Bus. designation. In 1984, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) was planning to extend PA 145 and US 222 in Allentown. 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 US 222 but AASHTO denied the extension, stating that the route "is not the shortest or best available route between major control points on the system, and therefore, does not adhere to the policies established under AASHTO's 'Purpose and Policy Statement for U.S. Numbered Highways'". In addition, the route did not meet the criteria for a business route. In 1991, it was commissioned as PA 222. PA 145 was extended south of the Lehigh Valley Thruway to the I-78/PA 309 overlap near Lanark. US 222 in Maryland used to extend down to MD 7 in Perryville. In 1972, the south end of US 222 was cut back to US 40 in Perryville, with MD 222 replacing the route along Aiken Avenue between MD 7 and US 40. AASHTO approved rolling back the southern end of the US 222 designation from US 40 in Perryville to US 1 in Conowingo at their April 1995 spring meeting. The Maryland State Highway Administration proposed and AASHTO approved the redesignation of US 222 to MD 222 from US 40 in Perryville to US 1 in Conowingo in February 1996; however, the new designation had already been enacted officially and marked publicly in 1995. In 1995, construction began on the Park Road Corridor to connect US 222/US 422 at the junction of the West Shore Bypass and Warren Street Bypass to the Road to Nowhere. Construction of the Park Road Corridor was completed in October 1998. As a result, US 222 was shifted to follow the Park Road Corridor and the Road to Nowhere to bypass the Reading area, replacing SR 3055 along the Road to Nowhere. The former alignment of US 222 that was bypassed became PA 12 along the Warren Street Bypass between US 222/US 422 and US 222 Bus. and a northern extension of US 222 Bus. along 5th Street Highway and Allentown Pike through Muhlenberg Township. In 1998, construction began on the US 222 freeway