page_title: Interstate 476
section_title: Northeast Extension history
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 476 / History / Northeast Extension history
caption_attribution_description: Northbound Interstate 476 (Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension) at the E-ZPass only exit for Pennsylvania Route 903 in Penn Forest Township.
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: In 1953, an extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike from the mainline near Plymouth Meeting north through Northeastern Pennsylvania to the New York border near Binghamton was proposed. Groundbreaking for the Northeastern Extension occurred on March 25, 1954 in White Haven, with Governor John S. Fine and commission chairman Thomas J. Evans present. The Northeast Extension was planned to run from the mainline Pennsylvania Turnpike in Plymouth Meeting north to a temporary terminus at Scranton. In April 1954, $233 million in bonds were issued to build the  Northeastern Extension along with the Delaware River Bridge on the mainline Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Northeast Extension was built with a 4-foot (1.2 m) median in order to save money. Due to the mountainous terrain it passed through, a large amount of earthwork was necessary to build the road along with the construction of large bridges. Among the bridges built was the 1,630-foot-long (500 m) Clarks Summit Bridge (since renamed for John J. Fitzgerald, Turnpike engineer and superintendent) over US 6/US 11, which was the tallest bridge on the Pennsylvania Turnpike system at 135 feet (41 m). The Northeast Extension also included the two-lane Lehigh Tunnel through Blue Mountain. The tunnel was originally going to be named for commission chairman Evans, but was changed when he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the commission of $19 million (equal to $145,685,629 today).
  The roadway opened between Plymouth Meeting and the Lehigh Valley interchange near Allentown on November 23, 1955. The highway was extended north to Emerald on December 28, 1955. The Northeast Extension was opened between Emerald and Wyoming Valley on April 1, 1957. The entire length of the Northeast Extension was finished on November 7, 1957 with the completion of the northernmost part between Wyoming Valley and Scranton. The part of the Northeast Extension between Scranton and the New York border would not be built as part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike system but rather the Interstate Highway System as I-81. At the northern terminus, the Northeast Extension narrowed to two lanes along the northbound off-ramp at Scranton to come to its northern terminus, with an abandoned short spur of the mainline heading north. A pair of trumpet interchanges were built to connect the Northeast Extension and I-81. In 1974, the roadway would be designated PA 9.
  When it first opened, traffic on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike was light. By the 1970s, traffic along the roadway would increase with the completion of the connecting I-80 and the rising popularity of the Poconos as a vacation destination. As a result, the two-lane Lehigh Tunnel faced serious congestion. Plans were made to either bypass the tunnel or add a second tube. The turnpike commission decided it would build a second tunnel as the cost was lower than building a bypass. In 1988, a $37 million contract was awarded to build the second tube. Groundbreaking for the tunnel took place on February 14, 1989, with Governor Robert P. Casey in attendance. Excavation of the new tunnel began in July of that year. Construction of the second tube utilized the New Austrian Tunnelling method, which reduced the cost of the tunnel by $5 to $6 million. It was the first tunnel in the United States to use this construction method. The second tube at Lehigh Tunnel opened on November 22, 1991, with Governor Casey in attendance leading a line of antique cars. Construction of the tunnel cost $45 million. The new tube is used for southbound traffic while the original tube carries northbound traffic. The newer tunnel is wider, higher, and brighter than the original.
  On February 1, 1995, the Keyser Avenue interchange near Scranton was slated to open at a cost of $22.4 million. Construction of this interchange also involved constructing a new mainline flat-rate toll barrier near the new interchange.
  On November 1, 1996, the Northeast Extension was added to the Interstate Highway System as an extension of I-476, replacing the PA 9 designation along the road. The addit
caption: I-476 northbound at the E-ZPass-only exit for PA 903 in Carbon County
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