Pennsylvania Route 65

State highway in Pennsylvania, US

PA 65 originates at a triangular shaped interchange at the I 279/US 19 Truck concurrency near downtown Pittsburgh. Long ramps stretch from exit 1C on I 279 north of the Fort Duquesne Bridge. PA 65 starts as a limited access highway known as the "Ohio River Boulevard". This was the site of many deadly accidents during the 1970s.

The designation was applied to the current US 62 alignment between Oil City and Ohio from 1928 to 1932. PA 65 was under construction from Mercer to Valley Road in 1928 and completed the following year. On July 15, 1960, PA 65 was designated in its current location replacing the previous PA 88 designation. This designation change was made to reduce the number of concurrent routes in Pittsburgh. The changes took effect a few months later and signs were changed by spring 1961. In 1965, a median was installed between Freedom and Rochester. In January 1970, construction began on the next section of Ohio River Boulevard from near the California Avenue/Marshall Avenue intersection to Pennsylvania Avenue. In 1973, a $16 million section opened to traffic with plans to continue the expressway to the Fort Duquesne Bridge. In spring 1987, construction on the $8 million Phase One project to connect the two sections of Ohio River Boulevard together began from Western Avenue to Allegheny Avenue. In January 1988, Phase Two of the project began, which consisted of a new interchange between the expressway and the West End Bridge. The bridge would be closed for two years while it underwent rehabilitation and new ramps were built at the northern end for the interchange. The southern terminus was moved from Western Avenue to I 279 when the missing section in Ohio River Boulevard was finally completed in 1992.

Planning for Ohio River Boulevard started in the 1920s. In 1928, construction began on the boulevard that would run from Manchester to the Borough of Emsworth. The highway would be 40 feet (12 m) wide and have many bridges over local roads. It would end at a traffic circle on the North Shore of the Ohio River at the McKees Rocks Bridge. The route that was built to relieve traffic and accidents on California Avenue was dedicated in August 1931 at a final cost of $12 million. As traffic on boulevard began to increase in the 1950s and 1960s, many plans were introduced to improve the highway. Ideas ranged from widening the highway to building a new expressway to current day I 79. During the 1960s, a southern extension of the boulevard to Pittsburgh's North Side was discussed and by 1973 the highway opened from the Fort Duquesne Bridge to Ridge Avenue and the McKees Rocks Bridge to Beaver Avenue and Chateau Street. Many of these proposals would fall to the wayside because of lack of funding and interest or community protest. The missing gap which includes a connection to the West End Bridge did not open until January 1992. By the 1970s, the Ohio River Boulevard section of PA 65 had become a deadly trail. By the mid 1970s, the boulevard became one of Pittsburgh's most dangerous roads. From November 7, 1979, to March 1981, 15 people were killed on the boulevard, eight of those deaths occurring between the McKees Rocks Bridge and Manchester. The deadliest time was in 1980 when seven people were killed on the boulevard.

Pennsylvania Route 65 Truck (PA 65 Truck) was a truck route of PA 65 that bypasses a weight restricted bridge over Spruce Run Creek in Ben Avon, on which trucks over 32 tons and combination loads over 40 tons are prohibited. The route was signed in September 2013 and followed the McKees Rocks Bridge over the Ohio River, PA 51, Neville Road, Grand Avenue, and I 79. The bridge was reconstructed and 2021, and PA 65 Truck signs were removed. The route was still signed as recently as 2019; however, the bridge was rehabilitated some time before 2021, and the weight restrictions have since been removed.

Pennsylvania Route 65 Truck (PA 65 Truck) was a truck route of PA 65 that bypasses a weight restricted bridge over an abandoned railroad in Shenango Township, on which trucks over 36 tons and combination loads over 40 tons are prohibited. It was signed in September 2013 and follows US 422 and US 422 Business. The route was removed in December 2018 after the bridge was reconstructed.