Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River, from the top of Mount Washington.


NB button copy on the north shore of the Allegheny River.


Why would the 9 be trying to leave this otherwise excellent state-name shield? It's on Ohio St. WB at Madison Ave., the way from PA 28 SB to I-279 NB.


Southbound, with the same mysterious "North Shore" patch job as the first NB photo on the "south of Pittsburgh" page, all courtesy John Krakoff. The strange thing is, as new as these signs are, even those with button copy, they all use the old sequential exit numbering scheme. (Well, as you can see from the I-579 shield, that's not the only thing wrong.) These should have been 8A, 7B, and 7A by now. When a highway has several A, B, and C exits in a row (4-8 all have at least two lettered exits), you know it has been around a long time.


Here is the correct (new) exit number. New or old, the numbers still don't fit in the shields, and almost all of them are bubbly instead of proper (see the 279 shield in the last photo, which is the same assembly as John K.'s, for "proper").

East St. NB at I-279 Exit 9.


NB at the East St. Bridge, more properly called the E. H. Swindell Bridge because East St. actually passes under it, and now the main road underneath is I-279. The "gateway to the north" was constructed in the 1930's when the only road in the valley was East St.


The Charles St. EB approach to the Swindell Bridge passes under Maple Ave. first. I-279 and East St. are so far down that Charles St. has to sink down in order to pass just somewhat ridiculously high over it instead of very ridiculously high.


Details of the bridge, showing that the railing here is the same as on the Maple Ave. overpass. The abandoned (light?) pole is on the east end of the bridge, Essen St., which is where the original brick pavement is also located.


Looking north from the Swindell Bridge, with East St. hidden by the trees on the right. That's the half-interchange of Exit 9.


Looking south from the bridge at Pittsburgh.

Follow I-279 south of Pittsburgh (now I-376)
Back to I-279 main page

Exit "11" to PA 65
To PA 885
Exit 7C or 8B to PA 28
Exit 8A to I-579
Back to Pennsylvania Roads
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