AASHTO questioned this request and noted that it would not renumber the longer US 22 from Reading to Ebensburg to create a continuous route; Pennsylvania assented to the two disconnected segments, and they were approved.

Today, US 422 in Shaker Heights and Beachwood, where it now merges with I-271, is almost a linear edge city, with millions of square feet in office space centered on this corridor.

The section from downtown Warren to SR 46 is known as "The Strip"[citation needed] and is lined with shopping centers, fast-food restaurants and other retail establishments, including the Eastwood Mall.

US 422 gains a center left-turn lane and continues past businesses, leaving Palmyra for North Londonderry Township and becoming Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

In the commercial center of Annville, the route crosses PA 934 and becomes East Main Street, heading south of the Lebanon Valley College campus.

US 422 enters Jackson Township and becomes West Lincoln Avenue, crossing the Tulpehocken Creek and continuing through agricultural areas with some homes and businesses.

US 422 leaves Myerstown for Jackson Township again and becomes a three-lane road with a center turn lane, heading east through farmland with some commercial development.

The route continues southeast near residential areas before it leaves Womelsdorf for Heidelberg Township and passes to the north of the Conrad Weiser Homestead.

The route crosses the Cacoosing Creek into the borough of Sinking Spring and becomes two lanes, following Penn Avenue past a mix of homes and businesses.

[8][11] At this interchange, US 422 becomes concurrent with US 222, and the two routes continue east-northeast along the six-lane Warren Street Bypass, a freeway that runs between residential areas to the northwest and Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line to the southeast.

Following this, US 222/US 422 passes between the Berkshire Mall to the west and commercial areas to the east before it reaches an interchange with Paper Mill Road and Crossing Drive, where it curves to the northeast and runs near more businesses.

Following this interchange, US 422 heads southeast along the West Shore Bypass, a four-lane freeway that runs between residential areas to the southwest and the Tulpehocken Creek to the northeast.

The freeway turns east and crosses the river into Cumru Township, where it passes through woodland and comes to a bridge over Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line.

The road runs southeast through a mix of woodland and development before the eastbound and westbound lanes split as it reaches an intersection with the northern terminus of PA 345 in the community of Baumstown.

The road passes south of a residential development before the eastbound and westbound lanes split again, running a short distance to the north of Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line.

US 422 splits from Benjamin Franklin Highway by heading southeast onto a four-lane freeway called the Pottstown Bypass at an eastbound exit and westbound entrance.

US 422 enters West Pottsgrove Township in Montgomery County and comes to an interchange with Grosstown Road that provides access to the community of Stowe.

[8][13] From here, the road turns northeast and crosses the Schuylkill River into Lower Pottsgrove Township in Montgomery County, reaching a diamond interchange with Armand Hammer Boulevard in an industrial area.

The freeway passes over Norfolk Southern's Pottstown Industrial Track and Harrisburg Line before running near residential and commercial development and turning to the east.

The route comes to a partial cloverleaf interchange with the southern terminus of PA 363 that provides access to the communities of Audubon and Trooper, where it enters West Norriton Township and makes a turn to the south, gaining a third auxiliary lane in each direction.

The freeway passes over Norfolk Southern's Harrisburg Line before reaching a partial cloverleaf interchange with PA 23 to the east of the Visitor Center at Valley Forge National Historical Park.

US 422 comes to its eastern terminus at a trumpet interchange with the US 202 freeway that also has ramps connecting to Swedesford Road and I-76 eastbound (Schuylkill Expressway) to the city of Philadelphia.

US 202 northbound provides access from US 422 to I-76 westbound and the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the western terminus of I-276 at the Valley Forge interchange along with the King of Prussia shopping mall.

In the same year, the County Line Expressway was completed, a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) freeway running from Trooper Road (PA 363) in Audubon to US 202 near King of Prussia.

As a result, the US 422 alignment was moved entirely onto the freeway, and the eastern terminus of the eastern segment was truncated nearly 15 miles west from Philadelphia to King of Prussia.The completion of the Pottstown Expressway considerably shorted travel times for Pottstown area residents travelling to the King of Prussia and Philadelphia areas, and the completion of the expressway caused for multiple communities located along the US 422 corridor to experience significant population growth beginning in the 1990s, with Limerick Township, Upper Providence Township, and the borough of Trappe seeing the most growth.

[20] Attempting to relieve the growing congestion, the Schuylkill Valley Metro was proposed in 2000, which would have been a rail service connecting Philadelphia to Reading and paralleling US 422 from King of Prussia into Berks County.

Due to the convergence of multiple major highways (US 202, I-76, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike) near the eastern terminus of US 422, the interchange area frequently suffered from heavy congestion.

However, due to environmental concerns over the construction of the bridge, which would have been in close proximity to Valley Forge National Historical Park, no proposal ever moved forward.

[26][27] Despite the widening of the highway, congestion still lingered in the area, and the issue of the age of the twin bridges began to arise, as they were built as part of the original County Line Expressway in the 1960s.

This plan detailed ways to address the future trends of traffic on US 422 through a set of sustainability programs, including: extending SEPTA's Manayunk/Norristown Line regional rail service to Wyomissing (a partial restoration of rail service between Norristown and Pottsville that SEPTA abruptly terminated in July 1981), widening US 422 to six lanes from the PA 29 interchange to the eastern terminus at US 202, and additional road improvements.