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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
Endpoints of
Mileage: in 1989 AASHTO listed a figure of 310 miles for US 522... however, that included the mileage of US 522's associated business route. According to the state subtotals on AASHTO's 1989 spreadsheet, mainline US 522's actual end-to-end total at the time was 308 miles. That closely matches our own 2020 measurement, which yielded 307.8 miles. Want historic mileages? Our handy reference book includes the mileages that were published in all 13 of AASHO/AASHTO's historic route logs (spanning the years 1927 to 1989).
1926-1927
North: Selinsgrove, PA
South: Lewistown, PA
1927-1943
North: Selinsgrove, PA
South: Hancock, MD
1943-present
North: Selinsgrove, PA
South: Powhatan, VA
Selinsgrove
US 522 was an original 1926 route, although the AASHO map that was approved that year showed it only between Selinsgrove and Lewistown. The remainder of its route to Maryland was shown as "US 622" (more on this page). However, by the time of AASHO's 1927 route log, US 622 was no longer listed, and US 522 was shown along the entire route between Hancock and Selinsgrove:
c. 1930, PennDoT
Traffic originally came into town via University Avenue, and the north end of US 522 was on Pine Street at its intersection with Market Street. This image was taken looking south on Market:
Fasold, c. 1935 (linked to original image)
The north beginning of US 522 was to the right on Pine. Two US route shields are barely visible on the right-hand side of Market; they were for US 11 and US 111. But it wasn't long before the US 15 designation was extended along the former US 111. Then those same confirming markers looked like this:
Fasold, Aug. 1953 (linked to original image)
Four years prior to that photo (1949) modern US 522 opened to traffic -- this road runs along the north edge of Selinsgrove. At that time, US 522 still ended at Market. That was no longer the case at the time of this photo, but it does show the historic terminus. This was taken looking east on US 522:
Reichard, Oct. 2001
(detail)
In 1949, US 522 ended there; southbound US 11-15 was to the right, and northbound was to the left. But in 1976, US 11-15 was routed onto a bypass that skirts the east side of Selinsgrove. So the US 522 designation was extended north along former US 11-15 to its current terminus: a partial interchange with the new US 11-15, which is about a half-mile to the left. The view in this photo was heading south towards Selinsgrove on US 11-15:
Nitzman, 1994
Formerly US 11-15 continued straight ahead on Market through downtown, and the north terminus of US 522 was about a half-mile ahead. But now US 11-15 exits right, loops around to the left via the overpass, and then continues south again along a newer bypass off to the east. So today US 522 begins straight ahead. It follows Market to the intersection shown in the first photo, then turns right.
Hancock
While US 522 does start out heading essentially west, it soon begins a gradual curve to the south, mimicking the bend of the Appalachian Mountains... which suggests that it should have been numbered differently, as a branch of a north/south route. For example, an "x11" or "x15" number might have been more appropriate. The original south end of US 522 was at Hancock:
c. 1930, PennDoT
There, the original route of US 522 (Warfordsburg Road) has been interrupted by I-70, but that aligns with Limestone Road on the south side of the freeway. So presumably US 522 ran along Limestone and ended where that junctions Main Street:
Mortell, Aug. 2007
The sign assembly indicates that Main is now MD hwy. 144, but it carried US 40 traffic until I-70 was built. Here, we are looking west on Main, which was westbound US 40, curving to the left. To the right on Limestone was probably the south beginning of US 522:
Mortell, Aug. 2007
Powhatan
In 1943, US 522 was extended south from Hancock -- the bridge visible in that last photo carries US 522 traffic over the Potomac River and into West Virginia. Since then, the south end of US 522 has been at its current terminus, which is at its junction with US 60 in Powhatan:
c. 1956, Gousha
These photos were taken heading south on US 522, showing the approach to the endpoint and the actual intersection where US 522 ends:
Robb, Mar. 2004
Robb, Mar. 2004
Incidentally: prior to the mid-1930s, that segment of US 60 had not been built. Instead it followed what is now VA hwy. 13, which is about 1/4-mile ahead. But by the time US 522 was extended down to Powhatan, that "newer" US 60 was already there. Here, we are looking the opposite direction -- US 522 begins straight ahead:
Robb, Mar. 2004
The green sign on the opposite side of the intersection gave mileage to a few cities and included a US 522 shield on the top:
Sweeney, May 2020
Next is the south beginning of US 522 as seen from US 60 (both eastbound and westbound, respectively):
Robb, Mar. 2004
Robb, Mar. 2004
Research and/or image credits: Charles Fasold; Robert Mortell; Alex Nitzman; Tim Reichard; Bob Robb; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa; Collin Sweeney; L.E. Tuttle
Page originally created 2000;last updated Sep. 06, 2025.
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