Skip to main content

Interstate 70 at Kammerer Construction Photos

A few weeks ago in response to my post about the early construction of Interstate 70 in Southwestern Pennsylvania, I received a handful of photos from Randy Metz of the construction of the highway at the Kammerer exit which is now Exit 31.  These photos which date from the mid-1950s show the conversion of an at-grade intersection of then Alternate PA 71 and McIlvanie Road to an interchange. 

Alternate PA 71 was known as the "Express Highway" that gave Mid-Mon Valley towns a direct link to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in New Stanton.  This highway would be added to the Interstate Highway System as Interstate 70S in 1960 and changed to Interstate 70 in 1964.  When the four-lane highway was originally built, it was built as a mix of interchanges and at-grade intersections.  These intersections were either replaced with overpasses or slowly converted to interchanges in the late 1950s.

Mr. Metz's family still resides and operates a farm nearby.  He was kind enough to share these photos that show the early history of one of Western Pennsylvania's busiest highways.

Image courtesy Randy Metz
This photo shows the construction of the overpass that carries McIlvanie Road over the highway.  What is now Exit 31 on Interstate 70 is just beginning to take place.  The Carlton Motel was already in business and was served via a driveway that was at grade with the highway.  It also appears that Alternate 71 ended here temporarily.

The Carlton Motel was built by the Carl family and opened in 1953 and would expand from seven to 25 rooms by 1960. (1)

Image courtesy Randy Metz
The large tree in this photo was removed to make way for what would be the offramp from westbound I-70.  That again is the Carlton Motel in the background.  After the interchange was built, the motel's driveway in the first photo was moved to the westbound offramp.  When the motel added a restaurant in 1960,  the odd driveway off the exit ramp was removed.

Image courtesy Randy Metz
The color photo show some of the various dump trucks that were used in the highway's construction.  As a result of building the new highway, the Metz Family farm would be spilt in two as the state needed 26 acres of their property for the right of way.   The family did get a 7' x 7' tunnel under the highway connecting the split properties and allowing cattle and tractors to go from one side of the Interstate to the other.

cardcow.com
This old postcard shows the Carlton Motel and Restaurant along with Interstate 70 sometime in the 1960s.  This shows how substandard the Interstate highway was 50 years ago.  The center median was a 6-inch wide x 4-inch high raised curb.  In addition, it appears that the outside shoulders were not paved. 

Site Navigation:

Comments

Malibu72 said…
A "turnpike" design, largely modeled after the first turnpike, the 1940 Pennsylvania, later I-76. These substandard roads, state of the art for their time, were grandfathered into the Interstate System. Worst features were the narrow median and lack of consistent shoulders, as well as abrupt on and off ramps, where stop signs were sometimes utilized.
Anonymous said…
They just razed the former Cartlon motel building about a year or so ago. Last time I was thru the restaurant is still standing but the actual restaurant has ceased operations at that site and is now located in nearby downtown Bentleyville.

Popular posts from this blog

The 1915-era Teilman Bridge (the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge in California)

The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade.  This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman.  Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga.  The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough.  Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade.  The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding.  From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga.   The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the  1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...

The Dummy Lights of New York

  A relic of the early days of motoring, dummy lights were traffic lights  that  were  placed  in the middle of a street intersection. In those early days, traffic shuffled through busy intersections with the help of a police officer who stood on top of a pedestal. As technology improved and electric traffic signals became commonplace, they were also  originally  positioned on a platform at the center of the intersection. Those traffic signals became known as  " dummy lights "  and were common until  traffic lights were moved  onto wires and poles that crossed above the intersection.  In New York State, only a handful of these dummy lights exist. The dummy lights  are found  in the Hudson Valley towns of Beacon and Croton-on-Hudson, plus there is an ongoing tug of war in Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley, where their dummy light has been knocked down and replaced a few times. The dummy light in Canajoharie is currently...

Prunedale Road (Monterey County)

Prunedale Road is a short 2.6-mile-long frontage corridor of US Route 101 in the namesake Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Prior to 1932 US Route 101 bypassed Prunedale in favor of the San Juan Grade to the east.  Prunedale Road along with nearby Moro Road served as an alternative connecting highway between Salinas and San Juan Bautista.  Following the realignment of US Route 101 onto the Prunedale Cutoff the former through route along Prunedale Road would be rendered as a western frontage.   Part 1; the history of Prunedale Road Prunedale Road is located in and is named after the Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Said community was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley.  Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers.  The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908.  Early agricu...