For decades, locals and visitors alike marveled—or rather chuckled—at the so-called “Road to Nowhere,” a rare breed of Pennsylvania roadway that, for years, led travelers absolutely nowhere of significance. Built in 1964, this four-lane wonder began as a strip of asphalt in the middle of farmland, seemingly designed to test engines, challenge brakes, and serve as an inadvertent speedway for the rural youth. You could practically hear the collective sigh as drivers rocketed from one end to the other, only to encounter a dead-end—or, as some drivers called it, “the world’s shortest highway.”
In those early days, the Road to Nowhere’s only “terminus” was Van Reed Road, leaving motorists either to ponder existential questions of travel and destination or take a sharp turn toward, well, still not much.
Below: “Road to Nowhere,” 1964.
Below: Former terminus at Van Reed Road looking southwest. Traffic followed Van Reed Road for several miles to U.S. 422.
By 1968, Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation (PennDOT) decided enough was enough. The state had apparently spent a small fortune building a four-lane road that served as a glorified landing strip. So, PennDOT set its sights on expansion, inching the road eastward toward Pottsville Pike (Route 61) with grandiose hopes that it might one day connect with Allentown Pike (Route 222). Local residents, however, were less than thrilled, picturing an unending cavalcade of honking cars barreling down Van Reed Road in Spring Township. But in a game of millions of taxpayer dollars versus local opinions, money won, and the state moved ahead, adding more lanes and more destinations (or potential destinations, at least).
Below: “Road to Nowhere” from Terminus at Van Reed Road to Rt. 183 and Rt. 61.
Below: “Road to Nowhere” looking from West from Route 61 (the Pottsville Pike) at bottom of photo.
Still, the Road to Nowhere had a peculiar lack of signage or purpose. Officially designated as Legislative Route 1035—though nary a sign ever mentioned this—the road remained a Bermuda Triangle of the Berks County landscape. When driving the Road to Nowhere, all you knew was you’d eventually see farmland on both sides, with some polite suggestion of “going anywhere” vaguely offered by oversized directional signs at the end of the road.
In the 1950s, Berks County planners gathered to address a pressing issue: drivers needed a way to bypass the Reading area without detours worthy of a treasure map. They hatched a grand plan in 1958, writing down “Extend Warren Street Bypass” and “Reconstruct Route 222/Lancaster” in what we can only assume was the most optimistic handwriting imaginable. They even put it on the official Central Berks Planning Study, thinking, “Surely this will all be done by the next decade!” If only they’d known…
Flash forward to the ‘70s, where the “Reading Area Transportation Study Plan of 1972” saw the two grand projects listed once again. With hope in their hearts and high-fives all around, officials rolled up their sleeves, dreaming of bulldozers and bypasses. But they hit an unavoidable snag: money. Despite grand plans, they ran into the classic roadblock of fiscal reality, and the projects were postponed in the mid 1970’s. They bought a few key parcels of land, built a lovely interchange on Warren Street at US Route 422, and then… waited. And waited. And waited some more.
In 1975, stretch linking U.S. 222 (the Allentown Pike) to Route 61 (the Pottsville Pike) finally opened. But it had actually been completed the year before, left fenced off and untouched after Spring Township residents sounded the alarm due to local concerns about the potential flood of cars it might unleash onto the narrow Van Reed Road. Spring Township residents had visions of their peaceful two-lane road transforming into a bumper-to-bumper parking lot by 9 a.m. every weekday.
In October 1998, a road miracle happened: the portion of road known as Park Road Corridor was completed, and the famously aimless Road to Nowhere found its purpose! This twist of fate rerouted US 222 onto the new corridor, allowing it to elegantly dodge the Reading area and finally giving SR 1035 (aka the Road to Nowhere) something to do with itself. Now, instead of just dead-ending into the abyss, it became a legitimate bypass.
Meanwhile, the old US 222 alignment, feeling a little left out, had a makeover and emerged as PA 12, cruising down the Warren Street Bypass. But the transformation didn’t stop there! The bypassed route picked up a fancy new alter ego as US 222 Business and now glides along 5th Street Highway and Allentown Pike through Muhlenberg Township like it owns the place.
At long last, in mid-1997, the stars aligned, the wallets opened, and the Federal Highway Administration bestowed upon Berks County a favorable Record of Decision. (Cue the angelic choir!) This golden stamp of approval meant one thing: the new Route 222 was actually happening, for real this time. Planners dusted off their blueprints, officials cracked open their shovels, and everyone braced themselves for the long-awaited groundbreaking.
On October 27, 1998, a small army of state and local officials gathered in Spring Township, hard hats and smiles at the ready, for the ceremonial start of the Warren Street Bypass extension. It was a momentous occasion—shovels were poised, cameras flashed, and someone probably whispered, “This is really happening!” The long-suffering Road to Nowhere was finally on its way to Somewhere.
Below: Oct. 27, 1998 – In Spring Township, state and local officials gathered, hard hats in hand, for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Warren Street Bypass extension—a moment so exciting you’d think they were digging up buried treasure!
The true triumph came in June 2006 when the US Route 222 Expressway was at last completed between Reading and Lancaster. Yes, the Road to Nowhere had finally gone Somewhere! And in doing so, it earned its place as a quirky, almost mythical piece of Pennsylvania’s highway history, a tale of persistence, determination, and a road that, for a long time, led exactly… nowhere.
Below: The Road to Nowhere at Van Reed Road: From “Nowhere Fast” to “Hey, We’re Actually Going Somewhere!”
