Interstate 78 - Definition and Overview

Interstate 78 is an interstate highway in the eastern United States. It runs from Bordnersville, Pennsylvania in the west to New York City in the east.

Length

Major Cities Along the Route

• Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Newark, New Jersey
• New York City, New York

Intersections with other Interstates

• Interstate 81 in Bordnersville, Pennsylvania
• Interstate 95 in Newark, New Jersey

Spur Routes

• New York City, New York - I-278, I-478, I-678, I-878

Notes

• In New Jersey, I-78 forms the Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike. Between the end of the Turnpike and the Holland Tunnel, I-78 continues for five blocks on 12th and 14th streets of Jersey City, New Jersey. This section of I-78 has traffic lights; I-70 and I-78 are the only two main-line interstate highways with this feature. Originally, I-78 was going to cross Manhattan as the Lower Manhattan Expressway, but those plans were halted due to a combination of public outcry and cost.

• None of I-78's spurs actually intersect it. A 7.2 mile (11.6 km) gap exists in Union County, New Jersey between I-78 and I-278. I-478 is the route number for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which carries traffic to and from Lower Manhattan. At 0.72 miles (1.2 km), I-878 is the shortest three-digit interstate in existence; it is unsigned, though there are signs for New York State Route 878. (I-395 in Maryland is the shortest signed three-digit interstate -- see Interstate 95.)

• I-278 goes through four of New York's five boroughs--Manhattan is the only one not entered by it.

• I-678 carries motorists from the Bronx to Queens along the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge and into the John F. Kennedy Airport.

• I-378 was a spur off the original alignment of I-78, which ran along US 22 north of Allentown and Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. However, a new I-78 was built south of the cities, and I-378 was downgraded to a similar-numbered state route.

• In the future, I-78 may continue along U.S. Highway 22 from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and ultimately, to Interstate 77, and maybe even Interstate 70. If it had happened, it would form a corridor between New York City, New York and Columbus, Ohio.

• In the opening of all episodes of the popular HBO series The Sopranos, Tony Soprano is shown driving his car through a toll-booth on I-78 onto the New Jersey Turnpike.

Sources

• 2005 Rand McNally Road Atlas
• NJDOT (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/) Straight Line Diagrams