plazas offer conventional gasoline and diesel fuel. The Sunoco and 7-Eleven locations are operated by 7-Eleven itself while the restaurants and general upkeep of the service plazas are operated by Applegreen. In 2006, HMSHost was awarded a contract to reconstruct the service plazas along the turnpike. The reconstruction of the service plazas, which was to cost more than $150 million (equivalent to $ in ), included a food court layout and modernized restrooms. The Allentown service plaza was rebuilt between September 2007 and May 2008 while the Hickory Run service plaza was rebuilt between January 2009 and November 2010. The Art Sparks program was launched in 2017 as a partnership between the turnpike commission and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to install public art created by local students in the Arts in Education residency program in service plazas along the turnpike over the next five years. The public art consists of a mural reflecting the area where the service plaza is located. History Mid-County Expressway Originally planned as far back as 1929, the Mid-County Expressway was later proposed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as the "Chester Extension" of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1954. After the advent of the Interstate Highway System, the project was transferred to the Pennsylvania Department of Highways to be built as part of the system, designating it first as Interstate 495 (I-495) and later as Interstate 480 (I-480), as I-76 was designated as I-80S at the time. The present-day I-476 designation was assigned on February 6, 1964, when I-80S was renumbered as I-76. The road received its nickname from a 1958 location report indicating various proposed geographic configurations of an expressway through Delaware County with lines of various colors on a map. The "blue route" through the Crum Creek valley won out over other contenders, which included a more easterly "red route" and "yellow route" and a more westerly "green route". As one of the most controversial Interstate Highways in Pennsylvania, construction of I-476 began in 1967 but would take decades to build due to litigation between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and several communities in the road's path over environmental concerns. Two sections of the road in Radnor Township and in Lower Merion Township were built in 1970 but remained closed to traffic as they did not connect to any other roads. The section of I-476 between I-76 and Chemical Road opened to