The Harrisburg Capital Beltway encircles the City of Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, and surrounding municipalities. The Beltway includes a section of Interstate 81 (I-81), a section of Interstate 83 (I-83), and Route 581, and is a limited-access facility. The Capital Beltway is vital to the economy of the Harrisburg region, and is an important hub in the transportation network of the northeastern United States. This website focuses on the I-83 section of the Beltway, which extends from a junction with I-81 northeast of Harrisburg to the interchange with Route 581 to the south of Harrisburg. An I-83 Master Plan was prepared by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in 2003 for this section of the Capital Beltway to identify, plan, and program future transportation improvement projects.
The I-83 Capital Beltway has three major issues that the projects will address:
- Worsening roadway conditions – Most of the pavement in the I-83 corridor is over 50 years old and has been repeatedly patched and overlaid while the base pavement continues to age.
- High traffic volumes and congestion – The existing traffic and the traffic predicted to use the roadway in the future, are more than the roadway can effectively carry.
- Safety – The roadway was designed more than 50 years ago and does not include the modern safety features needed for roadways that have many vehicles traveling at high speeds.
What's new?
- The I-83 East Shore Section 3 (ESS3) – PennDOT opened bids for the second construction contract (Contract 2) and notice to proceed is expected to be given this fall. For more information and status of this project, view the I-83 East Shore Section 3 project page.
A New Spot for Capital Beltway Project Info
Thank you for subscribing to updates from the I-83 Capital Beltway website. To better inform the local community and to be consistent with other PennDOT projects across the Commonwealth, we’ve moved this site’s content into the “Projects Near You” section of PennDOT’s official website – pa.gov/PennDOT. After November 30, 2025, all project updates moving forward will be made to the project pages below. Please update any bookmarks or reference materials with these new URLs.
At pa.gov/DOTprojects, you’ll find dedicated pages for the various current projects along the I-83 Beltway, along with the planning study that identified these major projects:
You can also view additional projects across the state.
With the move away from the previous website, we will no longer maintain a separate email list specific to this project. We hope that you’ll sign up to receive PennDOT news from the Capital Region – click here and enter your email in the “Subscribe to District 8 News” text box. Just approve the confirmation email and you’ll be subscribed!
Thank you for your long-standing interest in the I-83 Capital Beltway.
Harrisburg 
