange with I-295.

From the exit for I-676 to the end, I-76 originally had local and express lanes in both directions, however, the barriers in both directions have been removed due to rebuilding of the I-295, I-76, and Route 42 interchange. I-76 ends at an interchange with I-295 on the Mount Ephraim–Bellmawr town line. The road becomes Route 42, continuing south on the North–South Freeway and then feeding into the Atlantic City Expressway to Atlantic City. While the South Jersey Transportation Authority (which owns the ACE) is not against the idea of making Route 42 (expressway part) and the ACE an eastern extension of I-76, they feel that making the change without a compelling reason would only add to motorists' confusion in southern New Jersey.

Interstate Highway System

Major Interstates are written in bold.