Pennsylvania Route 54

PA Route 54
Route information
Maintained by PennDOT
Length:	70 mi[1] (113 km)
Existed:	1928 – present
Major junctions
West end:	US 15 near Montgomery
	I-180 near Milton I-80 near Danville I-81 near Mahanoy City PA 309 in Hometown
East end:	US 209 in Nesquehoning
Location
Counties:	Lycoming, Norththumberland, Montour, Columbia, Schuylkill, Carbon
Highway system
Roads in Pennsylvania Interstate • US • State • Legislative ← PA 53 PA 55 →

Pennsylvania Route 54 is a state highway which runs for 70 miles (110 km) in eastern Pennsylvania. It runs from U.S. Route 209 in Nesquehoning, Carbon County in the east to U.S. Route 15, which is three miles (5 km) west of Montgomery, Lycoming County in the west. PA 54 meets up with Pennsylvania Route 61 in Ashland, running concurrent for a short distance through the community before splitting just outside of Ashland. PA 54 continues west towards Pennsylvania Route 901 at Merrian while PA 61 heads north towards Centralia. Prior to the current route, highways 54 and 61 were concurrent and went on the current route of 61 through Centralia and Mount Carmel. Now it goes due west from Ashland and meets and concurs with route 901 westbound. After a several mile concurrency, route 901 bears left towards Excelsior outside of Shamokin, while route 54 continues straight ahead. 54 and 61 intersect again in the village of Strong. The road then goes up Second Mountain through the village of Natalie. After going down and up another smaller hill, the road intersects with Pennsylvania Route 487 in Elysburg. The highway then crosses the north branch of the Susquehanna River and into the borough of Danville on Factory Street and Continental Boulevard (separated by Mahoning Street). Shortly after, it turns into an at-grade intersection four-lane highway crossing Pennsylvania Route 642 just before its interchange with Interstate 80. Right before Washingtonville it crosses Pennsylvania Route 254. Next it joins Pennsylvania Route 44 coming from the southeast and has a brief concurrency until the roads split off in Turbotville. Route 54 continues straight ahead, while Route 44 turns left. The road crosses the Susquehanna Trail and immediately arrives at its Interstate 180 interchange. It then meets Pennsylvania Route 405 in Montgomery and finally ends near Allenwood at the intersection with U.S. Route 15.

Route 54 in Montgomery

Major intersections

County	Location	Mile	Destinations	Notes
Lycoming	Montgomery		US 15	Western terminus of PA 54
			PA 405 north (Montgomery Street)	West end of PA 405 concurrency
Northumberland			PA 405 south	East end of PA 405 concurrency
	Turbotville		I-180	Interchange
			PA 44 north (Main Street)	West end of PA 44 concurrency
Montour			PA 44 south	East end of PA 44 concurrency
	Washingtonville		PA 254
	Mausdale		I-80	Interchange
			PA 642 west	West end of PA 642 concurrency
			PA 642 east (Jerseytown Road)	East end of PA 642 concurrency
	Danville		US 11 (Bloom Street)
Northumberland	Elysburg		PA 487 (Valley Avenue)
	Strong		PA 61	first of two meetings
	Mount Carmel		PA 901 west	West end of PA 901 concurrency
			PA 901 east	East end of PA 901 concurrency
Schuylkill	Ashland		PA 61 north	West end of PA 61 concurrency, second of two meetings
			PA 61 south (Hoffman Boulevard)	East end of PA 61 concurrency
	Shenandoah		PA 924 (Main Street)
	Mahanoy City		PA 339 (Main Street)	Southern terminus of PA 339
			I-81	Interchange
	Hometown		PA 309 (Claremont Avenue)
Carbon	Nesquehoning		US 209 (Catawissa Street, Market Street)	Eastern terminus of PA 54
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

History

Centralia branch of PA 54/61

Because of the underground coal mine fire in Centralia, the original branch of Routes 54 and 61, which went from Centralia to Ashland, has been permanently closed because the road has severely opened up and buckled extensively. This branch was repaired in 1983 for $500,000; then in 1992 it was deemed too expensive to repair again. In 1994, the branch was permanently closed.

PA 54 used to run concurrent with PA 61 through Centralia but was rerouted along Pennsylvania Route 901 and three quadrant routes in 1999, completely bypassing Centralia. Nowadays, only PA 61 goes through Centralia while PA 54 now goes directly from Ashland to Mount Carmel Township along the aforementioned alignment via PA 901. The road signs for PA 54 were removed from Centralia several years ago.

Routes 54 and 61 meet up again at an intersection just outside of Mount Carmel.

FYI

• Although signed east-west, at least half of PA 54 goes north-south, which mirrors PA 61 (signed north-south, but going mainly east-west)
• There are two instances where PA 54 leaves and enters the same county. It enters Montour County very briefly after leaving Elysburg then goes back into Northumberland County. After crossing the Susquehanna River, it re-enters Mountour county until it crosses a county-line road into Northumberland County again right before Turbotville.
• PA 54 clips the southwest corner of Columbia County between Ashland and Mount Carmel
• PA routes 54 and 61 meet in two separate occasions
• Before the new bridge was built between Riverside and Danville Route 54 went on an old truss bridge just to the east of the current bridge. After that, it ran on Mill street, then briefly concurred with US 11 until it intersected with Continental Boulevard and then turned on right on there.

References

1. ^ Pennsylvania Highways - Pennsylvania Route 54