Aerial photo for reference:http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.956234,-75.148705&spn=0.003783,0.010986&t=k&z=17 (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.956234,-75.148705&spn=0.003783,0.010986&t=k&z=17)
I've read that a better connection was once planned and canceled, but I'm curious as to why a direct connection from EB I-676 to the bridge couldn't have been done. It doesn't look like it would be that hard; just a little grade adjustment and take away two of the current WB lanes approaching N 7th.
The reason for there being no direct connection between the Vine Street Expressway and the Ben Franklin Bridge is that the city balked at more of Franklin Square being destroyed for the sake of an interchange. Although PennDOT doesn't consider 676 going over the bridge anyway.
I'd like to piggyback a question on this thread: Had the current configuration been implemented in the 1960's instead of waiting till the 1990's, would the gap be on I-76 itself (the way it had been) instead of I-676? Or would I-76 have been moved to its present alignment, creating two routes (676 and 176)?
The gap would be on I-76, but PennDOT would have probably moved it anyway to keep the Schuylkill one designation.
Traffic at the Ben Franklin Bridge Approach Studied (http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20090523_Traffic_at_Ben_Franklin_approach_in_Phila__studied.html)
The final solution engineers want is a $120 million flyover ramp between the bridge and I-676, but changes in traffic patterns will be implemented in the mean time.
Something that seems a bit ambiguous: by "a ramp" do they mean one that will carry traffic in both directions or just from the bridge (which seems to be the focus)?