Pennsylvania Route 8

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PA Route 8

Length:

148.58 mi^[1] (239.12 km)

Formed:

1926

South end:

I-376/US 22/US 30 in Pittsburgh

Major
junctions:

PA 28 in Pittsburgh

I-76/PA Tpk in Hampton Twp.

US 422 near Butler

I-80 near Barkeyville

North end:

US 20 in Erie

Counties:

Allegheny, Butler, Venango, Crawford, Erie

Pennsylvania State Routes
< PA 7		PA 9 >
Minor - Legislative

Pennsylvania Route 8 is a major 148 mile long route in western Pennsylvania. Officially, PA 8 is named the William Flinn Highway. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 376, U.S. Route 22, and U.S. Route 30 in Pittsburgh. Its northern terminus is U.S. Route 20 in Erie.

1 Route description
2 History
3 Major intersections
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Route description

Communities
Wilkinsburg Pittsburgh Etna Glenshaw Gibsonia Butler Franklin Oil City Titusville Hydetown Centerville Riceville Bloomfield Tillotson Union Township Union City Amity Township Wattsburg Venango Township Lowville Robinson Corners Greene Township Bogus Corners Hammett Millcreek Township Erie

[edit] Pittsburgh to Interstate 80

The southern terminus of PA 8 is at an interchange with I-376, US 22, and US 30 east of downtown Pittsburgh. The route, running along Ardmore Boulevard, Penn Avenue and Washington Boulevard, heads west from I-376 and runs through the eastern districts of the city. PA 8 has intersections with Pennsylvania Route 380 and Pennsylvania Route 130 prior to crossing the Allegheny River and exiting Pittsburgh.

Route 8 is a major street in downtown Butler.

North of the bridge that crosses the Allegheny River, PA 8 meets Pennsylvania Route 28 at an interchange. Eight miles north of Pittsburgh, PA 8 intersects Interstate 76 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike at exit 39. In Middlesex Township, PA 8 runs concurrent with Pennsylvania Route 228 for two miles. In Butler, PA 8 crosses Connoquenessing Creek on the General Richard Butler Bridge then runs with Pennsylvania Route 356 through downtown on South Main Street.

North of the city of Butler, PA 8 meets U.S. Route 422 at an interchange. About 12 miles east of Slippery Rock, PA 8 meets Pennsylvania Route 528 and Pennsylvania Route 173. In the Moraine State Forest, PA 8 meets Pennsylvania Route 108. In the town of Harrisville, PA 8 intersects Pennsylvania Route 58 (Grove City Harrisville Road). A few miles north of the Butler-Venango county line, PA 8 meets Interstate 80 at exit 29 near Barkeyville.

[edit] Mae West Bend

About 1/2 mile north of the interchange of PA 28 (in the borough of Etna) is a very sharp and hazardous curve, known to Pittsburghers as "Mae West Bend". The site of numerous accidents over the years, this curve has recently been widened by razing the deteriorating buildings along the inner edge of the curve and digging out the mountainside so that two lanes ran in each direction throughout the curve (Southbound travellers previously had to merge left on the curve as the right lane ended).

[edit] I-80/PA 8 Interchange

The General Assembly of Pennsylvania designated the I-80/PA 8 interchange in Venango County as the Louis A. Magnano Interchange, named for the owner of the Blue Bird Bus Company, on September 30, 1996, per Act 1996-126, as approved in Senate Bill 1220 and introduced in the 1995 session in House Bill 1962.

[edit] Interstate 80 to Erie

Two miles north of I-80, PA 8 becomes a limited-access highway. The expressway is nine miles long and has only two exits, one of which serves as the northern terminus of Pennsylvania Route 308. North of the expressway, PA 8 is called Pittsburgh Road. South of Franklin, PA 8 merges with U.S. Route 62, beginning a 10 mile concurrency with the route. In Franklin, PA 8 and US 62 meet U.S. Route 322 in the city center. The routes form a short, half-mile concurrency through the city before splitting near the Allegheny River. North of US 322, PA 8 and US 62 begin to parallel the Allegheny River. West of downtown Oil City, the concurrency with US 62 ends. US 62 crosses the Allegheny and runs south of the city before turning north towards the Allegheny National Forest and New York. PA 8, however, continues into Oil City, where PA 8 meets Pennsylvania Route 8 Business, the first of two auxiliary routes of PA 8, at Center Street. While PA 8 Business heads into Oil City, PA 8 runs west of the city along the former routing of Pennsylvania Route 8 Bypass, rejoining PA 8 Business at North Seneca Street north of town.

North of Oil City, PA 8 is named Oil City-Titusville Road. In the city of Titusville, PA 8 meets Pennsylvania Route 27 and the southern terminus of Pennsylvania Route 89 at the intersection of Franklin Street and Central Avenue. PA 8 forms a concurrency with PA 27 westward along the one-way streets of Central Avenue and Diamond Street before splitting at Spring Street.

In Riceville, PA 8 intersects Pennsylvania Route 77. Five miles north of PA 77, PA 8 enters Erie County. In Union City, PA 8 merges with U.S. Route 6 for a half-mile through downtown. Just north of the split with US 6, PA 8 meets the southern terminus of the northern segment of Pennsylvania Route 97. PA 8 passes by a dry lake called Union City Lake south of Wattsburg, where it merges with Pennsylvania Route 89. The two routes run concurrent to one another through Wattsburg, where PA 8 and PA 89 meet the western terminus of Pennsylvania Route 474, to the Venango Township community of Lowville, where PA 8 breaks from PA 89, taking a more westerly routing than PA 89. PA 8 is named Wattsburg Road between Lowville and the Erie city line.

1.5 miles southeast of Erie, PA 8 interchanges with Interstate 90 at exit 29, which shows a sign for Parade Street (northbound) and Hammett (southbound).

In the city itself, PA 8, as Pine Avenue, meets the northern terminus of Old French Road (PA 97) a mere 700 feet south of its northern terminus at U.S. Route 20. PA 97 and PA 8 effectively join to become Parade Street, which continues north to Front Street, just south of the Bayfront Parkway.

[edit] History

PA 8 was first signed in 1926 from West Virginia to Erie. South of Pittsburgh, PA 8 followed the current U.S. Route 19 alignment from the West Virginia state line to Canonsburg, as well as the present Pennsylvania Route 50 alignment from Bridgeville to Crafton. The West Virginia-Pittsburgh segment was decommissioned in 1930.^[2]

In 1934, construction began on PA 8 between the Allegheny-Butler county line and Three Degree Road. This segment opened in 1935. Later, in 1958, construction commenced on the segment from Grant Avenue to Pennsylvania Route 28 in Etna. In that same year, the route was widened and a median was installed from Franklin to Reno. The Grant Avenue-PA 28 segment was completed the following year. In 1961, PA 8 from the end of the Richard C. Frame Memorial Highway at Interstate 80 to Franklin was upgraded with a median, and, in 1968, the section from Reno to Oil City had a median installed as well.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

In 1973, construction began on the section of expressway from Pennsylvania Route 308 in Pearl to the northern end of the present expressway south of Franklin in Venango County. That same year, the southern terminus of PA 8 was moved from West Carson Street in Pittsburgh to Pennsylvania Route 28 in Etna. In 1974, construction began on the remainder of the expressway from the present southern end at Wesley to PA 308. The highway was completed in 1976. In 1977, the southern terminus was moved to its current location from PA 28 in Etna. In 1979, the route was realigned onto what was then PA 8 Bypass (Main Street) to bypass downtown Oil City. PA 8 Bypass, initially signed in 1941, was decommissioned while the former routing in PA 8 in Oil City became Pennsylvania Route 8 Business.^[7]

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile^[1]	Destinations	Notes
Allegheny	Wilkinsburg	0.00	I-376/US 22/US 30 (Penn-Lincoln Parkway)	Exit 8 (I-376)
	Pittsburgh	2.45	PA 380	Southern terminus of concurrency.
		2.76	PA 380	Northern terminus of concurrency.
		4.98	PA 130 (Allegheny River Boulevard)	Western terminus of PA 130.
	Etna	7.11	PA 28	Exit 5 (PA 28)
	Hampton Township	16.17	I-76/PA Turnpike	Exit 39 (Butler Valley)(I-76)
	Richland Township	17.83	PA 910
Butler	Middlesex Township	22.58	PA 28	Southern terminus of concurrency.
	Middlesex Township	24.27	PA 28	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Butler	34.42	PA 356	Southern terminus of concurrency.
	Butler	34.69	PA 68/PA 356	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Butler Township	36.02	US 422	Interchange.
	Center Township	37.48	PA 308	Southern terminus of PA 308.
	Clay Township	43.84	PA 138	Western terminus of PA 138.
	Brady Township	47.05	PA 528	Northern terminus of PA 528.
	Brady Township	47.08	PA 173	Southern terminus of PA 173.
	Mercer Township	52.87	PA 108	Eastern terminus of PA 108.
	Harrisville	55.84	PA 58
Venango	Irwin Township	59.95	PA 208
		60.84	I-80	Exit 29 (I-80)
		66.15	PA 308	Interchange. Northern terminus of PA 308.
	Franklin	75.90	US 62	Southern terminus of concurrency.
		77.38	US 322	Southern terminus of concurrency.
		77.80	US 322	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Oil City	85.34	US 62/PA 428	Northern terminus of US 62/PA 8 concurrency. Southern terminus of PA 428.
	Cornplanter Township	88.71	PA 227	Southern terminus of PA 227.
	Oakland Township	93.58	PA 417	Northern terminus of PA 417.
Crawford	Titusville	100.70	PA 27/PA 89	Southern terminus of PA 8/PA 27 concurrency. Southern terminus of PA 89.
	Titusville	101.12	PA 27	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Hydetown	103.45	PA 27	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Bloomfield Township	113.85	PA 408	Eastern terminus of PA 408.
Erie	Union City	122.13	US 6	Southern terminus of concurrency.
		122.78	US 6	Northern terminus of concurrency.
		122.93	PA 97	Southern terminus of PA 97.
	Amity Township	130.59	PA 89	Southern terminus of concurrency.
	Wattsburg	131.11	PA 474	Western terminus of PA 474.
	Venango Township	132.69	PA 89	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Millcreek Township	145.10	I-90	Exit 29 (I-90).
	Erie	148.44	PA 97	Northern terminus of PA 97.
	Erie	148.54	US 20