Interstate 376 - History

History

The first section of what would eventually become I-376 opened June 5, 1953, from PA 885 (Bates Street) near the Hot Metal Bridge east through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel to US 22 Business (then US 22) at Churchill. The next section to open, running from PA 60 (Steubenville Pike, then US 22/US 30) near Pittsburgh International Airport east to Saw Mill Run Boulevard (PA 51 and US 19), opened October 15, 1953. At Steubenville Pike, it connected to PA 60—the Airport Parkway—which had been built ca. 1950 as a high-speed surface road to provide access to the airport.

In late 1956, it opened from the Boulevard of the Allies (then US 22/US 30) near the Birmingham Bridge east to Bates Street, with the eastbound lanes opening September 10 and westbound opening September 29. The other downtown sections opened in 1958 and 1959. The Fort Pitt Bridge opened June 19, 1959, followed by the Fort Pitt Tunnel on September 1, 1960, using the West End Bypass (Pennsylvania Route 51) and Carson Street (Pennsylvania Route 837) as detours until the Fort Pitt Tunnel opened. The extension east to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Monroeville opened October 27, 1962. The final piece, from PA 60 west to the US 22/US 30 split at Imperial, opened in 1964. Early plans for that section would have instead taken it from PA 60 where it splits with PA Route 60 Business northwest to US 30 near Campmeeting Road at Clinton.

The next section that opened was in 1968 from the present-day exit 2 with PA 18 and where PA 18 intersects with the present-day PA 760 just north of I-80 and the western terminus of I-376.

Work began on the Beaver County sections of I-376 (in between Chippewa Township and the Airport Parkway) in 1971 and would finish by 1976. The following year, the northern section finished construction, which would leave a gap between New Castle and Chippewa Township for the next 15 years. Until the middle section was completed, in order to continue on the highway, travelers had to use US 422, PA 168, PA 18, PA 251, and PA 51 before returning to the highway. Until that section opened, the present-day exit 12A marked the southern terminus of the northern section of PA 60 as an "END 60" sign was located near the exit.

The next leg of the route opened to PA 108 in 1991 and to PA 51 in Chippewa in 1992 as the "missing link" between two sections of PA 60, when that route's designation was on the highway. The aforementioned "END 60" sign was removed when the first leg of the middle section opened in 1991, and a "No re-entry this exit" sign has sat on the site since, due to exit 12A being an indirect connection to US 422 westbound without a direct re-entry ramp.

The Southern Expressway, which opened in 1992, is the newest portion of I-376, and also has the distinction of being the last freeway to open in the Pittsburgh area that was not a toll road.

The PTC retrofitted E-ZPass lanes on the tolled section of I-376 in 2006 at both the two mainline toll plazas as well as the exits that collect tolls. The 2012 cash toll rates for passenger cars are $.90 at the exits & the Mainline East Toll Plaza 30, and $1.60 at the Mainline West Toll Plaza 18; E-ZPass users pay $1.33 at the Mainline West Toll Plaza 18 and $.67 for the remaining toll booths. As part of Act 44, tolls are to be increased every year on January 1.