Pennsylvania Route 272

Pennsylvania Route 272
Route information
Maintained by PennDOT
Length	54.666 mi[1] (87.976 km)
Major junctions
South end	MD 272 near Nottingham
Major intersections	US 1 in Nottingham US 222 in Fulton Township PA 372 in Buck US 222 / PA 741 in Willow Street PA 72 in Lancaster PA 23 / PA 462 in Lancaster US 30 / US 222 in Lancaster PA 772 in Brownstown US 322 in Ephrata I-76 Toll / Penna Turnpike / US 222 near Denver
North end	US 222 / PA 568 near Adamstown
Location
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
Counties	Chester, Lancaster, Berks
Highway system
Pennsylvania State Route System Interstate US State Scenic Legislative
← PA 271 → PA 274

Pennsylvania Route 272 (PA 272) is a 54.7-mile-long (88.0 km) highway in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the Lancaster area. The southern terminus of the route is at the Mason–Dixon line southeast of Nottingham, where the road continues into Maryland as Maryland Route 272 (MD 272). The northern terminus is at an interchange with U.S. Route 222 (US 222) and PA 568 near Adamstown, where PA 568 continues east. The route heads from the Maryland border northwest through the southwestern corner of Chester County, intersecting US 1 in Nottingham. PA 272 continues west into Lancaster County and intersects US 222 in Wakefield, where it turns north and passes through Buck before widening into a divided highway as it comes to another junction with US 222 in Willow Street. Here, the route becomes unsigned and follows US 222 north through Lancaster along a one-way pair of city streets. North of Lancaster, US 222 splits at an interchange with US 30 and PA 272 becomes signed again, heading northeast parallel to the freeway alignment of US 222 and passing through Akron, Ephrata (where it intersects US 322), and Adamstown. The route enters Berks County and comes to its northern terminus.

PA 272 was first designated in 1928 to run from US 222/PA 72 in Wakefield east to US 1/PA 12 in Nottingham. The route was fully paved by 1940. In the 1940s, PA 272 was extended south from Nottingham to the Maryland border, replacing a section of PA 42 between the Maryland border and Chrome. The route was extended north from Wakefield to US 222 in Willow Street in the 1960s. This extension replaced what became a southern extension of PA 72 from Lancaster in the 1930s. The route was extended from Willow Street to US 222 and PA 568 in Adamstown following the completion of the US 222 freeway between Lancaster and Adamstown in 1977. PA 272 followed US 222 through Lancaster and ran along the former alignment of US 222 between Lancaster and Adamstown. In 2006, the intersection at the northern terminus was converted to an interchange following the extension of the US 222 freeway from Adamstown to the Reading area.