Pennsylvania Route 299


Pennsylvania Route 299 is a state highway located in Erie County in Pennsylvania. The route is the designation for the Staff Sergeant Jeremy R. Horton Memorial Bridge that carries Powell Avenue over two railroad lines in Millcreek Township. PA 299 was designated in 1930 between US 20 and PA 99, which is now PA 5 Alternate, running along Powell Avenue. In 2006, the current bridge over the railroad tracks was built. In 2011, all of PA 299 was decommissioned except for the Staff Sergeant Jeremy R. Horton Memorial Bridge, and is no longer signed as a traffic route. The section of Powell Avenue north of the bridge was realigned in 2012 as a result of runway expansion at Erie International Airport.

Route description

PA 299 begins at the south end of the Staff Sergeant Jeremy R. Horton Memorial Bridge in Millcreek Township, where the road continues south as locally maintained Powell Avenue to an intersection with US 20. The bridge runs past industrial areas before carrying the route over Norfolk Southern's Lake Erie District railroad line followed by CSX's Erie West Subdivision railroad line. At the north end of the bridge, the PA 299 designation ends and Powell Avenue continues north as a local road to Erie International Airport, where the road bypasses the runway to the east as 20th Street and Marshall Drive. Past the runway, Powell Avenue resumes at Oxer Road and intersects PA 5 and PA 5 Alt. before continuing several more blocks to the Lake Erie shoreline.

History

When Pennsylvania legislated routes in 1911, what would become PA 299 was not given a number. PA 299 was established in 1930 as a spur of PA 99 running south to US 20 on Powell Avenue. PA 99 ran on what is now PA 5 Alternate. Upon designation, the entire length of PA 299 was paved. In 2006, the Powell Avenue Bridge was replaced with the Staff Sergeant Jeremy R. Horton Memorial Bridge. In 2011, the entire length of PA 299 with the exception of the Staff Sergeant Jeremy R. Horton Memorial Bridge was removed from the state highway system. Between 2010 and 2012, the runway at Erie International Airport was expanded, forcing Powell Avenue to be relocated around it.

Major intersections