U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania

West Virginia to Pittsburgh

US 30 presently crosses from West Virginia into Pennsylvania near Chester, West Virginia. It is a surface road from West Virginia to the U.S. Route 22 junction southeast of Imperial. There it joins the US 22 freeway, and then US 22/30 joins the Penn-Lincoln Parkway West (now part of extended Interstate 376) into downtown Pittsburgh.

Through Pittsburgh

US 30 currently passes through Pittsburgh on the Penn-Lincoln Parkway, crossing the Monongahela River on the Fort Pitt Bridge. This freeway was built from 1953 to 1962 as a bypass for both the Lincoln Highway and the William Penn Highway (U.S. Route 22). Besides US 30, it also carries US 22 and Interstate 376.

At a point beyond the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, at the southern end of PA Route 8, US 30 leaves the Parkway (which continues as I-376/US 22 to Monroeville).

Pittsburgh to Lancaster

Much of this section of U.S. 30 (and the Lincoln Highway) has been supplanted by the Pennsylvania Turnpike (which is Interstate 76 between the Ohio border and the Valley Forge exit). From the Pittsburgh area, US 30 heads east through Greensburg, where it intersects U.S. Route 119. It then heads into Somerset County, where it meets U.S. Route 219 east of Jennerstown.

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in an empty field approximately two miles (3 km) south of U.S. 30, in Stonycreek Township in Somerset County. The heroism of the passengers and crew apparently thwarted the hijackers' plan to crash into either the US Capitol Building or the White House in Washington D.C.. The entrance to the permanent Flight 93 National Memorial is along U.S. 30.

The route continues east into Bedford County, where it heads toward Bedford, the site of the route's intersection with U.S. Route 220 a short distance south of the southern beginning of Interstate 99 at the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange. Past Bedford, the route is four-laned and closely follows the Pennsylvania Turnpike, passing through Everett. It then passes through the town of Breezewood, Pennsylvania, where Interstate 70 traffic must still use a short non-interstate section of U.S. 30 to go between the turnpike (which is I-70/76 to the west of Breezewood and to the east of New Stanton) and I-70 going to Maryland.

The route then narrows back to two lanes climbs through the Allegheny Mountains as it passes through Fulton County, intersecting U.S. Route 522 in McConnellsburg. It then enters the scenic Cumberland Valley in Franklin County, where it passes through Chambersburg, crossing U.S. Route 11 and Interstate 81. The highway then crosses the South Mountain range through the Cashtown Gap and enters Adams County. West of Gettysburg, U.S. 30 follows much of the path of the old Chambersburg Turnpike (from Gettysburg to Cashtown), a route used by much of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg Campaign. The route serves as the main east–west artery through Gettysburg, traversing the northwestern portion of the Gettysburg Battlefield and also intersecting U.S. Route 15. Past Gettysburg, Route 30 travels through Guldens and New Oxford before entering York County.

Just west of York, Route 30 branches off Lincoln Highway (which here picks up at the start of PA 462) to bypass the downtown parts of the cities of York and Lancaster; it is briefly a freeway but then, continuing as 4-lane highway, reaches grade-level intersections in York. Several modifications to improve flow have been made in York but the route is still congested due to a series of traffic signals. It then becomes freeway again, and crosses the Susquehanna River on the Wright's Ferry Bridge into Lancaster County. Along the north side of Lancaster, US 30 intersects the eastern terminus of Pennsylvania Route 283, which heads to Harrisburg, and then shares a brief concurrency with U.S. Route 222. From 1997 to 2004 significant work was completed to the bypass around Lancaster. Just east of Lancaster, the freeway ends at the eastern end of PA 462; U.S. 30 goes back onto Lincoln Highway and continues on its way toward Philadelphia.

Lancaster to Philadelphia

U.S. 30 follows the route of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, the first long-distance, paved road built in the United States, between Lancaster and Philadelphia. Between the east end of the bypass around York and Lancaster and the west end of the Coatesville Bypass in Chester County, there is a large freeway gap between these two segments that is frequently congested. PennDOT is under study to improve this last remaining section. This section passes through Pennsylvania Dutch Country and is lined with many Amish tourist attractions. Between Sadsbury Township and East Whiteland Township, US 30 follows the limited-access Coatesville Bypass with U.S. Route 30 Business running along the former alignment through Coatesville, Downingtown, and Exton. Along the bypass, US 30 intersects U.S. Route 322 near Downingtown. At the east end of the bypass, it intersects U.S. Route 202 and heads east on Lancaster Avenue. The Exton Bypass portion of US 30 is designated the Exton Bypass Scenic Byway, a Pennsylvania Scenic Byway.

It then heads through the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia, so named as they were located along the Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line. Within this area, the route passes through northern Delaware County, intersects with Interstate 476 and passes through Villanova University in Radnor Township, then crosses into Montgomery County in Lower Merion Township (except for a few hundred yards where the road briefly re-enters Delaware County in Haverford Township) before entering Philadelphia.

Through Philadelphia

US 30 then crosses U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue) into Philadelphia. In the city, it makes a left turn onto Girard Avenue and meets U.S. Route 13 and Interstate 76 (Schuylkill Expressway) near the Philadelphia Zoo. US 30 then follows I-76 east and Interstate 676 (Vine Street Expressway) through Center City to the Ben Franklin Bridge, which carries I-676 and US 30 over the Delaware River into New Jersey.

History

The path of the Lincoln Highway was first laid out in September 1913; it was defined to run through Canton, Ohio, Beaver, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Ligonier, Bedford, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, York, Lancaster and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. This bypassed Harrisburg to the south, and thus did not use the older main route across the state between Chambersburg and Lancaster. From Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, this incorporated a number of old turnpikes, some of which still collected tolls:

This original 1913 path of the Lincoln Highway continued east from Philadelphia, crossing the Delaware River to Camden, New Jersey on the Market Street Ferry. The city of Philadelphia marked the route from the ferry landing west on Market Street through downtown and onto Lancaster Avenue to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike in early 1914. By 1915 Camden was dropped from the route, allowing the highway to cross the Delaware on a bridge at Trenton (initially the Calhoun Street Bridge, later the Bridge Street Bridge).

In 1924, the entire Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania was designated Pennsylvania Route 1. In late 1926 the route from West Virginia to Philadelphia (using the new route west of Pittsburgh) was assigned U.S. Route 30, while the rest of the Lincoln Highway and PA 1 became part of U.S. Route 1. The PA 1 designation was gone by 1929, but several branches from east to west - PA Route 101, PA Route 201, PA Route 301, PA Route 401, PA Route 501 and PA Route 601 - had been assigned by then. (PA Route 701 was assigned later as a branch of PA 101.)

Ohio to Downtown Pittsburgh

As defined in 1913, the Lincoln Highway ran east-northeast from Canton, Ohio to Alliance and east via Salem, crossing into Pennsylvania just east of East Palestine. From there it continued southeasterly to Beaver, crossing the Beaver River there and heading south along its left bank to Rochester and the Ohio River's right bank to Pittsburgh.

By 1915, the highway had been realigned to the route it would follow until the end of 1927. It ran east from Canton, Ohio to Lisbon and then southeast to East Liverpool on the Ohio River. After crossing into Pennsylvania, it turned north away from the river at Smiths Ferry, taking an inland route to Beaver, where it rejoined the Ohio River. It crossed the Beaver River into Rochester, joining the 1913 alignment, and turned south with the Ohio to Pittsburgh.

1915 Route

This route entered Pennsylvania along PA Route 68. After crossing Little Beaver Creek, it turned south on Main Street, passing under the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad (PRR) into Glasgow. After passing through that community on Liberty Street, the highway turned north and passed under the railroad again at Smiths Ferry, merging with Smiths Ferry Road. This alignment through Glasgow carried the Lincoln Highway until ca. 1926, when the present PA 68 was built on the north side of the railroad.

The Lincoln Highway left the banks of the Ohio River on Smiths Ferry Road, which includes an old stone bridge over Upper Dry Run. It turned east on Tuscarawas Road through Ohioville, entering Beaver on Fourth Street and turning south on Buffalo Street to reach Third Street (PA Route 68). By 1929 this inland Glasgow-Beaver route was numbered PA Route 168, while the route along the river, never followed by the Lincoln Highway, was PA 68.

Where PA 68 crosses the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad from Beaver into Bridgewater along Third Street and then the Beaver River on the ca. 1963 Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge, the Lincoln Highway instead ran along Bridge Street, just to the north, and crossed the Old Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge into Rochester.

Continuing through Rochester to Pittsburgh, the Lincoln Highway left the Old Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge on Madison Street, turning onto Brighton Avenue, and then crossing the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PRR) on New York Avenue. After running alongside the Ohio River on Railroad Avenue, the highway crossed the railroad again in Freedom (about a block north of Third Street), running through Freedom on Third Avenue.

South of downtown Freedom, Third Avenue merges into the Ohio River Boulevard, also known as PA Route 65, which runs along the old Lincoln Highway into Conway. There the old highway went onto First Avenue and State Street, rejoining PA 65 in Baden. Further into Baden, the old highway left PA 65 again, onto State Street, becoming Duss Avenue in Harmony Township. At the Ambridge limits, this becomes PA Route 989, but the old highway turned west at 14th Street and then south on Merchant Street.

Crossing Big Sewickley Creek from Ambridge, Beaver County into Leetsdale, Allegheny County, Merchant Street becomes Beaver Street, a brick road. Beaver Road and Beaver Street continues through Edgeworth, Sewickley, and Osborne, merging back into PA 65 at the border with Haysville. Sewickley officially changed the name of its piece to Lincoln Highway by an ordinance in January 1916, and Osborne, Edgeworth and Leetsdale soon followed suit, but that name is no longer used.

In Glenfield, the highway crossed the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway twice, once near the present overpass and again west of Toms Run Road. The old road next to the Ohio River, Beaver Street, is still a yellow brick road but now used only by local traffic.

The old road left PA 65 again in Emsworth as Beaver Road, becoming Brighton Road in Ben Avon before re-merging with PA 65. It splits yet again, also in Ben Avon, onto Brighton Road, another yellow brick road. In Avalon it is California Avenue, and in Bellevue it is Lincoln Avenue, coincidentally named after Lincoln soon after the U.S. Civil War.

The highway crosses into Pittsburgh on a high concrete arch bridge over Jack's Run, built in 1924 to replace an earlier bridge built for a streetcar line, and returns to the California Avenue name. It crosses Woods Run on a similar 1928 bridge next to a newer bridge built for the Ohio River Boulevard (PA Route 65). Where California Avenue curves away from PA 65, the Lincoln Highway continued next to it on Chateau Street, turning east on Western Avenue and then south on Galveston Avenue onto the 1915 Manchester Bridge to the Point.

During the time that the Lincoln Highway ran through Rochester, the Rochester-Pittsburgh segment was locally maintained. It was often foggy, and a July 1926 Lincoln Highway Association road report states that it was "paved city streets, mostly poor", in stark contrast to the good paving east of Pittsburgh. By 1924, reports recommended following an alternate on the other side of the river between Rochester and Pittsburgh. The route west of Rochester had similar problems; it was a dirt road, despite being a state highway. By 1922 an official detour was recommended via East Palestine, Ohio and Beaver, largely identical to the initial 1913 plan.

1927 Route

Work began in the mid-1920s on a new route to the south of the existing route, passing through West Virginia and bypassing the problematic sections on both sides of Rochester; the Lincoln Highway was moved to it December 2, 1927. This new route had already been numbered U.S. 30 in late 1926.

The new Lincoln Highway bypassed the community of Imperial on a bypass built for it. Just southeast of Imperial, the highway turned east on Steubenville Pike, joining what was U.S. Route 22 before the present U.S. 22/U.S. 30 freeway was built ca. 1964. Steubenville Pike runs along the north side of the freeway, crossing to the south side and then merging with it just west of the I-376 interchange. From the late 1940s to 1982, the appropriately-named Penn-Lincoln Drive-In Theater operated on a stretch of the original Lincoln Highway in North Fayette, just east of Imperial. It reopened for one season in 1985 as the Super 30 West Drive-In. The site is now occupied by Penn-Lincoln Shopping Center.

US 22 and US 30 joins I-376 and turns southeast, but the Lincoln Highway (and US 22/30 before the current I-376 opened in 1953) continued east with PA 60 through Robinson Township. In 1950, the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In Theater opened along the Robinson Township stretch, its name derived from the road's former designation of dual U.S. Route 22/30. Through Crafton, the highway used Steuben Street, Noble Avenue, Dinsmore Avenue, and Crafton Boulevard, now northbound PA 60. In Pittsburgh, the highway ran along Crafton Boulevard, Noblestown Road, and South Main Street, as PA 60 still does. It turned onto Carson Street (now PA Route 837) at the West End Circle, crossing the 1927 Point Bridge into the Point.

Downtown Pittsburgh to North Huntingdon

From 1915 to late 1927, the Lincoln Highway crossed the Allegheny River on the Manchester Bridge to the Point, touching down at the foot of Penn Avenue after meeting the Point Bridge. It made its way through downtown to Bigelow Boulevard (now PA Route 380), using Water Street, Liberty Avenue and Oliver Avenue. It continued to follow present PA 380 onto Craig Street and Baum Boulevard to East Liberty. The highway left East Liberty and Pittsburgh on Penn Avenue, the old Pittsburgh and Greensburg Turnpike, also now part of PA 380, and further east part of PA Route 8. (PA 380 however bypasses the center of East Liberty.)

The Boulevard of the Allies opened east from downtown Pittsburgh in 1923, and in 1924 it was designated as an alternate route. By 1930, this bypass ran along the Boulevard of the Allies, Forbes Avenue, Beeler Street, Wilkins Avenue and Dallas Avenue, rejoining the Lincoln Highway at Penn Avenue, west of Wilkinsburg.

Leaving the Pittsburgh area, the Lincoln Highway turned onto Ardmore Boulevard (now signed as PA 8 north of I-376, and U.S. 30 south of I-376). It then branched away from Ardmore Boulevard along Electric Avenue, turned northeast on Braddock Avenue, then east on Penn Avenue. The Lincoln Highway originally continued onto Airbrake Avenue and then turned south at 11th Street to cross Turtle Creek and the Pennsylvania Railroad main line over a bridge; a 1925 replacement bridge starts at the intersection of Airbrake Avenue, Penn Avenue, Monroeville Avenue, and Greensburg Pike. The Lincoln Highway then followed Greensburg Pike up to current U.S. 30.

In 1932, a bypass of the grades into and out of Turtle Creek, including the George Westinghouse Bridge, was opened. It runs along current U.S. 30 from the interchange with Electric Avenue in Chalfant to the intersection with Greensburg Pike in North Versailles.

The borough of White Oak had named their main street Lincoln Way in an attempt to convince the Lincoln Highway Association to use it, but instead the highway continued along Greensburg Pike through North Versailles.

A bypass of the section of US 30 in Gap was first proposed in February 2012. In 2015, a PennDOT project began to build a bypass to the north of Gap for westbound US 30 between the PA 772 and PA 41 intersections to improve traffic flow and safety at the congested intersection of US 30 and PA 41. The bypass, which cost $10 million, was opened on August 4, 2016.