Pennsylvania Route 54

Pennsylvania Route 54 is a state highway which runs for 70 miles (110 km) in eastern Pennsylvania. It runs from U.S. Route 209 in Nesquehoning, Carbon County in the east to U.S. Route 15, which is three miles (5 km) west of Montgomery, Lycoming County in the west. PA 54 meets up with Pennsylvania Route 61 in Ashland, running concurrent for a short distance through the community before splitting just outside of Ashland. PA 54 continues west towards Pennsylvania Route 901 at Merrian while PA 61 heads north towards Centralia. Prior to the current route, highways 54 and 61 were concurrent and went on the current route of 61 through Centralia and Mount Carmel. Now it goes due west from Ashland and meets and concurs with route 901 westbound. After a several mile concurrency, route 901 bears left towards Excelsior outside of Shamokin, while route 54 continues straight ahead. 54 and 61 intersect again in the village of Strong. The road then goes up Second Mountain through the village of Natalie. After going down and up another smaller hill, the road intersects with Pennsylvania Route 487 in Elysburg. The highway then crosses the north branch of the Susquehanna River and into the borough of Danville on Factory Street and Continental Boulevard (separated by Mahoning Street). Shortly after, it turns into an at-grade intersection four-lane highway crossing Pennsylvania Route 642 just before its interchange with Interstate 80. Right before Washingtonville it crosses Pennsylvania Route 254. Next it joins Pennsylvania Route 44 coming from the southeast and has a brief concurrency until the roads split off in Turbotville. Route 54 continues straight ahead, while Route 44 turns left. The road crosses the Susquehanna Trail and immediately arrives at its Interstate 180 interchange. It then meets Pennsylvania Route 405 in Montgomery and finally ends near Allenwood at the intersection with U.S. Route 15.

Major intersections

History

Centralia branch of PA 54/61

Because of the underground coal mine fire in Centralia, the original branch of Routes 54 and 61, which went from Centralia to Ashland, has been permanently closed because the road has severely opened up and buckled extensively. This branch was repaired in 1983 for $500,000; then in 1992 it was deemed too expensive to repair again. In 1994, the branch was permanently closed.

PA 54 used to run concurrent with PA 61 through Centralia but was rerouted along Pennsylvania Route 901 and three quadrant routes in 1999, completely bypassing Centralia. Nowadays, only PA 61 goes through Centralia while PA 54 now goes directly from Ashland to Mount Carmel Township along the aforementioned alignment via PA 901. The road signs for PA 54 were removed from Centralia several years ago.

Routes 54 and 61 meet up again at an intersection just outside of Mount Carmel.

FYI

• Although signed east-west, at least half of PA 54 goes north-south, which mirrors PA 61 (signed north-south, but going mainly east-west)
• There are two instances where PA 54 leaves and enters the same county. It enters Montour County very briefly after leaving Elysburg then goes back into Northumberland County. After crossing the Susquehanna River, it re-enters Mountour county until it crosses a county-line road into Northumberland County again right before Turbotville.
• PA 54 clips the southwest corner of Columbia County between Ashland and Mount Carmel
• PA routes 54 and 61 meet in two separate occasions
• Before the new bridge was built between Riverside and Danville Route 54 went on an old truss bridge just to the east of the current bridge. After that, it ran on Mill street, then briefly concurred with US 11 until it intersected with Continental Boulevard and then turned on right on there.

References