page_title: Interstate 476
section_title: Northeast Extension
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 476 / Route description / Northeast Extension
caption_attribution_description: A standard guide sign on I-476.
context_page_description: Interstate 476 is a 132.1-mile auxiliary Interstate Highway of Interstate 76 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania designated between Interstate 95 near Chester and Interstate 81 near Scranton, serving as the primary north–south Interstate corridor through eastern Pennsylvania. It consists of both the 20-mile Mid-County Expressway, locally referred to as the "Blue Route", through the suburban Philadelphia-area counties of Delaware and Montgomery, and the tolled, 110.6-mile Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike connecting the Philadelphia metropolitan area with the Lehigh Valley, the Poconos, and the Wyoming Valley. The Blue Route 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 Interstate 76 in West Conshohocken, Interstate 276 in Plymouth Meeting, U.S. Route 22 near Allentown, and Interstate 80 near Hickory Run State Park.
context_section_description: Beyond the Mid-County Interchange, Interstate 476 enters the Pennsylvania Turnpike system, interchanging with Interstate 276 and continuing north as the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The route continues through the Philadelphia suburbs and has an interchange with Pennsylvania Route 63 near Lansdale that serves the North Penn Valley region. Past this interchange, the route enters a more rural setting of woods and farms, crossing into Bucks County and coming to an interchange with Pennsylvania Route 663 near Quakertown. The Northeast Extension continues north into Lehigh County, part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, past the PA 663 interchange. Here, it has a ramp to the dual-access Allentown Service Plaza in Upper Macungie Township, and just north of it, I-476 interchanges with U.S. 22 (Lehigh Valley Thruway) near Allentown, which offers an indirect connection to Pennsylvania Route 309 and Interstate 78.
  North of Allentown, the route runs through more farmland before passing under the Blue Mountain in the Lehigh Tunnel and entering Carbon County in the Pocono Mountains. Here, I-476 crosses over the Lehigh River and interchanges with U.S. 209 near Lehighton. Continuing through mountainous areas, it has an E-ZPass-only exit for Pennsylvania Route 903 and cuts through Hickory Run State Park before interchanging with Interstate 80 and Pennsylvania Route 940 just to the north of the state park. The route continues through mountainous terrain, heading into Luzerne County and coming to an interchange with Pennsylvania Route 115 in Bear Creek that provides access to nearby Wilkes-Barre. The route comes to a toll barrier near Pittston that marks the northern end of the toll ticket system in the Northeast Extension. A short distance later, an interchange with Pennsylvania Route 315 provides indirect access to Interstate 81 and Scranton. 
  Past this interchange, I-476 enters Lackawanna County and crosses built-up areas of the Wyoming Valley as it skirts around Scranton, with a mainline all-electronic toll plaza, where tolls can be paid with E-ZPass or toll-by-plate, and an exit to Keyser Avenue. North of Scranton in Clarks Summit, the route crosses a valley on the 1,630-foot-long (500 m), 163-foot-high (50 m) John E. Fitzgerald Memorial Bridge, comes to a hairpin curve, and ends at an interchange with connections to I-81, US 6 and US 11. US 6 joins the turnpike for less than ¹⁄₄ mile (0.40 km) to connect between I-81 and US 11. As this is beyond the Clarks Summit all-electronic toll plaza, no toll is collected on this short segment.
caption: I-476 northbound approaching exit 44 (PA 663 in Quakertown).
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A540", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:12:17 13:25:11", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2942", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:12:17 13:25:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:12:17 13:25:11", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "277/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "149/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "149/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "18353/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1600", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1200", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2824", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "64000/9", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1200000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}