I live in Philadelphia and I HATE driving the Schuylkill in either direction. I've been stuck in traffic at 2am! FIX THIS EXPRESSWAY! However, you do get a beautiful view of Boathouse row.
Very nice ride- my parents lived in Philly for five years and my old man like you- called the Schuylkill Expressway the Surekill- he did not like it when he had to use it! Very nice ride- and very fun to watch! Sorry about not watching right away- time gets away from me but this is a great vid- hence the like- happy journeys!
The western part of the commonwealth has some antiquated highways designated as interstates, namely I-70 between Washington, PA and New Stanton, and I-376 between Pittsburgh International Airport and the turnpike at Monroeville (runs through Pittsburgh).
Anyone else from literally ANYWHERE other than the state of Pennsylvania still scratching their heads as to how people live in Pennsylvania with how little capacity their suburban/urban freeways have? Very few freeway miles above 4 lanes wide and the only one routinely getting expanded is the freaking turnpike as opposed to 376, surekill, I-79 first thing past I-70, the other half of Harrisburg...
I'm from Sydney and we'd LOVE to have your expressway network. Our expressway network is complete shit (pretty much just 4 lanes everywhere you look) and almost every single one of them is tolled, many of them at almost $1/km (that's like $1.70 per mile for you Americans)
That highway was the reason why I always took public transportation you can go faster from Norristown to downtown Philadelphia on septa and you can driving during rush hour I get stuck on sure kill one time for 4 hours because of overturned car trying to get to the Philadelphia
The improvements on the Surekill were not in the 1970s, but in the mid to late 80s. As late as about 1986, the Surekill still had a very rough concrete surface as well as a shorter guardrail center barrier with a very rusty "chainmail" style headlight barrier on top. I don't think improvements were made to a whole lot in the Rizzo era of Philadelphia. In the early 80s the city was in a graffiti filled sad shape. It is actually considerably better now.
My father was in the Navy and stationed in Philly for a time in the 1960s. Anytime he mentions Philadelphia, he mentions the Surekill even after all these years.
My friend's grandfather designed the Schuylkill Expressway. The reason it is congested is because he wanted to make it 4 lanes going in both directions, but they wouldn't let him. So, he had to make it 2 lanes going in both directions.
4 lanes would have been ridiculous to engineer into that space tbh. Through the bluffs and center city you would have had to build into either the river or the tracks. Although I admire your grandfather's engineering and design skills I glad it isn't as wide as 95
@@arkitect156 Thank you. He needed it 4 lanes because in the 1940s and 1950s, the population in Philadelphia was beginning to grow and grow. Since the city is old, and the highway is old, it is hard to remodel the highway.
Expanding it wouldn't require any type of absurd engineering. A deep bore tunnel under 30th Street Station would be about 2,500 feet long and significantly smaller in scale than the Alaskan Way Viduct in Seattle. As far as double decking, that would only be for about two miles and would be in the Manaynk Bridge/Green Lane area where the highway is very constrained. As far as the cutout area through Gladwynne....there's a utility clearing on the other side of the river where they can put the whole highway if they wanted to. As far as the NE Corridor Bridge next to the zoo, the original plans had the highway splitting where the eastbound side would be elevated above Zoo Interlocking. All of these things combined would be much smaller in scale than the Big Dig in Boston was.....however it would still be too large of a project for PennDot to take on due to funding.
7:50 This section, all the way back to 30th street / I-676, was reconstructed 1982-1985. During that time, the Schuylkill was reduced to on lane in each direction.
The SureKill. Grew up driving on it. The best way to enjoy this under engineered roadway is to divert to the Parkway when downtown, go west from City Hall down the entire length of the Parkway, past the Art Museum onto East River Drive, then to Ridge Avenue through Manyunk. Rejoin the Expressway at the Belmont Avenue bridge. Its a beautiful drive. And as you leave the City of Brotherly Love, watch for the signs that say “Resume Hating”. Haha. Just kidding. Enjoy!
I really like this one! But I always thought the Mall of America in Minnesota was the largest mall in the USA. I guess not! Nice to see Philadelphia, there havn't been too many road videos of that city. How can I not love a city that's named after me? :-)
From that same point (where you headed for the Turnpike) I continued north to US 202 south (toward (eventually) any of the Paoli exits) during 1979-1980 - when I went to school in this area (specifically, just west of Paoli itself). Because the Blue Route was largely incomplete, I wound up having to (by necessity) use the Surekill to go to Philadelphia (such as to the Italian Market on Ninth Street during their Annual Festival - which I strongly suggest you do if the weather is good) Another reason that (unfortunately) that using the Surekill was mandatory was community opposition delayed the construction of I-95 from the airport north along the Delaware River - it would, in fact, become the most expensive highway project until Boston's "Big Dig" because of the cost of land acquisition. and would not be complete until after I graduated.
At least now you have google maps to see if the Schuylkill is backed up. Years back when I traveled from Conshohocken to south Jersey everyday you had to flip a coin. If you got on the ramp for 76E you were committed, you couldn't change your mind, you couldn't turn around. You get to the top of the ramp and if it was solid taillight you were in it for the duration. If I took the other route (near the main line, through some creeks etc.) it would be an extra 15 minutes and landed on Kelly drive. Before 676 to 95 was complete I had to go though the spring garden section, on one block the traffic would back up so I always drove down the sidewalk. I don't miss it. Now the whole 676 to 95 is pretty much moot, it's always solid packed.
I came here because i have to take this road in a few days. I figured it would make me less nervous to see how it looks like. Now I’m more nervous especially with the degenerates driving like that.
I remember on Thirtysomething there was mention of Surekill expressway. I would like the music better if the singer did not sound to be so muted, drowned out by everything else.
Amazing and professionally produced video, Rahul! I'll be watching this one a few more times tonight.
The Surekill Expressway looks absolutely terrifying in the downtown section. The merges remind of like FDR Drive but people are driving way faster.
The Schuylkill Expressway ends in my hometown, King of Prussia.
My cousin lives there, too!
I'm pretty sure the Schuylkill Expressway was outdated the moment it opened lol
I live in Philadelphia and I HATE driving the Schuylkill in either direction. I've been stuck in traffic at 2am! FIX THIS EXPRESSWAY! However, you do get a beautiful view of Boathouse row.
Fuck boathouse row and fuck Philadelphia.
What a shithole
@@md-md1748 you probably have a miserable life
Very nice ride- my parents lived in Philly for five years and my old man like you- called the Schuylkill Expressway the Surekill- he did not like it when he had to use it! Very nice ride- and very fun to watch! Sorry about not watching right away- time gets away from me but this is a great vid- hence the like- happy journeys!
Interstate 76 in downtown Philadelphia is scary + horrifying. The merges are dangerous especially when you are driving fast like a bullet.
I Like Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Why isnt this channel more popular
Josh Hader?
The western part of the commonwealth has some antiquated highways designated as interstates, namely I-70 between Washington, PA and New Stanton, and I-376 between Pittsburgh International Airport and the turnpike at Monroeville (runs through Pittsburgh).
Anyone else from literally ANYWHERE other than the state of Pennsylvania still scratching their heads as to how people live in Pennsylvania with how little capacity their suburban/urban freeways have?
Very few freeway miles above 4 lanes wide and the only one routinely getting expanded is the freaking turnpike as opposed to 376, surekill, I-79 first thing past I-70, the other half of Harrisburg...
I'm from Sydney and we'd LOVE to have your expressway network. Our expressway network is complete shit (pretty much just 4 lanes everywhere you look) and almost every single one of them is tolled, many of them at almost $1/km (that's like $1.70 per mile for you Americans)
@@FirstnameLastname-yr2ps Damn, that sucks. Surprising to hear from such a modern city as Sydney.
That highway was the reason why I always took public transportation you can go faster from Norristown to downtown Philadelphia on septa and you can driving during rush hour I get stuck on sure kill one time for 4 hours because of overturned car trying to get to the Philadelphia
Good points raised on the parallel Septa if that was improved service possibility of mitigation of congestion on the Surekill.
The improvements on the Surekill were not in the 1970s, but in the mid to late 80s. As late as about 1986, the Surekill still had a very rough concrete surface as well as a shorter guardrail center barrier with a very rusty "chainmail" style headlight barrier on top.
I don't think improvements were made to a whole lot in the Rizzo era of Philadelphia. In the early 80s the city was in a graffiti filled sad shape. It is actually considerably better now.
The road has "Variable Speed Limits" now. the speed can increase or decrease depending on the traffic volume.
My father was in the Navy and stationed in Philly for a time in the 1960s. Anytime he mentions Philadelphia, he mentions the Surekill even after all these years.
My friend's grandfather designed the Schuylkill Expressway. The reason it is congested is because he wanted to make it 4 lanes going in both directions, but they wouldn't let him. So, he had to make it 2 lanes going in both directions.
4 lanes would have been ridiculous to engineer into that space tbh. Through the bluffs and center city you would have had to build into either the river or the tracks. Although I admire your grandfather's engineering and design skills I glad it isn't as wide as 95
@@arkitect156 Thank you. He needed it 4 lanes because in the 1940s and 1950s, the population in Philadelphia was beginning to grow and grow. Since the city is old, and the highway is old, it is hard to remodel the highway.
Expanding it wouldn't require any type of absurd engineering. A deep bore tunnel under 30th Street Station would be about 2,500 feet long and significantly smaller in scale than the Alaskan Way Viduct in Seattle. As far as double decking, that would only be for about two miles and would be in the Manaynk Bridge/Green Lane area where the highway is very constrained. As far as the cutout area through Gladwynne....there's a utility clearing on the other side of the river where they can put the whole highway if they wanted to. As far as the NE Corridor Bridge next to the zoo, the original plans had the highway splitting where the eastbound side would be elevated above Zoo Interlocking. All of these things combined would be much smaller in scale than the Big Dig in Boston was.....however it would still be too large of a project for PennDot to take on due to funding.
It would be a beautiful drive if not the congestion yet marveled at the Manayunk Bridge which gracefully spans the Schuylkill River
7:50 This section, all the way back to 30th street / I-676, was reconstructed 1982-1985. During that time, the Schuylkill was reduced to on lane in each direction.
The SureKill. Grew up driving on it. The best way to enjoy this under engineered roadway is to divert to the Parkway when downtown, go west from City Hall down the entire length of the Parkway, past the Art Museum onto East River Drive, then to Ridge Avenue through Manyunk. Rejoin the Expressway at the Belmont Avenue bridge. Its a beautiful drive. And as you leave the City of Brotherly Love, watch for the signs that say “Resume Hating”. Haha. Just kidding. Enjoy!
I don’t drive this road to often but it is still on my top five of my most hated roads
I really like this one! But I always thought the Mall of America in Minnesota was the largest mall in the USA. I guess not! Nice to see Philadelphia, there havn't been too many road videos of that city. How can I not love a city that's named after me? :-)
The King of Prussia Mall is the largest in terms of retail space. Overall, the Mall of America may be larger.
The Mall of America was the biggest until the 2016 expansion to KoP knocked it off the #1 spot.
From that same point (where you headed for the Turnpike) I continued north to US 202 south (toward (eventually) any of the Paoli exits) during 1979-1980 - when I went to school in this area (specifically, just west of Paoli itself). Because the Blue Route was largely incomplete, I wound up having to (by necessity) use the Surekill to go to Philadelphia (such as to the Italian Market on Ninth Street during their Annual Festival - which I strongly suggest you do if the weather is good) Another reason that (unfortunately) that using the Surekill was mandatory was community opposition delayed the construction of I-95 from the airport north along the Delaware River - it would, in fact, become the most expensive highway project until Boston's "Big Dig" because of the cost of land acquisition. and would not be complete until after I graduated.
Most beautiful country in the world
The Schuylkill Expressway may be Philadelphia's first freeway, but it's also the busiest highway of Philadelphia.
Nice video...great songs.
I've always been intrigued by the name "King of Prussia". Prussia was the name of what is now the north of Germany until the 20th century.
Named after Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia.
At least now you have google maps to see if the Schuylkill is backed up. Years back when I traveled from Conshohocken to south Jersey everyday you had to flip a coin. If you got on the ramp for 76E you were committed, you couldn't change your mind, you couldn't turn around. You get to the top of the ramp and if it was solid taillight you were in it for the duration. If I took the other route (near the main line, through some creeks etc.) it would be an extra 15 minutes and landed on Kelly drive. Before 676 to 95 was complete I had to go though the spring garden section, on one block the traffic would back up so I always drove down the sidewalk. I don't miss it.
Now the whole 676 to 95 is pretty much moot, it's always solid packed.
I came here because i have to take this road in a few days. I figured it would make me less nervous to see how it looks like.
Now I’m more nervous especially with the degenerates driving like that.
Nice video!
I remember on Thirtysomething there was mention of Surekill expressway. I would like the music better if the singer did not sound to be so muted, drowned out by everything else.
I live here in the city
Do you have wisconsin video milwaukee
Road adventure, do or did u attend Rutgers?
No, I don’t/didn’t.
How I tin you Philadelphia soon we see you
I dare you calling the i76 a express way lol that two lane fake highway it’s always pack