PA 896 joins the Lancaster area with northern Delaware along a vastly rural 33.6 mile route. The state route begins at Smoketown (PA 340) just north of U.S. 30, where the two converge at the east end of a heavily commercialized strip that includes Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park and Tanger Outlet Center. South from there, PA 896 heads to Strasburg, which the home of the Strasburg Railroad and Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. There the route takes Historic Drive, a bypass completed in 2009, to avoid Downtown and a previous overlap with PA 741.
South of Strasburg, PA 896 is rural with the exception of segments through settlements such as Georgetown and New London. Motorists taking this roadway will often encounter Amish horse and buggies as the route travels across farm fields and over Mine Ridge. Once in Chester County, the route remains virtually the same, though the Amish presence disappears as PA 896 heads south of U.S. 1 and suburbia becomes more prominent. South of Strickersville, the state route enters the northeastern corner of Maryland before entering Delaware along New London Road. Delaware continues the 896 numbering to Newark, Summit Bridge, Middletown and Boyd's Corner, where the multi state route concludes at U.S. 13.
Pennsylvania Route 896 Guides
 scenes |
 | When the Strasburg Bypass opened on November 17, 2009, PA 896 was relocated from portions of Georgetown Road and Decatur Street and a 0.4 mile overlap with PA 741 along E Main Street. This left Georgetown Road as a dead end roadway from the bypass to Gap Road. 06/03/05 |
 | Shields that were posted for the former overlap of PA 896 north with PA 741 west from Georgetown Road to Decatur Street. 06/03/05 |
  | PA 741 west and PA 896 north followed E Main Street into Downtown Strasburg where they split for Willow Street and Smoketown respectively. 06/03/05 |
 | Decatur Street carried PA 896 north from Main Street (PA 741) to Historic Drive until November 2009. The road becomes Map Post Office Road south to PA 372 at Eden Township. 06/03/05 |
 | This set of signs hung above Decatur Street southbound ahead of the former PA 896 turn onto E Main Street (PA 741) in Strasburg. 10/08/01 |
Photo Credits:
10/08/01, 06/03/05 by AARoads
Connect with:
U.S. 1
U.S. 30
Route 10
Route 796
Route 841
Route 896
Page Updated 05-15-2013.