Interstate 476
Interstate 476 is a auxiliary Interstate Highway of I-76 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The highway runs from I-95 near Chester north to I-81 near Scranton, serving as the primary north–south Interstate corridor through eastern Pennsylvania. It consists of both the Mid-County Expressway, locally referred to as the "Blue Route", through Delaware and Montgomery counties in the suburban Philadelphia area, and the tolled, Pennsylvania Turnpike 'Northeast Extension, which connects the Delaware Valley with the Lehigh Valley, the Pocono Mountains, and the Wyoming Valley to the north.
The Mid-County Expressway passes through suburban areas, while the Northeast Extension predominantly runs through rural areas of mountains, forest, and farmland, with development closer to Philadelphia and in the Lehigh Valley and the Wyoming Valley. I-476 intersects many major roads, including I-76 in West Conshohocken, I-276 in Plymouth Meeting, U.S. Route 22 near Allentown, and I-80 near Hickory Run State Park.
At its opening in 1979, I-476 was a, four-lane spur expressway connecting I-76 with Chemical Road in Plymouth Meeting. The highway expanded the capacity for travel between King of Prussia, I-76, the Philadelphia Main Line, and Philadelphia suburbs to the city's north and in South Jersey. The highway was initially planned to connect down to I-95 in Delaware County. This portion of the highway opened in 1991.
In 1996, the I-476 designation was affixed to the preexisting Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, replacing Pennsylvania Route 9'. The former state route was an older, pre-Interstate limited-access highway that opened in sections between 1955 and 1957. This extended I-476 approximately north of Plymouth Meeting to Clarks Summit as a part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike system, and made it the nation's longest auxiliary Interstate Highway.
Route description
Mid-County Expressway
The portion of I-476 between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike runs north–south through Delaware and Montgomery counties and is officially known as the Mid-County Expressway and the Veterans Memorial Highway, as well as by the nickname the "Blue Route". The road's southern terminus is at a directional T interchange with I-95 near Chester, southwest of Philadelphia in Delaware County, near Philadelphia International Airport.Heading north, the road passes under CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision rail line and has an interchange with MacDade Boulevard in Woodlyn, where it narrows to a four-lane parkway that runs parallel to the Crum Creek. It winds through the western Philadelphia suburbs of Wallingford and Swarthmore, where I-476 passes under SEPTA's Media/Wawa Line and comes to a diamond interchange with Baltimore Pike just west of Springfield. From here, the freeway crosses over SEPTA's light rail Media–Sharon Hill Line and continues north to Springfield, where it meets US 1 at a three-level diamond interchange.
Past US 1, the parallel Crum Creek splits to the northwest and I-476 continues through wooded suburban areas. Along this stretch, the road briefly gains a southbound truck lane. The freeway comes to a partial cloverleaf interchange with PA 3 in Broomall, where it widens to six lanes. The route continues to Radnor Township, which is part of the Philadelphia Main Line suburbs, reaching an interchange with US 30 west of Villanova. Stone monuments, including a large stone cairn atop a hill and a large crushed-stone image of a mythological griffin on a hillside, were constructed at the US 30 interchange to commemorate Radnor's history as part of the Welsh Tract. Proceeding northward, the road passes over SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line before it crosses under Amtrak's Keystone Corridor rail line.
The route enters Montgomery County and comes to an interchange with I-76 in West Conshohocken that also has access to PA 23. After crossing over Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line, the Schuylkill River, SEPTA's Manayunk/Norristown Line, and the Schuylkill River Trail on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, the freeway heads into Plymouth Township. In Plymouth Township, the route has interchanges with Ridge Pike and Chemical Road before passing over Norfolk Southern's Morrisville Line and reaching an interchange serving Germantown Pike and Plymouth Road in Plymouth Meeting. The entire length of the Blue Route is designated the Blue Route Scenic Byway, a Pennsylvania Scenic Byway.
Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension
In Plymouth Meeting, I-476 intersects the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the Mid-County Interchange, heading north from here as the turnpike's Northeast Extension. The route continues through the Philadelphia suburbs, passing over CSX's Stony Creek Branch rail line, and reaches an interchange with PA 63 west of Lansdale that serves the North Penn Valley region. Past this interchange, the route enters a more rural setting of woods and farms, narrowing to four lanes before crossing into Bucks County and coming to an interchange with PA 663 west of Quakertown. The Northeast Extension continues northwest into Lehigh County, part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, past the PA 663 interchange. The road passes over Norfolk Southern's Reading Line. The route has ramps to the dual-access Allentown Service Plaza in Upper Macungie Township, and, just north of it, I-476 reaches an interchange with US 22 west of Allentown, which offers an indirect connection to I-78 and PA 309.North of Allentown, the route crosses under Norfolk Southern's Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad line and runs through farmland with some development. The road passes under Blue Mountain in the Lehigh Tunnel and enters Carbon County in the Pocono Mountains region. Here, I-476 crosses over the Lehigh River and Norfolk Southern's Lehigh Line before it has an interchange with US 209 east of Lehighton. Continuing through mountainous areas, the route has ramps to the dual-access Hickory Run Service Plaza prior to coming to a diamond interchange with PA 903 in Penn Forest Township. Past here, I-476 cuts through Hickory Run State Park before reaching an interchange with PA 940 providing a connection to I-80 just to the north of the state park in Kidder Township.
The route continues through mountainous terrain, heading into Luzerne County at a crossing of the Lehigh River and coming to an interchange with PA 115 in Bear Creek that provides access to nearby Wilkes-Barre. The route comes to a toll gantry near Pittston at the former location of the Wyoming Valley Toll Plaza, which marked the northern end of the ticket system on the Northeast Extension prior to the implementation of open road tolling.
A short distance later, an interchange with PA 315 provides indirect access to I-81 and Scranton. Past this interchange, I-476 crosses under a Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway line before it enters Lackawanna County. Here, the route has a bridge over a Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway line and heads through built-up areas of the Wyoming Valley as it skirts around the east side of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, passing under I-81 before coming to a bridge over Norfolk Southern's Sunbury Line, the Lackawanna River, and a Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad line. I-476 reaches a toll gantry at the former location of an all-electronic toll plaza, and has an exit to Keyser Avenue in Taylor.
North of Scranton in Clarks Summit, the route crosses a valley on the, John E. Fitzgerald Memorial Bridge, passing over Norfolk Southern's Sunbury Line, US 6/US 11, and PA 407. Past the bridge, I-476 comes to a hairpin curve and reaches a mainline all-electronic toll plaza before it ends at an interchange with connections to I-81, US 6, and US 11. US 6 joins the turnpike for less than to connect between I-81 and US 11. As this is beyond the Clarks Summit toll plaza, no toll is collected on this short segment.
Tolls
The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike uses all-electronic tolling, with tolls payable by toll by plate, which uses automatic license plate recognition to take a photo of the vehicle's license plate and mail a bill to the vehicle owner, or E-ZPass. Tolls along the Northeast Extension, along with the mainline Pennsylvania Turnpike east of Reading, are collected through overhead gantries positioned in between exits., it costs a passenger vehicle $37.34 to travel the length of the Northeast Extension using toll by plate and $18.67 using E-ZPass.
Services
Emergency assistance and information
The Northeast Extension formerly had a call box every mile for its entire length. In September 2017, the turnpike commission began removing the call boxes due to increased mobile phone usage making the call boxes obsolete. Motorists may also dial *11 on their mobile phones. First responder services are available to all turnpike customers via the GEICO Safety Patrol program. The safety patrol program, which is free, looks for disabled motorists, debris, and accidents along the roadway and provides assistance. The patrol service is available 24 hours every day of the year. Each patrol vehicle covers a stretch of the turnpike. Towing services are available from authorized service garages located near the highway. Pennsylvania State Police Troop T patrols the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension. It has headquarters in Highspire and a substation along the Northeast Extension at Pocono.The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission broadcasts current roadway, traffic, and weather conditions via highway advisory radio transmitters at each exit. Broadcasts are available on 1640 kHz AM and can be received approximately away from each exit. The 511PA travel information service provides alerts, an interactive map, weather information, and traffic cameras to motorists. There are variable-message signs located along the roadway that provide information to motorists such as accidents, construction, weather, and traffic congestion.