Gribblenation

This complex of interchanges connecting Bigelow Boulevard, Crosstown Boulevard (I-579), Ft. Duquesne Blvd., and I-279 was close enough to a reality that guide signs on Crosstown Boulevard included exits that were never built. (1) As a kid, I delivered papers - The McKeesport Daily News and The Pittsburgh Press.  Walking my route, I would read both papers.  I recall reading in the Press about a guide sign on the Boulevard of the Allies ramp onto Crosstown Boulevard/Interstate 579 mentioning an interchange for Fort Duquesne Boulevard - an exit that didn't even exist.  I was correct - in the Sunday, August 4, 1991, edition of The Pittsburgh Press , a column by Brian O'Neill went over the sign.  The error was brought to his attention by a reader, Larry Melberg.  The full length of the I-579 had been open for almost three years - yet on the ramp from the Boulevard onto 579 there was an overhead sign listing Downtown Exits.  The list included the exit for 7th Ave...

A recent Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article takes a look back at Pittsburgh residents who were relocated when I-279 was built in the 1980s. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_502658.html Building the East Street Valley Expressway or "Parkway North" was nearly a thirty year struggle between the Commonwealth and area residents. In 1999, James Broadbent, who acquired property for PennDot, wrote Right-of-Way Man and has numerous stories of those who were affected by the new highway. It's quite possible that those in the Trib's story dealt with Mr. Broadbent over 20 years ago. Interstate 279 History ---Jeff Kitsko

....thirty years later. PennDot opened bidding on the construction of two "missing" ramps at the I-79/Parkway West (I-279/US 22/30) interchange (Exits 59A-B) in suburban Pittsburgh. I say "missing" because these ramps were not planned for in the original construction of the highway in the 1970s. The missing ramps are from I-79 South to US 22/30 West and US 22/30 East to I-79 North. Construction should start this fall and the ramps should open in 2009. When the interchange was constructed in the early 1970s, I-79 actually was planned to actually take the ramp from I-79 onto the inbound Parkway West (I-279 North). I-279 would continue straight on what is now I-79 North today. But that changed when I-79 and 279 switched alignments in 1972. Anyways, the thinking at the time was that connections from I-79 South to the Airport and from the Airport to I-79 North could be done via PA 60 -- then a rural two lane road -- and connecting at what is now Exit 60. The hop...