U.S. Route 222 - History

History

When US 222 was first designated in the 1920s, it only reached as far north as Reading, but at the time US 22 dipped down from Allentown to Reading, then west to Harrisburg. US 22 was rerouted to become a straight shot from Allentown to Harrisburg, so the roadway between Reading and Allentown became part of US 222, explaining why the highway, designated as north/south, actually runs mostly east/west between the two cities.

By the early 1930s the road then signed as US 22 became problematic for motorists in Lebanon along the current U.S. Route 422; Reading via U.S. Routes 22 and 222; and Allentown on Hamilton Street (US 22). Pennsylvania Route 43 had been aligned as a bypass between Allentown and Harrisburg. On June 8, 1931, the American Association of State Highway Officials came to a resolution to the traffic problem, by replacing the PA 43 corridor with US 22 and the William Penn Highway name to match. The state truncated PA 43 to Susquehanna Street from Allentown to Bethlehem. US 222 replaced the former US 22 alignment from Reading to Allentown. Hamilton Street was numbered as US 222, west of downtown Allentown, where it turned north onto 15th Street. This portion of US 222 was seven-blocks long which ended at Tilghman Street (then US 22).

With the construction of the Lehigh Valley Thruway in the early 1950s and the relocation of US 22 to that route, US 222 was extended east along Tilghman Street to 7th Street, then north on 7th Street to the interchange with the new freeway.

In the late 1950s, US 222 was realigned to a newly constructed bypass carrying U.S. Route 309 and PA Route 29, west of Allentown. From the south, US 222 left Hamilton Boulevard and turned north onto the freeway. US 222 terminated at an interchange with US 22, US 309, and PA 29 in South Whitehall Township. The freeway, originally signed as US 309/PA 29/US 222, dropped the PA 29 designation in 1966; in 1968, US 309 was downgraded to PA 309 and US 222 was truncated to end at the current northern termini. By the 1980s, Interstate 78 became part of the freeway that occupied PA 309.

In 1984, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was planning to extend PA Route 145 and US 222. Traffic engineer Samuel D. Darrohh said that Allentown is one of few Pennsylvania cities without a traffic route going through it. After the plan was introduced, he said that motorists might be aided if US 222 were extended along Hamilton Boulevard to connect with the proposed PA 145 corridor.

PennDOT originally planned the road as U.S. Route 222 but AASHTO denied the extension. In 1991, it was commissioned as Pennsylvania Route 222. PA 145 was extended south of the Lehigh Valley Thruway to the I-78/PA 309 overlap near Lanark.

In 2010, officials in Berks County pushed for PennDOT to widen a portion of the two-lane road to four lanes due to traffic and safety issues.