US hwy ends in Philadelphia, PA

Historic US highway endpoints in Philadelphia, PA

1927-1985

In addition to the main US routes that pass through Philadelphia (US 1, 13, and 30), historically some shorter branch routes terminated in the city. None of these routes extended beyond Pennsylvania; by 1972 all but one of them had been decommissioned, and in 1985 the last one was truncated to a point outside of Philadelphia city limits.

US 120 was among the routes in the original 1926 plan, and its east terminus was listed as Philadelphia. However, it was probably never actually signposted there, because its easternmost segment was replaced by US 422 in 1927, and US routes were probably not signed at all in Pennsylvania until 1928.

The remaining three routes were all shown on this map: US 611 and US 309 came in from the north edge, and US 422 is visible at upper left. But notice that the thick lines (indicating signed highway routes) all became thinner right around the point where they entered the city limits. That may reflect the fact that PennDoT did not maintain any Philadelphia routes until 1937, so if any signs were posted during those early years, they would have been the responsibility of the City. This makes it a challenging task to identify the specific locations of early endpoints:

c. 1930, Penn DoT

We will start with US 611, since it is a fairly safe assumption that its south end was always at Penn Square in Philadelphia. This was true even in its latter years, after all other US highways had been rerouted away from the square (as is shown on other maps below). Penn Square was a fitting place to end a US route -- it essentially functions as a giant rotary encircling the massive city hall building, and it thus forms the cynosure of Philadelphia:

That interactive image is looking south on Broad Street, at the historic south end of US 611. This photo was heading westbound; Broad exits the Square to the right:

Field/Nitzman, Aug. 2005

Straight ahead was once southbound US 1-13; northbound was to the right on Broad. That direction was also the south beginning of US 611. Drivers turning that direction see the first northbound sign:

Nitzman, May 2007

PA 611 follows historic US 611 northward all the way up through the Poconos.

The other two routes are harder to determine. Reportedly, US 309 originally came into Philadelphia via Stenton Avenue. However, at that time US 611 traffic was still using Old York Road through that area (not Broad), so that was the intersection where US 309 ended:

It does seem reasonably certain that, in about 1935, both US 309 and US 422 were rerouted such that they shared a common terminus at their junction with Bypass US 1-13:

c. 1940, Rand McNally

At the intersection of Ridge Avenue and Lincoln Drive, they joined for a brief concurrency, before both routes ended at City Line Avenue. This is now known as City Av, and the historic junction was located approximately where that intersects Kelly Drive today. This photo is from roughly that location; it was looking north on City Av, or north on Byp 1-13, which continued via Kelly Dr to Ridge Av South. US 309 went up Lincoln Dr, while US 422 used Ridge Av North:

Further to the east, that map showed Bypass US 422 aligning with the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. In 1946, mainline US 422 was changed to follow that routing to the bridge:

c. 1950, Penn DoT

The US 422 designation did not enter New Jersey; it ended at the stateline over the Delaware River. Here is a view of the Bridge from that perspective:

Mason

That arrangement lasted for less than a decade: in 1954, the routes of both US 422 and US 309 were changed, as illustrated on this next map:

c. 1956, Gousha

US 422 ended near the old terminus it shared with US 309, except it appears traffic was directed a little further west on Ridge Av and Allegheny Avenue, ending at Hunting Park Avenue (US 1-13). This image is looking southwest on Hunting Park:

US 1-13 continued straight, but traffic angling to the right on Allegheny was at the east beginning of US 422.

Meanwhile, US 309 went back to its former route along Stenton... except by that time, US 611 traffic was using Broad, so US 309 ended a couple blocks east of its original endpoint at Old York Rd:

Elbert, July 2006

City Hall is about seven miles to the right on Broad. Stenton is no longer a state highway, but Broad is PA hwy. 611, the number for which is obviously a nod to historic US 611. Street signs at this intersection include the PA 611 marker...

Elbert, July 2006

...but compare that to the "US 611" marker on Broad Street signs about six miles to the south:

Elbert, July 2006

A map from a few years later showed the same endpoint for US 422... and also for US 309, although traffic had been directed to turn north on Ogontz Avenue (instead of staying on Stenton):

c. 1960, Penn DoT

However, the year after that map was made, US 422's terminus was changed again, as illustrated on this map:

c. 1970, Penn DoT

Now the route came into the city via Germantown Avenue, transitioned to Wayne Avenue, and ended on Clarissa Avenue at Hunting Park:

Nelson, Sep. 2007

That map illustrated another change, one which occurred in 1968: US 309 was decommissioned and replaced with the PA 309 designation. Then in 1972, US 611 was replaced with PA 611. Finally, in 1985, US 422 was truncated to its current endpoint outside Philadelphia, and since then no US routes terminate in the city.

Research and/or photo credits: Nathan Edgars; Chris Elbert; Andy Field; Christopher Mason; Steven Nelson; Alex Nitzman; Dale Sanderson; "fdocbc"

Page originally created 1999;
last updated August 18, 2016.