Skip to main content

The Abandoned New Stanton Interchange Ramps

Image
By
For nearly 50 years, the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange with Interstate 70 and US 119 in New Stanton has been a rather free-flowing double trumpet, grade separated interchange between the two freeways.  But for the first 23 years of the turnpike, this interchange was vastly different.  It was the only non-trumpet interchange within the system (excluding termini points) and featured very tricky and gridlock causing left turns within the interchange.  (See image on right).  With the birth of the Interstate Highway System in the mid-1950s, new freeways were built and in many cases the Turnpike kept the original interchange using local roads to connect to the new freeways.  Interchanges with what would become I-81, I-176, I-80, I-70 in Breezewood, and I-79 were left with the original design.

Meanwhile in the 1950's, the state began building a freeway that ran from New Stanton west towards Washington.  This freeway, signed PA 71, was built to connect those in the industrial Mon Valley to the Turnpike.  Opened to the Turnpike by 1959, the amount of traffic using this interchange increased substantially.  It was in October of 1963 that the PTC began a construction project that would cost $1.6 million to completely replace the interchange.  A little over a year later on November 12, 1964, the new New Stanton interchange officially opened to traffic. (1)  This was the first turnpike interchange to be completely replaced, and it also was the first interchange that was reconfigured to provide direct Interstate-to-Interstate traffic.

For years, the were still remnants of the old interchange configuration left.  However, over the past two decades Turnpike mainline widening, construction and tie in to PA Turnpike 66, and the modernization of Interstate 70 in New Stanton has slowly removed pieces of what once was.  In 2003, Bernie Newman captured a number of photos showing the remnants of the old New Stanton interchange.  His photos are below.


The original eastbound New Stanton offramp (Bernie Newman)
A long view of the eastbound offramp.  It is amazing the condition of these old ramps after nearly 40 years.  (Bernie Newman)
The onramp onto the eastbound lanes of the Turnpike.  Recent construction of a new viaduct has created an elevation change from where the onramp would have met the highway.  (Bernie Newman)


The on-ramp to the Turnpike comes at you in this photo.  (Bernie Newman)
A wider shot showing both eastbound ramps.  The ramps are curving to go underneath the Turnpike.  (Bernie Newman)

A ground shot of the surprisingly in good condition pavement used for the ramps.  (Bernie Newman)
Along US 119, the ramps are also found.  Construction of the current New Stanton interchange and the later addition of a connection to PA Turnpike 66 has over time overtaken the ramps to US 119 and the former toll facilities.  (Bernie Newman)
Site Navigation:
Sources & Links:
  • (1) Cupper, Dan. "The Pennsylvania Turnpike: A History.  55th Anniversary Edition."  Lebanon, PA: Applied Arts, 1995. 38-39.
  • Bernie Newman
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

By
Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California.  According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932.  US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley.  LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes.  The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...
3 comments
Read more

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

By
Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...
Post a Comment
Read more

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

By
California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...
Post a Comment
Read more