The Airport Connector is a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in the

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

, area in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It begins at

Harrisburg International Airport Harrisburg International Airport is a public airport in Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Middletown, Pennsylvania, nine miles (15 km) southeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. It is owned by the Susquehanna Area Regional ...

and runs north to Pennsylvania Route 283 (PA 283). There is one intermediate interchange with PA 230. The highway is one of only two freeways in Pennsylvania with no posted route number (the other being the

President Biden Expressway The President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Expressway, commonly referred to as the President Biden Expressway, and formerly known as the Central Scranton Expressway, is a short freeway southeast of downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, Scranton in the U.S. st ...

). In the Location Referencing System, it is designated State Route 3032 by the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

. In 2021, the freeway gained the name Airport Road.

Route description

The Airport Connector begins at the entrance to

in Lower Swatara Township,

Dauphin County Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth ...

, where the roadway continues south to loop around the terminal. Past the airport, the road passes over

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

's Royalton Branch and

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Keystone Corridor The Keystone Corridor is a 349-mile (562 km) railroad corridor between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that consists of two rail lines: Amtrak and SEPTA's Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg main line, which hosts SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale ...

railroad lines before immediately reaching a

partial cloverleaf interchange A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...

with PA 230. From this point, the four-lane freeway heads north-northeast through wooded areas adjacent to homes and farms, crossing over the

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for across the state. The turnpike's we ...

(

I-76 Interstate 76 may refer to: Interstate Highways in the United States * Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska) * Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey), running through Pennsylvania Video gaming * ''Interstate '76 ''Interstate '76'' is a vehicular ...

) without an interchange as it curves north-northwest. The freeway passes more areas of farms and woods before it reaches its terminus at a

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

with PA 283. The interchange also provides partial access between PA 283 and PA 441, but the Airport Connector has no connection to the latter route.

History

With the opening of PA 283 in 1972 and the completion of new terminals at Harrisburg International Airport the following year, a need was determined to provide a direct connection between the two, as the airport was not served by the area's freeway system. Construction began in 1974 and the connector opened to traffic in 1977.

Exit list

References

External links

Roads in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area Limited-access roads in Pennsylvania Freeways in the United States {{Pennsylvania-road-stub

Route description

History

Exit list

See also

References

External links