in 1953, an extension of the pennsylvania turnpike from the mainline near plymouth meeting north through northeastern pennsylvania to the new york border near binghamton was proposed. groundbreaking for the northeastern extension occurred on march 25, 1954 in white haven, with governor john s. fine and commission chairman thomas j. evans present. the northeast extension was planned to run from the mainline pennsylvania turnpike in plymouth meeting north to a temporary terminus at scranton. in april 1954, $233 million in bonds were issued to build the northeastern extension along with the delaware river bridge on the mainline pennsylvania turnpike. the northeast extension was built with a median in order to save money. due to the mountainous terrain it passed through, a large amount of earthwork was necessary to build the road along with the construction of large bridges. among the bridges built was the clarks summit bridge (since renamed for john j. fitzgerald, turnpike engineer and superintendent) over us 6/us 11, which was the tallest bridge on the pennsylvania turnpike system at . the northeast extension also included the two-lane lehigh tunnel through blue mountain. the tunnel was originally going to be named for commission chairman evans, but was changed when he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the commission of $19 million (equal to $ today).