I-90 through here was one of the earliest routes built under the interstate highway act, and in fact was actively planned to be constructed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission when the act was passed. It was built on a broad, fairly high hillside (overlooking Lake Erie) through nearly its entire length in PA, bypassing the Erie metro area on a very straight course and then descending to nearly lake level only as it approaches the New York state line. This highway carries an impressive amount of through traffic, much of which doesn't even stop in Pennsylvania on its way between the midwestern and northeastern parts of the USA.
Pennsylvania 17 (and its continuation as NY 17) was built MUCH later, reaching I-90 in the mid 1980s as a bona-fide 'Super-Two' freeway (but built on a four lane right-of-way). This 'super-two' continued as the 'future' eastbound side of PA/NY 17 to the Lake Chautauqua bridge in New York, a distance of about 40 km. Since then, the two highway departments have worked to complete the 4 lanes, progressing steadily westward from Lake Chautauqua about 10 km at a time, until finally completing their work in late 1997.
There have been some queries about whether 'PA/NY 17' could be extended westward to the Erie waterfront to feed into the north end of I-79 (as a '3di' style loop), but this seems to me to be highly unlikely as this interchange would have to be completely re-engineered AND the waterfront extension from I-79 is not designed for it (local NIMBYs would be all over any such proposal, regardless).
In 1998, the US Congress authorized the incorporation of the PA/NY 17 corridor into the interstate system as 'I-86' as improvements are completed (this number designation, like the 'I-99' one, *is* written into the law). As of this writing, this corridor is now FULLY up to interstate standards eastward to Corning, NY with improvements east of there in the works.
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