PA Route 51 West

Allegheny County

Pittsburgh - West End

Saw Mill Run Blvd. intersects with West Carson Street and the West End Bridge at the West End Circle. PA 51 continues from Saw Mill Run northwest on West Carson Street, paralleling the Ohio River.

McKees Rocks

The route takes a left onto Stanhope Street from West Carson Street, then to Chartiers Avenue. After passing through downtown McKees Rocks, Chartiers Avenue passes under the PC&Y (Pittsburgh, Chartiers & Youghogheny) railroad. Rt. 51 goes right, onto Island Avenue. There is a junction with the McKees Rocks Bridge and Island Avenue. The section of Rt. 51 between the bridge and Chartiers Avenue is part of the Blue Belt.

Stowe Township to Coraopolis

Island Avenue continues into Stowe Township. At one time, the streetcar tracks followed Fleming Avenue in a jog to the right, rejoining Island Avenue at an area identified on maps as Pittock. At this intersection, Island Avenue ends and becomes Fleming Park Road. The Fleming Park Bridge, which crosses to Neville Island, and Neville Avenue also intersect here. Rt. 51 continues west on Fleming Park Road, passing through Kennedy Township, and entering Robinson Township. At Groveton, there is an interchange with I-79 (Exit 17). Initially, the interchange provided access to I-79 southbound and allowed northbound traffic to exit (there was full access on Neville Island, once the bridge was completed across the Ohio River between Groveton and Glenfield). When a weigh limit was placed on the Coraopolis-Neville Island Bridge, additional ramps were built to improve access to the Island. Rt. 51 passes briefly through Moon Township, then enters Coraopolis Boro.

Coraopolis

In Coraopolis, there are two main streets, one-way in each direction. Fifth Avenue carries Rt. 51 south traffic, while a block away, Fourth Avenue carries Rt. 51 north traffic. At this time, the two-lane Coraopolis Road splits in two. Northbound traffic connects directly to Fourth Avenue at Ferry Street, which is the access street to the Coraopolis-Neville Island bridge. Before the short connector street was built in the 1970s, northbound traffic had to turn right onto Ferry Street, then turn left onto Fourth Avenue, which was a bottleneck and a nightmare for truck drivers. The same situation existed at the north end of town, where traffic had to turn left onto "mumble" street, then turn right onto Fifth Avenue to continue north on Narrows Run Road into Moon Township. This was rectified by construction in the late 1960s.

Moon Township

Rt. 51 in Moon Township has seen quite a bit of change in Moon Township. From the Coraopolis Boro line, Narrows Run Road carried the route north. This was a two-lane road squeezed in between a steep hillside and the P&LE RR tracks from the Thorn Run Road intersection to Stoops Ferry. The road was widened in the 1960s, adding two lanes, extending Fourth Avenue with a new section of roadway, and improving the intersection with Thorn Run Road. At this time, the T-intersection with the Sewickley Bridge was replaced with an underpass for northbound through traffic and ramps for traffic headed to and from the bridge. The section of Narrows Run from the bridge to Stoops Ferry Road was also widened to four lanes, which required much work to cut back the steep hillside above the road.

Narrows Run Road from Stoops Ferry Road to the major four-way intersection at Carnot (Broadhead Road, Beers School Road, Beaver Grade Road, and Narrows Run) was also a two-lane concrete roadway until widened in the early 1960s. This was done by adding an additional concrete lane on each side of the existing road. There is one oxbow in this section of road, blocked in the middle because of a deteriorating culvert. The south end of the oxbow has one road off of it; the north end has several houses and the former entrance to the Kaufman estate, now the campus of Robert Morris College.

At Carnot, Rt. 51 continued north on Broadhead Road, through commercial and residential areas before encountering a steep downgrade with several sharp curves. This grade was the site of a number of accidents, several involving tractor trailers. At the bottom of the grade, Broadhead crosses Flaugherty Run Road, then climbs another grade to Bon Meade. It passes briefly through Crescent Township and crosses into Beaver County and Hopewell Township. This entire section is two-lane highway.

In the 1970s, this route was changed, from Moon Township to Rochester. See below for details.

Beaver County

Hopewell Township

Rt. 51 continued on Broadhead Road through Hopewell Township, passing through residential areas with some small commercial strips. At Five Points, PA 151 crossed PA 51. Broadhead Road continues through Hopewell. As it approaches Sheffield Road, there is more commercial development. Sheffield Road crosses Broadhead; going west on Sheffield reaches the Beaver Valley Expressway/PA 60, traveling east on Sheffield eventually goes to downtown Aliquippa. Broadhead Road continues north through Hopewell Township, then crosses into Center Township.

Center Township and Monaca

Rt. 51 changed routes in Center Township when a new section of Broadhead Road was constructed in the 1960s. At one time, PA 18 joined with PA 15 in north Center Township. Both routes were shifted to a new four-lane highway that replaced (now) Old Broadhead Road, a narrow, twisting, two-lane road. The new construction provided access to the new Beaver Valley Mall and improved access (via PA 18) to the Beaver Valley Expressway. "New" Broadhead Road rejoined the old road just outside Monaca and the new construction replaced the existing road into Monaca.. Both PA 51 and PA 18 crossed the Ohio River to Rochester on the Monaca-Rochester Bridge.

Rochester, Bridgewater, Beaver and Fallston

In Rochester, PA 51 and PA 18 passed through downtown from the Monaca-Rochester Bridge. There was a junction with PA 65 and PA 68. From Rochester, PA 18 and PA 65 continued up the east side of the Beaver River. PA 51 and PA 68 crossed the Beaver River on a two-lane bridge (seen in the movie "Gung Ho" with Michael Keaton) into the Borough of Bridgewater. PA 68 continued west to Beaver, while PA 51 went up the west side of the Beaver River into Patterson Township. In the 1960s, major construction changed Rochester and Bridgewater. A new four-lane highway extended from Ohio River Blvd. at Rochester and skirted below the bluff that downtown sits upon. This carried PA 65 around Rochester; ramps carried PA 18 traffic to the new road. A new street in Rochester carried PA 51/PA 68 traffic over the new highway and across a new bridge over the Beaver River and around Bridgewater. Ramps handled PA 68 traffic to and from Beaver. The four-lane highway continued north, skirting Bridgewater. The new road rejoined the existing highway in Patterson Township, near Fallston.

Fallston to Ohio

From Fallston north (although the direction of travel is more northwest), there has been little change to Rt. 51. The road enters Chippewa Township, where there is a full interchange with the Beaver Valley Expressway/PA 60 (south)/PA 60 Toll (north). PA 588 runs east to Beaver Falls. PA 251 runs from PA 51 west to Ohio. After passing into South Beaver Township, PA 51 is crossed by PA 168. From there, PA 51 passes into Darlington Township, which it crosses diagonally. Just south of the Lawrence County line, PA 51 crosses into Ohio and Colombiana County, where it becomes OH 14.

Route Change

In the 1970s, PA 51 was moved to a new routing between Moon Township and Rochester, parallel to the existing route at the time. The new route started at Narrows Run Road north of the Sewickley Bridge, at Stoops Ferry Road (also sometimes listed as Shousetown and Stoops Ferry Road). PA 51 was routed up Stoops Ferry (a two-lane road, widened to four lanes) to the intersection of Flaugherty Run Road and McGovern Blvd. in Glenwillard. The route followed McGovern through Crescent Township on the two-lane road.

At the Beaver County line, PA 51 intersected with the terminus of PA 151, in Hopewell Township. Rt. 51 continued through South Heights and entered a four-lane highway at the north end of the boro. In this section of the road is the intersection with the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge. The four-lane road continues through the edge of downtown Aliquippa, where ramps carry traffic to and from town. Just to the north is a grade-separated intersection (for the northbound lanes) with the bridge over the (former, now CSX) tracks into West Aliquippa. The four-lane highway changes to a two-lane road as it approaches Monaca. In Monaca, PA 51 crosses the Ohio River on the (former toll) Monaca-Freedom Bridge, to intersect with PA 65. The two routes run together as far as Rochester, where PA 51 splits. It rejoins its original route in downtown Rochester.

Site Navigation & Sources:

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PA 51 Today

Finding Old PA 51

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Bruce Harper