Construction began in the 1960s on the Beaver Valley Expressway, a north–south freeway extending from Pittsburgh International Airport to Sharon via New Castle. By 1970, the highway was completed and opened to traffic near West Middlesex and Beaver. The segment of the freeway between Clinton Road northwest of the airport and Beaver was completed by the following year. PA 60 was rerouted and extended northward over the freeway to modern exit 36 by 1973. The remainder of the freeway south of what is now exit 31 was complete by 1980, resulting in another extension of PA 60. Also completed by this time was the New Castle – Sharon segment of the highway, which was also designated as PA 60 upon opening. At the time, PA 60 ended at Interstate 80 while a short extension of the expressway to PA 718 south of Sharon was designated but not signed as State Route 3004 (SR 3004). PA 60 was extended northward over SR 3004 to PA 18 at some point between 1990 and 1997 and northwestward along SR 3004 and PA 718 to US 62 Business in Sharon at some point between 1997 and 2004.