Here and at top are typical Philadelphia route markers, the first one on 4th St. SB at Lombard St. There is a "hidden" video with this page: The Vine St. Expressway east through Philadelphia. (Note: I am not so stupid as to reduce "4/10", a strange instance of fractional mileage that could actually be reduced to a lower fraction, to the "2/10" that I say. Please know I meant to say "2/5", which is still a strange distance.)
5th St. (NB) tunnels under I-676, leaving the onramp to the Ben Franklin Bridge (US 30 EB) on the surface, where it meets Race Street in these photos. The old Old Christ Church sign and the "Bridge Traffic Only" are on the left fork of 5th St.; the center fork goes into the tunnel and the right fork is for the U.S. Mint.
4th St. SB at I-676, with no tunnel.
Here's an obvious video, driving into Philadelphia on the Ben Franklin Bridge. Technically, the bridge itself is only US 30, and there are two discontiguous pieces of I-676 in PA and NJ. If the bridge were ever tied into the Vine Street Expressway with true high-speed ramps, it is likely those two pieces would be connected, but right now, I-676 technically follows the "ramps" to I-95 instead. All of I-676 is US 30 (unless it's the aforementioned ramps), but it's often not signed as such.
Coming off the Ben Franklin Bridge with photos instead of video. Note in the first photo that there are little circles at the upper left, which hint to me that this was once an 8-laned bridge (the similar Walt Whitman and Commodore Barry Bridges also have 8 pairs of circles covered over).
Westbound photos of the depressed freeway (the eastbound video is linked above and below) that took decades to complete under and inside Vine Street. I-676's exits are unnumbered because they're so close together, but all the BGS's are relatively new, and this part of the highway is even newer than that (east of Broad Street wasn't completed for some time). Thus it's a mystery why there's no 611 shield on the exit sign.
16th St. NB with a strangely non-reflective shield - maybe not so strange when you consider it has the state name on it. Clearly, it's old and merits replacement - and relocation to my wall.
Continuing EB and taking the exit to the Ben Franklin Bridge. It's odd to see so much green space just for the sake of the signs looking equal. As I said, while this may be signed I-676 for continuity, the Interstate stayed up on the Vine Street Expressway, and technically this is just US 30. "6th Street" using the wrong letter height is compounded by the same sign having the correct letter heights on the next line up.
WB on the official I-676, from I-95 into downtown.
Onto the bridge I left at the top of the page, headed into New Jersey past off-spec signs with bubble shields and then great old button copy.
and US 30
