# Interstate 279

Interstate 279 (I-279), locally referred to as Parkway North, is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway that lies entirely within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Its southern end is at I-376 at the Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh, and the north end is in Franklin Park at I-79. It primarily serves at the main access route between Pittsburgh and its northern suburbs.

## Route description

The southern terminus of I-279 is at I-376 in Downtown Pittsburgh. It runs concurrently with U.S. Route 19 Truck (US 19 Truck) from its southern terminus to exit 4. (US 19 Truck continues on I-376 west.) I-279 crosses the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River, providing easy access to Heinz Field and PNC Park. I-579 intersects I-279 but is only accessible by southbound traffic; likewise, traffic from I-579 can only head northbound on I-279 by the I-279 Interchange. I-279 features two reversible high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes), which begin in and near downtown and end at exit 5, an interchange with US 19. The road becomes more suburban and rural as it continues to head north. It has two additional interchanges, Bellevue/West View and Camp Horne Road. After Camp Horne Road, there are no exits until its terminus five miles (8.0 km) later. The Interstate terminates at its parent, I-79. Like the interchange with I-579, this is also a partial interchange. Traffic on I-279 is only permitted to exit northbound on I-79, while only traffic heading southbound on I-79 can exit on to I-279 south.
The section from exit 1B to exit 2B is also known as the North Shore Expressway.

## History

I-279 was first proposed in 1958 to run along what is now I-79 between the current I-376 in Carnegie and the current I-279 in Franklin Park. On October 2, 1972, its route was swapped with I-79, putting I-279 onto its current route, although only the downtown portion and the Fort Duquesne Bridge were built at the time.
In 1973, the designation was extended from downtown over Parkway West (what is now I-376) to I-79. This section became part of I-376 in 2009, and the I-279 signs were taken down there.
I-279 from Fort Duquesne Bridge to its current northern terminus in Franklin Park was approved on June 4, 1975, but constructed from 1985 to 1989, opening in its entirety with a Governor Bob Casey Sr. ribbon-cutting on September 16, 1989. From 1997 to 2003, various ramps, the Fort Pitt Bridge, and nearby tunnels were reconstructed. A direct connection from I-279 south to I-376 east was opened in 2002.
A tragedy occurred on the reversible HOV lanes in 1995 when a negligent highway worker failed to close the outbound gates, leading to a head-on collision that killed six. In 2006, to help prevent a repeat of this incident, automatic ""fast-acting" gates" were activated at the southern entrances to these HOV lanes in Downtown Pittsburgh.

### Unearthed cemetery

During the last phases of construction of I-279 in 1987, a long-forgotten cemetery dating from the 19th century was unearthed near the site of the current I-279/I-579 split. Archeologists spent four months exhuming the graves for cultural studies at the Smithsonian Institution, putting the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) significantly behind schedule. It was determined that the graves belonged to Swiss and German immigrants that were members of a local church located next door to the cemetery in what was then Allegheny City, with 727 graves buried at the 0.5-acre (0.20 ha) site between 1833 and 1861. The graves were forgotten about by 1911 when the church did an addition to the building and had the foundation unintentionally go through about 15 graves, with the churchyard housing the cemetery later becoming a parking lot in 1950. Aside from a pair of stillborn twins, none of the graves were identified, and archeologists were unable to find any living descendants due to the obscurity of the cemetery. The remains were reburied with one marker at the church's current cemetery in the Troy Hill section of Pittsburgh in 2003 after the Smithsonian Institution finished studying them; the congregation itself disbanded in 1984 after PennDOT bought the church property via eminent domain for I-279 and only had 21 members at that point. Today, it is the largest number of 19th century graves (Native American graves notwithstanding) ever studied archeologically in the US.

## Exit list

The entire route is in Allegheny County.
| Location | mi | km | Old exit | New exit | Destinations | Notes |
| Pittsburgh | 0.000 | 0.000 | 86A | – | I-376 (US 22 / US 30 / US 19 Truck south / Fort Pitt Bridge) – Downtown Pittsburgh, Monroeville, Pittsburgh International Airport | Southern terminus; southern end of US 19 Truck concurrency; exit 70C on I-376 |
| Pittsburgh | 0.313 | 0.504 | 106C | 1A | Fort Duquesne Boulevard – Convention Center, Strip District | Southbound left exit and northbound entrance |
| Pittsburgh | 0.236– 0.496 | 0.380– 0.798 | Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River | Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River | Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River | Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River |
| Pittsburgh | 0.494– 0.803 | 0.795– 1.292 | 11A / 127A | 1B | North Shore | Left exit northbound; no northbound entrance; southern end of HOV lane |
| Pittsburgh | 0.494– 0.803 | 0.795– 1.292 | 11B / 127B | 1C | PA 65 north (Ohio River Boulevard) to US 19 | Left exit and entrance northbound; US 19 not signed southbound; southern terminus of PA 65 |
| Pittsburgh | 1.020 | 1.642 | 137C | 1D | PA 28 north / Chestnut Street / Ohio Street – Etna | Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| Pittsburgh | 1.098 | 1.767 | – | ♦ | 9th Street | Southbound left exit and northbound entrance |
| Pittsburgh | 1.237 | 1.991 | – | ♦ | I-279 south (US 19 Truck south) | Southbound exit only |
| Pittsburgh | 1.677 | 2.699 | – | ♦ | PPG Arena | Southbound left exit and northbound entrance |
| Pittsburgh | 1.845 | 2.969 | 148A | 2A | I-579 south (Veterans Bridge) | Northern terminus of I-579; southbound exit and northbound entrance |
| Pittsburgh | 1.910 | 3.074 | 158B | 2B | To PA 28 / East Ohio Street | Southbound exit and northbound entrance; exit originally designated as East Street until December 2017 |
| Pittsburgh | 2.903 | 4.672 | 169 | 3 | Hazlett Street | Northbound exit and entrance |
| Pittsburgh | 3.834 | 6.170 | 1710 | 4 | East Street | Southbound exit and entrance; exit originally designated as Venture Street until December 2017 |
| Pittsburgh | 4.081 | 6.568 | 1811 | 4 | US 19 Truck north (McKnight Road) / Evergreen Road | Northern end of US 19 Truck concurrency; northbound exit and southbound entrance HOV: northbound exit and southbound left entrance |
| Ross Township | 5.469 | 8.802 | 1912 | 5 | US 19 (Perrysville Avenue) | HOV: northbound left exit and southbound left entrance |
| Ross Township | 5.535 | 8.908 | Northern terminus of HOV lanes | Northern terminus of HOV lanes | Northern terminus of HOV lanes | Northern terminus of HOV lanes |
| Ross Township | 7.304 | 11.755 | 2014 | 7 | Bellevue, West View | |
| Ohio Township | 8.410 | 13.535 | 2115 | 8 | Green Belt (Camp Horne Road) | |
| Franklin Park | 13.307 | 21.416 | 20 | – | I-79 north – Erie | Northern terminus; exit 72 on I-79 |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi HOV only Incomplete access |||||||
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Sequential exit number before replaced with milepost-based exit number
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Milepost-based exit number from former southern terminus at I-79
* 1 2 Northbound
* 1 2 Southbound