Vine Street Expressway

Another "missing-link" that was completed in 1991, Interstate 676 has had a long and varied history.  The earliest section to be built of this Interstate was, of course, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge then named the Delaware River Bridge.  Construction began on January 6, 1922 and was completed on July 1, 1926.

After the opening of the bridge, Vine Street became an important east-west route through the city.  It became so busy that in 1930, the Philadelphia City Council recommended an elevated expressway be built along that right-of-way.  In 1945, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission proposed a depressed six-lane expressway along Vine Street, complete with service roads, stone-arch overpasses, and landscaping similar to a New York City parkway.  The cost of this project would run an estimated $26 million.  In 1949, the Department of Highways approved this plan, and work to widen the existing Vine Street began to allow the construction of the expressway.

In 1950, the Philadelphia Planning Commission laid out the path of the expressway.  The entire length would feature 12-foot-wide lanes:  three in each direction.  Eight-foot-wide shoulders, a four-foot-wide median with a reflectorized curb, 14-foot minimum clearances, and a design speed of 50 MPH.  From 18th Street to Broad Street, the expressway would have one-way service roads with two-lanes in each direction on either side of the highway.  Construction began in 1957 and was completed on June 30, 1959.

Even as work was getting underway on that section, planners were looking to the future.  In 1957, the Department of Highways began conducting feasibility studies on extending the expressway from Broad Street to Sixth Street and the Ben Franklin Bridge.  When the study was concluded, the eastern extension to the bridge was recommended.  The design would be a depressed six-lane expressway with one-way service roads on either side.  Public meetings on the expressway plan occurred in March 1966.

With the start of the 1970s, changes in legal guidelines for construction of Interstates began to take their toll.  In July 1973, the Federal Highway Administration ruled that any highway project approved prior to 1971 were subject to re-evaluation.  In November 1973, the FHWA determined that a new environmental impact statement was required because previous studies neglected air and noise, as well as other impacts from the expressway.  In 1977, PennDOT and the FHWA released the revised environmental impact statement for the Vine Street Expressway.

Even though the EIS was approved by the Federal Highway Administration, dirt did not start to fly.  Another decade of hearings and design revisions would continue until 1986, when Governor Robert Casey revived the project.  Some changes were made to the original plan to get the Interstate completed.  Four 12-foot-lanes were built from 18th Street to 10th Street with 12-foot shoulders, elevated ramps from the expressway to the Ben Franklin Bridge were not constructed so as not to mar the aesthetics of Franklin Square where Ben Franklin made his discovery of electricity, but a directional-T interchange was built at Interstate 95.

Proposed connection to the Ben Franklin Bridge, which was not built because of the impact to Franklin Square. (University of Pennsylvania Archives)

Cross-sections of the layout of the Vine Street Expressway. (University of Pennsylvania Archives)

Finally, this section was completed on January 10, 1991, with the Interstate 95 connector opening a month later, at a cost of $225 million.  But is Interstate 676 really finished?  Some beg to differ because the PennDOT maps show the blue Interstate stripe missing the Ben Franklin Bridge entirely and ending at Interstate 95.  Although, NJDOT maps have Interstate 676 from the bridge to I-76 in southern New Jersey and the Delaware River Port Authority considers the bridge a part of the Interstate.  To keep a consistency on both sides of the Delaware River, both Departments of Transportation place the designation on signs leading to the bridge.

I-676's path, indicated in purple, through Philadelphia.  (USGS)

Links:
Exit Guide
Interstate 676 Ends
Interstate 676 Pictures
Interstate 680 (Decommissioned)
E-ZPass - Delaware River Port Authority
Benjamin Franklin Bridge - Delaware River Port Authority
Benjamin Franklin Bridge - Independence Hall Association
Benjamin Franklin Bridge - Steve Anderson
Highway Feature of the Week-Interstate 676 - Michael Koerner
I-676 Interchange Browser - Tim Reichard
I-676 Vine Street Expressway - Scott Kozel
I-676 Vine Street Expressway Pictures - Alex Nitzman
Interstate 676 - Andy Field/Alex Nitzman
Interstate 676 - Scott Oglesby
Interstate 676 Pictures - Steve Alpert
Interstate 676 Pictures - Andy Field/Alex Nitzman
Interstate 676 Pictures - Eric Stuve
Vine Street Expressway - Steve Anderson

INFORMATION

Western Terminus:	I-76 at Exit 344 in Philadelphia.
Eastern Entrance:	New Jersey state line at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia.
Length:	2 miles
National Highway System:	Entire length
Name:	Vine Street Expressway
SR Designation:	SR 0676
County:	Philadelphia
Multiplexed Routes:	US 30:  Entire length
Former Designations:	I-80S  (1957 - 1958) I-895  (1958 - 1960) I-80S  (1960 - 1963):  Schuylkill Expressway to PA 611 I-76  (1963 - 1974):  Schuylkill Expressway to PA 611
Emergency:	911
Traffic Conditions:	I-76 to I-95 (Eastbound) I-95 to I-76 (Westbound)