End of US highway 322 |
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1926-1933
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1933-1935
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1935-1939
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1939-present
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Summa
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Claim to fame: US 322 is the only current US route that shares a common terminus with another US route at both of its endpoints (US 40 on the east, US 42 on the west).
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Mileage: in 1989 AASHTO listed a figure of 504 miles for US 322... however, that included the mileage of US 322's associated business route. According to the state subtotals on AASHTO's 1989 spreadsheet, mainline US 322's actual end-to-end total at the time was 494 miles. That is reasonably close to our own 2020 measurement, which yielded 484.6 miles (reroutings and realignments likely explain the difference).
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The west end of US 322 has always been in Cleveland. US 322 was an original 1927 route, but until 1933 it only went as far east as Water Street; this excerpt is from AASHO's Apr. 1927 route log:
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c. 1930, PennDoT
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West from the Du Bois area, US 322 deviated quite a bit from its current route to get there. It wound up on what is now signed as PA hwy. 453, and ended at its junction with US 22:
Bees
Where PA 453 ends today is the original east end of US 322...
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...but it was not long before the US 322 designation was rerouted east of Philipsburg such that it terminated in Lewistown. Both routings out of Philipsburg (upper left) can be compared on this 1934 map, which shows the "new" US 322 (via Port Matilda and State College to Lewistown), as well as the old route (which at the time was designated PA 350) via Tyrone to Water Street:
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c. 1934, Gallup
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This photo was looking north on Main Street at Lewistown's central square. During the 1930s this was westbound US 22, which continued to the left on Market Street. To the right on Market was the east beginning of US 322:
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Kreider, Oct. 2018 (linked to original)
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Three short years later, the US 322 designation was extended into New Jersey. The DOT specified that they wanted the route to end in McKee City at its junction with US 40. However, it is unclear whether US 322 ever actually ended there. Even if it did, it appears NJ changed their mind shortly thereafter, because already by 1939 maps were showing that the route had been extended to its current eastern terminus in Atlantic City. Here, McKee City is shown at far left, but the highway east from there was dual-labeled as US 40-322:
c. 1939, Rand McNally
Research and/or photo credits: John and Barb Bee; Timothy Kreider; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Dec. 21, 2023.
last updated Dec. 21, 2023.
