U.S. Route 322 in Pennsylvania
U.S. Route 322 (US 322) is a spur of US 22, running from Cleveland, Ohio east to Atlantic City, New Jersey. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the route runs from the Ohio state line in West Shenango Township southeast to the Commodore Barry Bridge over the Delaware River in Chester, at which point the route crosses into New Jersey.  The route passes near several cities, including DuBois, State College, and Harrisburg. US 322 in Pennsylvania is named the 28th Division Highway in honor of the 28th Infantry Division.

Route description
In Pennsylvania, US 322 is signed as 28th Division Highway, in honor of the 28th Infantry Division. The route enters Pennsylvania taking a northeasterly course. In Meadville, US 322 overlaps US 6 and US 19. Southeast of Meadville, the highway runs generally southeast through Crawford, Venango and Clarion Counties. Once leaving the borough of Clarion, US 322 has an interchange with I-80, at exit 70. From I-80, it continues on a solid east–west routing crossing Jefferson County. The route overlaps US 219 near the northern terminus of US 119, south of DuBois. East of US 219, the route takes a southward turn to traverse Moshannon State Forest, before taking an east–west alignment. From Clearfield to US 220, the highway runs southeast and is partly divided.

In the State College area, the current alignment of US 322 overlaps I-99 and US 220 for  Northeast of Port Matilda, I-99, US 220, and US 322 depart the Appalachian Thruway via an interchange and proceed east on the 28th Division Highway while the Thruway continues to the northeast as US 220 Alternate.

West of State College, the 28th Division Highway becomes the Mount Nittany Expressway after intersecting with Scotia Road and North Atherton Street (US 322 Business, which goes through downtown State College). The I-99/US 220/US 322 overlap ends at a complex interchange north of downtown State College.

East of the overlap, US 322 continues southeastward through State College and its immediate suburbs on the Mount Nittany Expressway. After three exits, US 322 reverts to an at-grade highway two miles east of State College in Boalsburg, merging with US 322 Business and proceeding eastward along Boal Avenue as the route exits the State College area. Between Boalsburg and Lewistown, the highway traverses Tussey Mountain and Stone Mountain, in the Rothrock State Forest, as it turns to the south.

Between Potters Mills and Lewistown, US 322 is a limited-access road. Near Lewistown, it briefly overlaps US 522 and begins a long overlap with US 22. South of Lewistown, US 22/US 322 enters the Lewistown Narrows, an  stretch of road through the Juniata River water gap in Shade Mountain. This section of highway includes the longest mechanically stabilized earth wall in the U.S. The highway exits the narrows in Arch Rock, traverses Juniata County and Perry County, and crosses the Tuscarora Mountain through a water gap on a southeastward course along the banks of the Juniata River. After crossing the Susquehanna River on the Clarks Ferry Bridge (coinciding with the Appalachian Trail), the freeway runs south and parallels the river for  before entering the Harrisburg Area. The section of US 322 between State College and Harrisburg serves as a major access road to Pennsylvania State University from points to the southeast and experiences traffic congestion on Penn State Nittany Lions football home game days.

North of downtown Harrisburg, the US 22/US 322 overlap has an interchange with I-81 at exit 67. While US 22 continues through the interchange and heads into downtown, US 322 departs US 22 and joins I-81 northbound. I-81 and US 322 remain concurrent for three miles (5 km) to exit 70, where US 322 exits, following I-83, which has its northern terminus at the interchange, south through the innermost suburbs of Harrisburg. After two exits, US 322 departs I-83 at the Eisenhower Interchange (exit 47), following Paxton Street east, returning to an at-grade roadway after one exit, toward Hummelstown. West of that borough, US 322 becomes a freeway once again, becoming the Hummelstown Bypass after crossing Fiddlers Elbow Road. The route runs south of Hummelstown, interchanging with two local roads before meeting the eastern terminus of PA 39 and the western terminus of US 422 at an interchange midway between Hummelstown and Hershey.

                                 
As the freeway ends (road continues ahead as US 422), US 322 exits and heads east on the at-grade West Governor Road as it passes south of Hershey. East of the Hershey area, the route runs eastward via the scenic Horseshoe Pike traversing Lebanon County. The Horseshoe Pike portion ends west of Cornwall, where US 322 bypasses the town (during an overlap with PA 72). East of the bypass, the route becomes grade-leveled again, enters Lancaster County and passes over the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) without an interchange. This stretch runs eastward, again known as the 28th Division Highway. East of Ephrata, US 322 reaches a diverging diamond interchange with the US 222 freeway and continues southeastward through the Pennsylvania Dutch Country of eastern Lancaster County, which is home to many Amish farms. In this area, the route intersects PA 23 in Blue Ball, and then reverts to the name Horseshoe Pike before crossing PA 10 in Honey Brook after entering Chester County. In Downingtown, US 322 comes to an interchange with US 30.  After passing under US 30 it continues into Downingtown as Manor Avenue before intersecting US 30 Business (Lancaster Avenue) The route turns left at the intersection and runs concurrent US 30 Business for a block while crossing the Brandywine Creek. The route then turns right at the next intersection onto Brandywine Avenue as it exits the borough and becomes Downingtown Pike.

Where the highway approaches the West Chester area, it bypasses the borough via West Chester Bypass, with US 322 Business passing through West Chester. At the end of the at-grade bypass, the eastbound lane of US 322 merges onto US 202 southbound to begin an overlap. After three exits, the US 202/US 322 overlap becomes grade leveled running north–south. South of West Chester, the overlap is a major divided highway in Chester County and then entering Delaware County. In Concord Township, US 322 turns east onto US 1 (Baltimore Pike) and leaves US 202 at Painters Crossing. One mile conjoined with US 1 east of US 202, US 322 leaves US 1 in Concordville via a turn southeastward to become the Conchester Highway. Approaching Chester, the route has three exits (one with PA 452, Bethel Road at the bridge over CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision rail line, and Highland Avenue) before beginning an overlap with I-95, at exit 3A. The overlap with I-95 is a brief one, where US 322 leaves I-95, at exit 4, and heads southeast on a freeway. The route crosses the Delaware River to enter New Jersey via the Commodore Barry Bridge.

History

The earliest predecessors of US 322 were several turnpikes. The Downingstown, Ephrata, and Harrisburg Turnpike was chartered in 1803, forming the bulk of the highway east of Harrisburg. A brief section from Philipsburg to West Decatur was part of the Philipsburg and Susquehanna Turnpike, with a western terminus at Curwensville. From there to Meadville, the highway was the Susquehanna and Waterford Turnpike, which extended north to Waterford. The latter two turnpikes were part of the cross-state route known as the Northumberland and Waterford Turnpike.

These highways were mostly incorporated into the Lakes-to-Sea Highway, which went from Erie to Atlantic City, New Jersey. This route deviated from the early turnpikes in central Pennsylvania, by swinging south from DuBois along US 219 to service Grampain, then north on PA 879 to service Clearfield. From Philipsburg, it followed PA 53 to Osceola Mills and State Street and PA 350 to Bald Eagle. It then went south along South Bald Eagle Road (at the time also US 220) to Tyrone, then PA 453 and PA 45 meet US 22 at Water Street. The two highways bore a concurrency to Harrisburg. At the time of their marking, both highways swung north from Mill Creek, following PA 655 to Reedsville, then south to Lewistown, where they resumed the modern alignment. From West Chester, the highway followed PA 3 to Philadelphia. This highway was numbered as PA 5 in the earliest numbering system in the state. 

US 322, in its original inception, followed PA 5 from Water Street to Meadville, where it continued west on its modern alignment. Both US 22 and US 322 followed their modern alignments east of Lewistown. In 1928, concurrencies with this highway and its PA 5 moniker were deleted in favor of the national number. In 1937, US 322 was extended to and through New Jersey, replacing what remained of PA 5 between Harrisburg and West Chester, and PA 61 to Chester.

In 1957, US 322 was routed onto a limited-access bypass of West Chester to the north and east. As a result, US 322 Bus. replaced the US 322 designation through West Chester. In 1970, the highway was rerouted to bypass Curwensville to the north, replacing a section of PA 410.

In December 2007, construction to convert the section of the US 22/US 322 through the Lewistown Narrows from a two-lane highway to a divided, limited-access four-lane highway was completed. 

To decrease congestion and improve safety, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) began a project in 2014 to reconstruct US 322 from the Centre/Mifflin county line to the route's interchange with PA 144, at a cost of about $93 million. On March 30, 2018, the Sand Mountain Road interchange in Spring Mills opened, replacing the at-grade intersection. The bulk of the cost of the project is related to an extension of the four-lane portion of US 322 through Potters Mills Gap and a new interchange with PA 144, which opened on October 10, 2020.

The section of US 322 along Conchester Highway between US 1 in Concordville and I-95 in Chester opened in 1954. PennDOT had plans since 1979 to widen the stretch of US 322 along Conchester Highway from a two-lane road to a four-lane road. The stretch of road saw a large number of accidents and fatalities, leading to the nickname "Killer Conchester". Construction on the project to widen the Conchester Highway section of US 322 began on April 28, 2017, with Governor Tom Wolf, PennDOT secretary Leslie Richards, and other state and local officials in attendance for a groundbreaking ceremony. Construction on the first phase of the widening between US 1 and Clayton Park Drive started in 2017 and was completed in December 2020. Plans to widen US 322 between Clayton Park Drive and east of Chelsea Parkway/Bethel Avenue are in the design phase, with construction to take place between 2024 and 2028. Plans to reconstruct the four-lane section of US 322 from Cherry Tree Road/Bethel Avenue to east of PA 452 are in the design phase, with construction to take place between 2022 and 2026. Plans to replace the bridge over the CSX tracks and Bethel Road along with improving the Bethel Road interchange are in the final design phase, with construction to take place between 2021 and 2023.

In 2019, construction began to convert the interchange with US 222 near Ephrata into a diverging diamond interchange. The diverging diamond interchange, which cost $10.9 million and received federal funding, opened on May 17, 2021, one year ahead of schedule.

Major intersections

See also

References

External links

Pennsylvania Highways: US 322
US 322 at AARoads.com
Pennsylvania Roads - US 322
The Roads Of Metro Philadelphia: US 322 Expressway-Pennsylvania (unbuilt)

22-3
 Pennsylvania
Transportation in Crawford County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Venango County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Clarion County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Centre County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Juniata County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Perry County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Chester County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Delaware County, Pennsylvania