 When the state began maintenance over roads via the Sproul Road Bill that was signed on May 31, 1911, the system did not include the direct Reading–Philadelphia routes that PA 73 and US 422 are today.PA 73 was adopted as Legislative Route 197, the main route that connected Philadelphia and its northwest suburbs.Legislative Routes paved the way for Pennsylvania's first Traffic Routes in 1924 and a new set of routes, including PA 73, that were added in the late 1920s.