Before the Reading Motor Inn, or Berkshire Mall, there was sprawling farmland and a highway system that was still being integrated into the rural roads of Spring Township. On this day in 1959 the Warren Street Bypass reopened after the construction depicted below closed the roadway for an extended period.
The bridge branching off from the bypass at the left is the northern extension of the Reading Bypass at the point where it crosses the Tulpehocken Creek and joins the Warren Street Bypass. The cloverleaf at the middle right is the northern end of the Reading Bypass now under construction.
![Moore's Diner as it sat at 421 Penn Street in Reading. Moore's was first established at 5th & Court in 1937 by Walter J. Moore. He eventually opened four other diner locations downtown, and a restaurant on the corner of Lancaster Ave and Morgantown Road, which later became Queen City Diner. [colorized]](https://scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/439342573_469943478696893_6557708698437293941_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=Fh5icujveaUQ7kNvgFCLtSq&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfCG25C5c9_jhGRLs6xBhFWSsrTxYnaAzwiZFsDmEqwAAg&oe=66319618)
I recall this all too well as a kid. As traffic increased and you would travel around that cloverleaf from the Reading Bypass to get onto the Warren Street Bypass to go west, there was a traffic light intersection at the Reading Motor Inn that you had to wait your turn to proceed that sometimes got backed up at rush hour. The area of the Reading Bypass that merges onto Warren Street at the Tulpehocken Creek and before has been graded away over the years as the roadway changed to make it less of a turn but used to be referred to by some folks as ‘Deadman’s Curve’. The Warren Street Bypass used to terminate in Wyomissing at the old Iron Bridge at a stop sign at 422 west (Penn Avenue) where you had to wait for the Penn Avenue traffic to pass. What a backup this would cause in today’s traffic! Just beyond there was Penn Iron Works, Worley Lumber, Queen of the Valley Diner and other businesses that were all removed when the bypass (222) was redone and extended to the Lancaster County line.
I lived on Tulpehocken Rd about two blocks from this construction in 1959 (where Country Meadows retirement community is located now). Amazing the changes that have happened since that time. Thanks for posting this.