Pennsylvania Route 43 was aligned as a bypass, north of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, that ran from U.S. Route 22, U.S. Route 11, and Pennsylvania Route 5 in Harrisburg to Pennsylvania Route 12 in Bethlehem. The route from Fogelsville to Allentown, now Main Street, Tilghman Street, Broadway, College Heights Boulevard, and Liberty Street, was designated LR 443 in 1925, and was soon incorporated into "Traffic Route 43." "The New York Times" was recommending use of this cutoff by early 1931. On June 8, 1931, the American Association of State Highway Officials came to a resolution for the traffic problem, by replacing the PA 43 corridor with US 22. The Pennsylvania Department of Highways moved the William Penn Highway name to match. The state truncated PA 43 to Susquehanna Street from Allentown to Bethlehem. Signs were changed to reflect the new designations on May 31, 1932, with the new route designations officially in place on June 1, 1932.