The majority of I-76 along the
Pennsylvania Turnpike includes the first long-distance rural
freeway in the U.S.; the
Ohio Turnpike and Schuylkill Expressway are also pre-Interstate freeways. By 1955, the section of that route from west of
Youngstown to Center City, was included in the planned
Interstate Highway System, as was present I-76 from west of Youngstown to
Akron. (Some early plans called for a new freeway along
SR 14 to the
Pennsylvania state line; it is unclear when the proposed route was shifted to the turnpikes.) In 1957, the route from
Cleveland east to
Harrisburg, running roughly along the SR 14 corridor in
Ohio and the turnpike in Pennsylvania, was labeled
I-80, and the rest of the route from Harrisburg to Philadelphia was assigned I-80S. (I-80N would have run from Harrisburg to
New York City.)
I-78 was assigned to a route from
Norwalk, paralleling
SR 18 through Akron to Youngstown and turning south there to end at the planned I-80. The 1957 numbering, however, was drawn on a map from 1947, which did not include several changes that had been approved, specifically the
Keystone Shortway across Pennsylvania. (The route in that corridor ran further north, along
US 6, and was numbered
I-84.) Thus, the final numbering, approved in 1958, assigned I-80 to the Norwalk–Youngstown route to reach the Keystone Shortway. The former alignment through Cleveland became I-80N; the turnpike was still not assigned a number from near
Elyria (where I-80N and
I-90 would split from it) to west of Youngstown. The route from west of Youngstown to
Philadelphia was assigned I-80S, and extended east to
I-295 in
New Jersey when
auxiliary Interstates were assigned in 1959. (The planned I-80N in Pennsylvania became I-78.) Initial spurs of I-80S were I-180 (now
I-176), I-280 (now
I-276), I-480 (now
I-476), and I-680 (now
I-676, though it swapped with I-76 in 1972).I-80 was realigned in Ohio by 1962, largely taking over former I-80N, which ran through Cleveland, joining the turnpike southwest of Cleveland. However, while I-80N was planned to split from I-80 near
Kent and run northwest to Cleveland along
SR 14, the new alignment of I-80 used the turnpike between the crossing west of Youngstown and the crossing with SR 14 at
Streetsboro. The former I-80 from near Youngstown west to Akron became part of I-80S, as did a new alignment (already built as
US 224) from Akron west to
I-71 east of
Lodi; the rest of proposed I-80 west to near Norwalk (which would have crossed I-71 near
Medina) was removed from the Interstate Highway System. I-80 was moved to the turnpike between Streetsboro and southwest of Cleveland ; the old route became
I-480.On April 16, 1963, due in part to the extension of
I-79 south from
Greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania proposed a partial renumbering. A new number, tentatively designated I-76, would run from
Downtown Pittsburgh east on what was then
I-70 (I-70S bypassed
Pittsburgh to the south on what is now I-70) to the Pennsylvania Turnpike at
Monroeville, and then east along the remainder of I-80S to I-295. I-80S would remain on the section of turnpikes from west of Youngstown to Monroeville. This was approved February 26, 1964, and included the renumbering of all I-X80 spurs to I-X76. On June 29, 1970, a renumbering was approved in the Pittsburgh area, with the main effect being rerouting I-79 to bypass Pittsburgh to the west on the former
I-279. I-279 was moved to the former I-79 north of downtown, and the former I-79 from downtown southwest to new I-79 became a western extension of I-76. (It was then that
I-876 was designated for former
I-479.) A realignment and extension of I-76 into Ohio, taking over the rest of I-80S to I-71 east of Lodi, was approved January 11, 1972. The former I-76 from Monroeville west into Downtown Pittsburgh became
I-376, and I-279 was extended southwest from downtown along former I-76 to I-79. (I-876 was renumbered to
I-579 then.) Signs in Ohio were changed September 1, 1972; the old I-80S signs remained for about a year.
Schuylkill Expressway Plans for a limited-access highway along the west bank of the
Schuylkill River originated in 1932, as part of a proposed cars-only
parkway system for the
Philadelphia area similar to the contemporary system being built in
New York City. The "Valley Forge Parkway" was to have run from
Fairmount Park to Valley Forge State Park (now
Valley Forge National Historical Park) with plans for a later extension to
Reading via
Pottstown. However, planning for the proposed parkway system stalled and the plan was eventually abandoned. Planning for today's Schukill expressway began in 1947, when the city of Philadelphia approved plans to develop a highway connecting Philadelphia with the terminus of the planned Philadelphia Extension of the
Pennsylvania Turnpike near Valley Forge. The highway was designed by engineers Michael Rapuano, who had previously aided in the design of the
Garden State Parkway, and Bill Allen of Gannett Fleming. The new expressway largely followed the earlier planned parkway route from Valley Forge to Fairmount Park, while also extending into southern Philadelphia and across the
Delaware River into
New Jersey. Two alternatives were proposed south of
University City: one routing would continue along the west bank of the river into
Southwest Philadelphia to its confluence near
Philadelphia International Airport, where it would tunnel underneath the Delaware to
Paulsboro, New Jersey; the other would cross the Schuylkill south of University City and bisect
South Philadelphia, crossing the Delaware River into
Gloucester City, New Jersey. Planned expansions of the airport in the path of the former proposal led to adoption of the routing through South Philadelphia. Construction of the road began in 1949. The road was completed in stages, with a short segment near King of Prussia opening in 1951 along with the turnpike's Philadelphia Extension, with the section from
King of Prussia to
Conshohocken opening a year later. The section between Conshohocken and
City Avenue opened in 1954. The
Walt Whitman Bridge opened in 1957. The expressway was completed through Fairmount Park in 1959, and, in 1960, the entire expressway was complete with the opening of the segment through University City. Prior to the roadways being signed as Interstates, I-395 was to be designated along the Schuylkill Expressway from the Vine Street Expressway to the Walt Whitman Bridge; however, I-680 was preferred to be the final designation for this route. On April 16, 1963, Pennsylvania wanted to renumber its Interstate numbers. Part of this was the renumbering from I-80S into I-76, and all of its
auxiliary routes into I-x76. The
Federal Highway Administration approved the request on February 26, 1964. As a result, I-80S became I-76 and I-680 became I-676. Immediately after its completion, operational studies performed on the Schuylkill Expressway found that the route would be unable to cope with the area's growing traffic demands, due to the many substandard design elements and compromises incorporated to cope with the rugged, difficult routing of the road. In 1962, plans were announced for a parallel expressway along the east bank of the Schuylkill River known as the
Manayunk Expressway; however, these plans were quickly withdrawn due to substantial opposition. An alternative plan was then introduced to widen the entire highway to eight lanes in time for the
US Bicentennial in 1976; however, these plans were also shelved due to local disapproval. A scaled-down widening project was successfully undertaken from 1969 to 1972 to widen a short section of the road to six lanes through Fairmount Park.On August 29, 1972, a swap of I-76 and I-676 in Philadelphia and
Camden was approved. I-76 had been routed along the Vine Street Expressway and
Ben Franklin Bridge (now I-676) through Center City, while I-676 used the Schuylkill Expressway and
Walt Whitman Bridge to bypass downtown to the south. The switch was made because of delays in building the Vine Street Expressway, better interchange geometry at the splits, and that the
Ben Franklin Bridge ends in city streets, rather than in expressway grade. The renumbering of a Philadelphia Interstate to I-76 in the years leading up to the
Bicentennial Celebration of the 1776 signing in Philadelphia of the
Declaration of Independence gives rise to the question of the highway number being an intentional tribute to the spirit of 1776.
U.S. Department of Transportation research into federal documentation of the I-76 renumbering found no evidence of this being intentional. In the almost seven decades since its opening, congestion on the Schuylkill Expressway has steadily increased. Plans to expand the expressway to eight lanes by building an upper deck, including
high-occupancy toll lanes, were advocated by former Pennsylvania House Speaker
John Perzel, but never came to fruition. PennDOT completed a scaled back version of a $23.7-million (equivalent to $32.9 million in 2023) project to add 29
webcams on the Schuylkill Expressway between the Conshohocken Curve and Passyunk Avenue in 2008. On the afternoon of June 8, 2011, a section of the Schuylkill Expressway near Grays Ferry Avenue buckled from temperatures around 100 °F (38 °C), causing lane closures. The closed lane of the road was later reopened temporarily until full repairs could be made. Exactly three months later, on September 8, 2011, heavy rains caused by
Tropical Storm Lee caused a rockslide in the vicinity of the Conshohocken Curve, flooding near Belmont Avenue, and a mudslide by Girard Avenue. For hours, motorists were stuck at various locations in both directions between I-476 and Girard Avenue until the mess could be cleaned up. In May 2011, the new westbound entrance at South Gulph and South Henderson roads in King of Prussia was completed and in November the westbound exit was completed. The new interchange cost $10.5 million (equivalent to $14 million in 2023) and used money from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. PennDOT has installed
variable speed limit signs along the Schuylkill Expressway, where the speed limit can be lowered due to factors such as inclement weather or accidents as well as to manage traffic flow. The variable speed limit signs were activated on April 8, 2021. The project incorporates
variable-message signs to alert motorists to traffic congestion ahead. It could also coordinate with SEPTA to provide motorists with real-time mass transit information to give commuters an option to exit the highway and use public transportation to finish their trip at some point. There are also future plans to coordinate traffic signals on roads leading to the Schuylkill Expressway and install
ramp meters on entrance ramps to the highway. PennDOT is in the preliminary stages of studying plans to use the right shoulder of the Schuylkill Expressway as a travel lane in certain sections during peak periods; construction of these lanes is not expected to begin until sometime in the mid-2020s. In 2022, one mile of the highway in Lower Merion Township was designated as the "Firefighter Thomas Royds Memorial Highway" in honor of Thomas Royds, a firefighter who was killed by a drunk driver while responding to an accident on the highway in 2021. The rugged terrain, limited riverfront space covered by the route and narrow spans of bridges passing over the highway have largely stymied attempts to upgrade or widen the Schuylkill Expressway. With the road being highly over capacity, it has become notorious for its chronic congestion. An average of 163,000 vehicles use the road daily in Philadelphia County, and an average of 109,000 use the highway in Montgomery County, making it the busiest road in Pennsylvania. Its narrow lane and left shoulder configuration, left lane entrances and exits (nicknamed "merge or die"), common construction activity, and generally congested conditions have led to many accidents, critical injuries, and fatalities, leading to the highway's
humorous nickname of the "Surekill Expressway" or, in further embellishment, the "Surekill Distressway" or the "Surekill Crawlway". ==Exit list==