Pennsylvania Route 290

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PA Route 290
Length:	9 mi[1] (14 km)
Formed:	Spring 2006[2]
West end:	I-79/PA 5 in Erie
Major junctions:	US 20 in Erie
East end:	I-90/PA 430 in Harborcreek Township
Counties:	Erie
Pennsylvania State Routes < PA 288 PA 291 > Minor - Legislative

Pennsylvania Route 290 (PA 290) is a 9-mile (14 km) long state highway located entirely in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at Interstate 79 and Pennsylvania Route 5 in the neighborhood of Dock Junction. The eastern terminus is at Interstate 90 and Pennsylvania Route 430 southeast of downtown in Belleview Heights.

The route is one of the newest in the Pennsylvania state highway system. After being signed in the spring of 2006, PA 290 held the distinction of being the newest state route until Pennsylvania Route 576 opened near Pittsburgh on October 11, 2006.

PA 290 is one of only a handful of routes to terminate at both ends concurrent with a different route at each end.

[edit] Route description

Northbound I-79 signpost shows Exit 183 includes PA 290.

PA 290 officially begins at I-79 exit 183, less than a quarter of a mile from where I-79 terminates at the Bayfront Parkway. After exiting the off-ramps, PA 290 embarks on a concurrency with PA 5 eastward through downtown Erie on 12th Street, passing south of Louis J. Tullio Arena and Jerry Uht Ballpark in the heart of downtown. At the Bayfront Connector, an extension of the Bayfront Parkway that opened on June 17, 2005,^[4] PA 290 breaks from PA 5 and turns to the east onto the Connector.

As part of the Bayfront Connector, PA 290 interchanges with U.S. Route 20 a mile from PA 5 prior to following the Connector out of the city.

Roughly a mile northwest of I-90, the Connector passes north of Penn State Behrend and merges into PA 430, creating a concurrency between PA 290 and PA 430. The two routes remain conjoined to I-90 exit 32, where PA 290 terminates on the southeast side of the interchange.

The highway was formed in order to create a high-speed loop for traffic between I-90 and I-79, which begins at the end of the Bayfront Parkway, as well as to help promote the 12th Street corridor as a viable alternate route to the congested Bayfront Parkway.^[1]

[edit] History

The PA 290 designation was first assigned to what is now Pennsylvania Route 447 in 1928. In 1964, PA 290 was decommissioned, giving way to PA 447.

The current PA 290 is the second-newest signed route in Pennsylvania, behind PA 576 but ahead of Pennsylvania Route 424, posted in 2000.

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile	Roads intersected	Notes
Erie	Erie		I-79/ PA 5	Western terminus of concurrency. Exit 183 (I-79). Northern terminus of I-79.
			PA 5	Eastern terminus of concurrency.
			US 20
	Harborcreek Township		PA 430	Western terminus of concurrency.
			I-90/ PA 430	Eastern terminus of concurrency. Exit 32 (I-90).

[edit] References