Pennsylvania Route 171

Pennsylvania Route 171
PA 171 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by PennDOT
Length	40.170 mi[1] (64.647 km)
Existed	April 1961[2]–present
Major junctions
South end	US 6 Bus. in Carbondale
Major intersections	PA 247 in Forest City PA 374 / PA 371 in Herrick Township Ararat Township PA 92 in Susquehanna Depot Great Bend Township
North end	US 11 in Great Bend
Location
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
Counties	Lackawanna, Susquehanna
Highway system
Pennsylvania State Route System Interstate US State Scenic Legislative
← PA 604 ← PA 690 PA 692 → I-695

Pennsylvania Route 171 (PA 171, also designated by the

After about a mile, PA 171 turns away from the residential and commercial buildings and winds through the local woodlands. This scenery continues for several miles, passing by a reservoir. After an intersection with Buffalo Road, the road turns to the northeast. After the turn, PA 171 enters the community of Richmondale. In Richmondale, the highway heads eastward, the development of the scenery around the highway once again. After leaving Richmondale, the highway enters the borough of Vandling, where the highway becomes highly developed. After an intersection with Clinton Street, PA 171 leaves Vandling and crosses into Susquehanna County, where the highway enters the borough of Forest City.^[3]

PA 171 continues into Forest City, where it curves along as Main Street, and enters downtown. In downtown Forest City, the highway is squeezed to two local lanes and PA 171 intersects with PA 247, which heads eastward. However, PA 247 westbound becomes concurrent with PA 171 through downtown Forest City, and the highway eventually splits off westbound, while PA 171 continues north through the northern ends of Forest City. The route bends around for a while in Forest City, where at an intersection with Cemetery Road, the route leaves the community.^[3]

North of Forest City, PA 171 heads north for several miles through deep forests. After a while, PA 171 crosses over the

PA 171 enters Union Dale, leaving forests that it was following. The route intersects and parallels Mausoleum Road, which heads through a cemetery in southern Union Dale. After an intersection with Asley Drive, Stillwater Lake ends, and the community enters the center of Union Dale. The center consists of an intersection with Skyline Drive, and PA 171 leaves. The highway continues out of Union Dale, winding its way to the north. PA 171 continues running as Stillwater Road into the deep forests which break up soon after.[3]

A short distance later, PA 171 becomes slightly developed, entering the small community of Herrick Center. There, the highway intersects with the eastern terminus of PA 374 and the western terminus of PA 371, also known as the Great Bend Turnpike. The route leaves Herrick Center and heads northward through rural parts of Susquehanna County.^[3]

After leaving Herrick Center and PA 371/PA 374, PA 171 progresses through Susquehanna County, leaving Stillwater Road. The route continues through the rural parts of Susquehanna County. After a break in a patch of trees, PA 171 intersects with Township Road 592, beginning a wind along the Wayne County border. The township road parallels for sometime, and the highways eventually enters the small community of Burnwood, where the highway becomes slightly developed. North of Burnwood, the route continues northward, entering the community of East Ararat, where PA 370's western terminus is located.^[3]

The route passes through East Ararat, leaving soon after. After that, PA 171 begins to progress through the rural areas once again, paralleling a short distance of PA 370. After an intersection with Borden Hollow Road, the highway progresses through a deep area of forests. The route passes Dunn Pond, where it bends to the northwest, entering Ararat Township. Along this stretch, PA 171 passes to the north of the community of Ararat. The route continues for several miles, and after turning to the east, the highway enters the borough of Thompson. Into the borough of Thompson, PA 171 becomes known as Jackson Street and heads through a moderately developed region. The route, at an intersection with Main Street, leaves Jackson and continues northward. After the intersection with Erie Avenue, PA 171 leaves Thompson. A short distance later, the highway continues northward through deep forests and rural farms before continuing into Thompson Township. After that the road starts winding its way northward, it returns to the unpopulated area and intersects with local roads.^[3]

This pattern continues for several miles, with PA 171 passing a large pond and deep forests. At the intersection with Comforts Pond Road and Bethels Hill Road, the highway becomes slightly developed. This quickly reverts to the undeveloped rural farms, which follow PA 171 along its trip to the northwest. A short distance later, the highway becomes surrounded by forests once again, beginning to wind its way as the Belmont Turnpike. The forests quickly ends, and the surroundings become highly developed as the community enters the borough of Lanesboro. After entering Lanesboro, PA 171 becomes highly developed and continues as Belmont Turnpike until the intersection with Main Street, where the highway turns to the southwest. The route heads along Main Street, progressing along the developed parts of the Susquehanna River, and enters the borough of Susquehanna Depot. In Susquehanna Depot, PA 171 runs along East Main Street through the eastern segment of the community. Near the dead-end Jackson Street, the highway turns to the south, intersecting with PA 92. From there, the two highways are concurrent.^[3]

PA 92 and PA 171 head along Main Street, passing some local businesses and residences before crossing the Susquehanna River on the Susquehanna County Veterans Memorial Bridge into the borough of Oakland. After crossing the bridge, PA 171 and PA 92 split onto State Street and River Street respectively. PA 171 continues westward, paralleling High Street, which merges in along the shores of the Susquehanna. Soon after the intersection with High Street, PA 171 progresses westward leaving Oakland soon after.^[3]

After leaving Susquehanna Depot and Oakland Township, PA 171 heads on a westward progression along the Susquehanna River. To the south of the highway is the river, to the north of the highway is residential homes and deep forests behind those. After the intersection with Towner Road, PA 171 enters the small community of Hickory Grove, where the route and river makes a curve to the southwest, still paralleling each other. PA 171 quickly leaves Hickory Grove and enters another set of deep forests which separate the highway and the river.^[3]

The highway continues on its southwest progression, with the trees surrounding dissipating. After that, both the river and the highway pass to the north of Island Plain. There, the routes curve to the northwest once again, becoming more developed and now following a railroad line in the area. The route makes a curve to the west, progressing through a short development of residential homes. After that, the highway enters the borough of Great Bend and heads to the southwest. The designation crosses at Interchange 230 along I-81 in downtown Great Bend, but continues to the intersection with US 11 in Great Bend, where the route terminates.^[3]

A short segment of PA 171, from Carbondale to the community of Forest City, was part of the Providence and Carbondale Turnpike, a

In 1897, the portion of PA 171 along Main Street in Susquehanna Depot was paved. The project to pave the main highway cost $10,000 (equivalent to $377,960 in 2025) with funds split equally between the borough of Susquehanna Depot, the local businesses, and the nearby Erie Railroad.^[7]

Pennsylvania Route 70
Location	Carbondale–Great Bend
Existed	1928–1961

The original route designation that follows current-day PA 171 was a part of

The alignment of PA 70 was under construction in 1929 from the Thompson Township line to Lanesboro.[11] It was completed the next year, when the Pennsylvania Department of Highways paved the highway from Herrick Center to Thompson and Stack Road to the Harmony Township line.^[12] These three routes remained intact (in terms of alignment) for eighteen years, until 1946, when PA 692 and PA 602 were removed from the state highway system in favor of extending PA 70 to the north to Hallstead.^[13] The route, PA 70, remained intact for another seventeen years, when in April 1961, I-70 was already commissioned, and PA 70 was decommissioned. The PA 70 designation was renumbered to PA 171 to prevent duplication.^[2][14]

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
US 6 Bus. (Canaan Street / Church Street)	Southern terminus
Susquehanna	Forest City	6.127	9.860	PA 247 north (Main Street) – Browndale, Creamton	South end of PA 247 overlap
		6.516	10.486	PA 247 south (Dundaff Street)	North end of PA 247 overlap
	Herrick Township	13.097	21.078	PA 371 east / PA 374 west (Old Newburg Turnpike)	Western terminus of PA 371; eastern terminus of PA 374
	Ararat Township	16.632	26.767	PA 370 east	Western terminus of PA 370
	Susquehanna Depot	31.548	50.772	PA 92 south (Franklin Avenue)	South end of PA 92 overlap
	Oakland	31.916	51.364	PA 92 north (River Street)	North end of PA 92 overlap
	I-81 – Scranton, Binghamton	Exit 230 (I-81)
		40.170	64.647	US 11 – Hallstead, Great Bend	Northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

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• Pennsylvania Highways: PA 171