Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article/June 2007

The Schuylkill Expressway is a freeway through southeastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 in the state of Pennsylvania. It extends from the Valley Forge exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in King of Prussia, paralleling its namesake Schuylkill River for most of the route, to the Walt Whitman Bridge in South Philadelphia. It serves as the primary corridor into Philadelphia from points west. Constructed over a period of ten years from 1949 to 1959, a large portion of the expressway predates the 1956 introduction of Interstate Highway System; many of these portions were not built to contemporary standards. The rugged terrain and limited riverfront space covered by the route has largely stymied later attempts to upgrade or widen the highway, despite the road being highly over-capacity; it has become notorious for its chronic congestion. The Schuylkill Expressway is the busiest road in Philadelphia, as well as in the entire state of Pennsylvania.