Pennsylvania Roads - I-180/US 220/15

and I-180/US 220/15


My intro paragraph stated that I-180 was north-south for many years, probably because Williamsport is north of I-80, but I have no source for that assertion. As you'll see below, signs uniformly reflect the more east-west nature of the freeway. If it indeed happened, the change occurred decades ago, ameliorating a long (~14 mile) wrong-way concurrency with US 220, but the exit numbers have never been signed for an east-west road. As a result, we have the rare case of an EB roadway with decreasing numbering, even though having numbering begin at the parent I-80 isn't unheard of as a general practice. At its eastern end, I-180 transitions into PA 147, which stays a freeway (and then Super-2) for several more miles. With a bit of work, 147 could become a new piece of I-180, thus giving an excuse to finally properly number the highway. Then again, when I-99 pushes its way up I-180's dangling end in Williamsport (ooh, baby!), who knows what's going to happen (probably nothing, since it's the wrong end [ooh, baby!]).



The first EB exit on I-180, along with US 15 SB/US 220 NB, which is a very wrong-way multiplex indeed. The second photo is courtesy Doug Kerr; as you can see in my first photo, button-copy Maynard St. signs have been replaced as of 2006.


I tried my best to bring out the nonreflective sign to the left of this 3rd St. EB sign, but I don't remember what it was and I can't do anything to make the letters appear better.

The Exit 27 EB ramp sign, courtesy Doug Kerr.




I wonder why one US 220 BGS has a shield and none of the others of the same age on this page do. They all seem to date from the completion of the freeway. I believe the sign has been replaced, though (this one is courtesy Doug Kerr), so that just goes to show you. Show you what? I don't know. This exit is the only location of reflective-background button-copy signage on the highway.


Two more of Doug Kerr's photos, again because the signage has been replaced in this area recently.



This is Loyalsock Valley, near Loyalsockville. I'm guessing an early settler found that his laundry stayed on the line better here than in his fatherland? Or her laundry, and her fatherland? Her motherland?




First of all, there's an exit tab missing there (since the rest of them are all new, I'm assuming PennDOT missed it during the great recent renumbering). Secondly, this is where the old US 220 runs next to the new one. The US 15 bridge to South Williamsport has and has had a folded diamond interchange with old 220, forcing US 15 to briefly run on the old road until it can find a ramp onto I-180 and create a wrong-way multiplex. Basically, there is no direct freeway-15 connection.


On old US 220 SB, aka I-180's WB frontage road, aka US 15 NB, awaiting the onramp.


Construction is still going strong in 2008, as the original concrete roadway is almost done getting replaced with smooth new asphalt.


Another state-named shield survives on Hepburn St., EB Exit 27B, but proper sign design did not survive above it.


I-180 ends at the US 15/US 220 interchange, continuing straight as US 220 and ultimately returning to I-80 as a combination freeway, expressway, and arterial (which will eventually become I-99).
Onto US 220 alone
Onto US 15 alone


Exit 21 to PA 87
I-180 on Jeff Kitsko's pahighways.com
Back to Pennsylvania Roads
Back to Roads