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Interstate 78 east
Interstate 78 has its western terminus in Union Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, splitting from Interstate 81 at exit 89. I-81 heads north toward Hazleton and the Wyoming Valley, while I-78 forges eastward to the Lehigh Valley and ultimately New York City. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit 89 gore point. I-78's eastbound carriageway begins here. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
A ramp from southbound I-81 subsequently merges in from the left. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
This portion of I-78 is dedicated to the Army's 78th Infantry. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Pennsylvania Route 72 crosses over here. It is directly accessible from I-81 just to the north. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
I-78 then crosses over the Swatara Creek, outside of the borough of Jonestown. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
On this note, I-78 pushes east. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Esther's Restaurant, "a great place to eat", is accessible from the forthcoming exit. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 6 (previously exit 1), Pennsylvania Route 343 toward Lebanon and Fredericksburg, is two miles ahead. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The aforementioned Esther's is listed by this blue sign in the meantime. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 6 has been reached. PA 343's north end is here; thus both control cities are southbound, with Fredericksburg actually coming first, at US 22. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
PA 343 crosses over the highway here. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Past exit 6, which is a partial interchange, the highway passes by a distribution center for Redner's Warehouse Markets. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
U.S. Route 22 is preparing to merge onto I-78, in another partial interchange that serves as a complement to the previous one. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 10, two miles away, intersects Pennsylvania Route 645, leading to the area of Frystown. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
At this point, I-78 enters Berks County. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
A Flying J truck stop sits just off the exit. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 10 is now a mile away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
A dynamic message sign prior to the exit states "regional pothole repairs" were being done at the time of these photos. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 10 is reached following a slight descent and curve. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
High-mast lights are situated at the following onramp's merge onto the highway. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
I-78 and US 22 reassurance follow. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Allentown and New York City respectively sit 47 and 135 miles from this sign. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 13, for Pennsylvania Route 501 billed as serving Bethel, is one and a half miles away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit is now in one mile, with this sign being in Clearview font. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway reaches exit 13. PA 501 runs just shy of 39 miles between the city of Lancaster to the south and Pine Grove in Schuylkill County just to the northwest. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
A construction apparatus was blocking the exit gore sign at this time. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
I-78's mile marker 13 follows the exit 13 onramp, and a few buildings line the highway here. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next exit, 15 (not indicated on this sign), is a right-in/right-out serving the local Grimes airport. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The overpass just prior to the exit was being reconstructed at the time of these photos and was missing a section. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit 15 gore. Exit 15 leads into Court Street (leading to the old alignment of US 22) eastbound and Frantz Road westbound. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
It is followed shortly afterward by exit 16 (again not marked on the advance sign), leading toward Midway. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 16 is just ahead, beyond a commercial warehouse sitting to the right. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Unlike exit 15, exit 16 is a full diamond interchange. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 16 is followed by exit 17, Pennsylvania Route 419 toward Rehrersburg, in three-quarters of a mile. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The Conrad Weiser Homestead is off this exit. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 17 comes and goes, and the eastbound lanes of I-78 receive the onramp from PA 419. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The speed limit is 65 miles per hour after the exit. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Next comes exit 19, Pennsylvania Route 183 to Strausstown. PA 183 links downtown Reading with the Cressona-Schuylkill Haven hub, making it an alternate to Pennsylvania Route 61 to the east. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway now approaches exit 19, with PA 183's overpass in the distance. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Reassurance for the two routes follows exit 19. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next exit, numbered 23 and serving Shartlesville, is two miles ahead. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The popular Roadside America attraction was off this exit; it was shuttered in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and later closed permanently owing to ownership issues. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 23 is now a mile away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Food options are listed by this blue sign. The McDonald's additionally sells itself through a billboard in the distance on the other side of the highway. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
There is also a Love's travel stop at this exit, which includes the McDonald's. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit is here. The intersecting road is called Mountain Road and leads to the Blue Mountain Academy religious school in the area. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next few miles of I-78 are dedicated to Air Force sergeant Richard Loy Etchberger, a native of nearby Hamburg who died in 1968 in Laos while deployed for the Vietnam War. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next exit, at Pennsylvania Route 61, is six miles away. Allentown and New York City respectively sit 34 and 122 miles ahead. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway then encounters a forested area just before mile marker 25, and Mill Road crosses over the highway on this bridge. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 29, PA 61 toward Pottsville and Reading (the respective seats of Schuylkill and Berks counties), is eventually announced to be two miles away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway enters more open land as a blue sign displays some of the food at exit 29. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The area around exit 29 is heavily commercialized, necessitating a second food sign. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 29 is now a mile ahead. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Also at exit 29 is one of Wawa's northernmost stores; their main territory is Philadelphia. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
As exit 29 approaches, exit 30, directly serving the borough of Hamburg, is announced as being a mile away. Seen at far-left is a well-known Cabela's store. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 30 is half a mile away as I-78 crosses the Schuylkill River. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway reaches exit 30 just as it enters Hamburg. The intersecting street of the exit is Fourth Street. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit 30 gore sign. Much more concrete surrounds this exit than the previous exits. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway passes under Fourth Street and then Fifth Street. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Reassurance for both routes follows as the highway leaves Hamburg. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Allentown and New York City are 27 and 115 miles away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The trees then clear out once again. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next 12 miles of I-78, to around mile marker 45, are a water supply area. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next exit, 35, intersects Pennsylvania Route 143, serves the small borough of Lenhartsville, and is two miles away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The Crystal Cave, off Sacony Creek in the Kutztown area, is accessible from exit 35. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 35 now sits one mile ahead. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Before the exit, I-78's speed limit drops to 55 miles per hour, and it will remain that way for the next 27 miles, until the transition from Lehigh into Northampton County. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 35 approaches amid bright sunlight. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit's gore point sits roughly even with mile marker 35.5. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Past exit 35, a folded diamond interchange with two cloverleaf ramps, I-78 crosses Maiden Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River and drinking source for the city of Reading. Several miles downstream of this bridge is the artifical, bass-heavy Lake Ontelaunee. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
A mobile dynamic message sign ostensibly announcing the time to the next exit sits along the shoulder past teh end of the bridge. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway then passes mile marker 38 before dropping slightly downhill as it approaches a curve to the right. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 40, Pennsylvania Route 737 toward Kutztown and Krumsville, is a mile and a half from this sign. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The Interstate once again heads uphill prior to the exit. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 40 is reached, and PA 737 crosses over I-78 on a then-new bridge. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway passes mile marker 41.2 as a temporary solid line, indicating no changing lanes, ends. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
There is then a curve to the left as the highway emerges from the trees again. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
It then dips slightly downward and passes mile marker 43.1. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
I-78 now enters Lehigh County, crossing into Weisenberg Township. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Soon afterward, a couple of buildings and houses surround the highway's curve to the right. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 45, Pennsylvania Route 863 toward Lynnport and New Smithville, approaches and is half a mile from this sign. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 45 is reached. This is another sign on Pennsylvania's Interstate system printed in an unconventional font, in this case a derivative of Clearview. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit is followed by route reassurance and a downhill drop. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Fogelsville, off the next exit, is four miles away, and Allentown is in 13 miles. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway approaches a slight descent and curve to the left. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 49, Pennsylvania Route 100 toward Trexlertown and Fogelsville, is two miles away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
As the interchange approaches, I-78 passes under Adams Road, and a variable message sign displays travel times to the New Jersey line via I-78 and US 22, which part ways a few miles ahead. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
These are the hotels off exit 49B. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 49A leaves the highway ahead. PA 100 goes south from here to West Chester in Chester County via Pottstown in Montgomery County, intersecting U.S. Route 422 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike along the way. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 49B is then reached. PA 100 north leads from here to Pennsylvania Route 309, which I-78 will itself intersect shortly, in Heidelberg Township. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 51 is the 78-22 split. I-78 is listed as simply going to New Jersey, while US 22 leads to the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension (I-476) and to PA 309, then directly passing the Lehigh Valley International Airport. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
DeSales University and Lehigh University are off I-78; "Lehigh Valley's Other Colleges" are more directly accessible from US 22. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 51 is marked as leading toward Whitehall Township and to PA 309 north, both directions of which are accessible from US 22, but not I-78. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The next overhead sign gives drivers one last chance to get into the correct lanes for the highways they are getting onto. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
I-78 and US 22 now separate. US 22 from here the rest of the way into New Jersey will be a local freeway of sorts running north of I-78. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Eastbound US 22 crosses over I-78 here. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The highway begins curving wide right, and the next three exits are listed on the sign to the right. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The hotels at the next exit, 54, are displayed here. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 54, U.S. Route 222/Hamilton Boulevard, is a mile away. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
The exit is now three-quarters of a mile ahead. At around this point, I-78 crosses over I-476 before receiving traffic from southbound PA 309. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
PA 309 joins I-78 as the highway is on the doorstep of exit 54. US 222's northern terminus is at this exit. Photo taken 11-07-2016.
Exit 54 is followed by exit 55, Pennsylvania Route 29/Cedar Crest Boulevard. Photo taken 11-07-2016.