Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/1

Interstate 68 (I-68) is a 112.6-mile (181.2 km) Interstate highway in the U.S. states of West Virginia and Maryland, connecting I-79 in Morgantown to I-70 in Hancock. I-68 is also Corridor E of the Appalachian Development Highway System. From 1965 until the freeway's construction was completed in 1991, it was designated as U.S. Route 48 (US 48). In Maryland, the highway is known as the National Freeway, an homage to the historic National Road, which I-68 parallels between Keysers Ridge and Hancock. The freeway mainly spans rural areas, and crosses numerous mountain ridges along its route. A road cut at Sideling Hill exposed geological features of the mountain and has become a tourist attraction. The construction of I-68 began in 1965 and continued for over 25 years, with completion on August 2, 1991. While the road was under construction, it was predicted that economic conditions would improve along the corridor. The two largest cities connected by the highway are Morgantown and Cumberland, both with permanent populations of fewer than 30,000 people. Despite the fact that the freeway serves no major metropolitan areas, I-68 provides a major transportation route in western Maryland and northern West Virginia and also provides an alternative to the Pennsylvania Turnpike for westbound traffic from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. (more...)

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U.S. Route 113 (US 113) is a spur of US 13 in the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware. The U.S. Highway runs 74.75 miles (120.30 km) from US 13 in Pocomoke City, Maryland north to Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) in Milford, Delaware. In conjunction with DE 1, US 113 is one of two major north–south highways on the Delmarva Peninsula (with US 13) that connect Dover with Pocomoke City and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The U.S. Highway is the primary north–south highway in Worcester County, Maryland, where it connects Pocomoke City with Snow Hill and Berlin. While US 113 does not pass through Ocean City or the Delaware beaches, it intersects several highways that serve the Atlantic Ocean resorts. US 113 is a four-lane divided highway for its whole length. In Maryland, it was originally a post road that was designated one of the original state roads established by the Maryland State Roads Commission (MDSRC) in 1909. In Delaware, the highway was the Selbyville–Dover portion of the DuPont Highway. Economic growth resulted in heavy traffic; US 113 was subsequently widened and bypassed in many places. By 2000, most of US 113 was a divided highway. The Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) upgraded the last remaining two-lane portions of US 113 between Snow Hill and Berlin to a four-lane divided highway, with completion in 2019. US 113's northern terminus was moved to Milford in 2004 after the U.S. Highway was superseded by DE 1 from Milford to Dover. (more...)

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The Baltimore–Washington Parkway is a highway in the U.S. state of Maryland, running southwest from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The road begins at an interchange with U.S. Route 50 and Maryland Route 201 near Cheverly at the D.C. border, and continues northeast as a parkway maintained by the National Park Service (NPS) to Maryland Route 175 near Fort Meade. This portion of the parkway has the hidden Maryland Route 295 designation. After leaving park service boundaries the highway is maintained by the state and signed with the MD 295 designation. Upon entering Baltimore, the Baltimore Department of Transportation takes over maintenance of the road and it continues north to an interchange with I-95. Here, MD 295 continues north unsigned on Russell Street into downtown Baltimore, where it follows Paca Street northbound and Greene Street southbound to an intersection with U.S. Route 40. Plans for a parkway linking Baltimore and Washington date back to Pierre Charles L'Enfant's original layout for Washington D.C. in the 18th century but did not fully develop until the 1920s. In the mid-1940s, plans for the design of the parkway were finalized and construction began in 1947 for the state-maintained portion and in 1950 for the NPS-maintained segment. The entire parkway opened to traffic in stages between 1950 and 1954. Following the completion of the B–W Parkway, suburban growth took place in both Washington and Baltimore. In the 1960s and the 1970s, there were plans to make it a part of Interstate 295 and possibly I-95; however, they never came through. Between the 1980s and the 2000s, the NPS portion of the road was modernized. (more...)

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Maryland Route 36 (also known as MD 36 or Route 36) is a 29.43-mile (47.36 km) state highway located in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. MD 36's southern terminus is at the WV 46 bridge in Westernport and its northern terminus at U.S. Route 40 Alternate near Cumberland. Between Westernport and Frostburg, it is known as Georges Creek Road, and from Frostburg to Cumberland it is known as Mount Savage Road. Like the majority of Maryland state highways, MD 36 is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA). MD 36 serves as the main road through the Georges Creek Valley, a region which is historically known for coal mining, and has been designated by MDSHA as part of the Coal Heritage Scenic Byway. MD 36 is the main road connecting the towns of Westernport, Lonaconing, and Midland in southwestern Allegany County, as well as Frostburg, Mount Savage, and Corriganville in northwestern Allegany County. (more...)

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Maryland Route 231 (MD 231) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs 16.39 miles (26.38 km) from Olivers Shop Road near Hughesville east to MD 765 in Prince Frederick. MD 231 crosses the Patuxent River on the Benedict Bridge, which connects Benedict in eastern Charles County with Hallowing Point in central Calvert County. Due to the state highway serving as the sole connection between the two areas of Southern Maryland, MD 231 is part of the National Highway System between MD 5 in Hughesville and MD 2 and MD 4 in Prince Frederick. MD 231 was constructed from Hughesville to Benedict and from Hollowing Point to Prince Frederick in the early 1920s. The portion of the state highway west of Hughesville was built in the early 1930s, about the same time ferry service began between Benedict and Hallowing Point. The Benedict Bridge was started in 1950 and was completed in 1952; the bridge remained the southernmost crossing of the Patuxent River for 25 years. The bridge was tolled from its opening until around 1955. MD 231 was reconstructed between Hughesville and Prince Frederick in the mid- to late 1950s to better serve intercounty traffic. (more...)

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Maryland Route 322 (MD 322) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Easton Parkway, the highway runs 5.12 miles (8.24 km) on the west side of Easton between two junctions with U.S. Route 50 (US 50). MD 322 serves as a bypass of downtown Easton for traffic between US 50 and highways to western Talbot County, including MD 33 toward Saint Michaels and MD 333 toward Oxford. Easton Parkway was constructed in the mid to late 1960s. The state highway was originally designated as part of MD 33; MD 322 became the sole designation on the bypass in 1978. (more...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/7

U.S. Route 40 Alternate (Alt US 40) is the United States highway designation for a former segment of U.S. Route 40 (US 40) through Garrett and Allegany Counties in Maryland. The highway begins at US 40 near exit 14 on Interstate 68 and runs 31.80 miles (51.18 km) eastward to Cumberland, where it ends at exit 44 on Interstate 68. The highway is known as Old National Pike to reflect the fact that it follows the original alignment of the National Road. As the route of the historic National Road, there are many historic sites along Alt US 40, including the Casselman Bridge in Grantsville and the last remaining National Road toll gate house in Maryland, located in LaVale. When the National Freeway was built in western Maryland paralleling the old National Road, parts of U.S. Route 40 were bypassed. The part of the bypassed road between Keyser's Ridge and Cumberland became Alt US 40, and other bypassed sections east of Cumberland became Maryland Route 144 and U.S. Route 40 Scenic. The road remains an important route for local traffic and serves as the Main Streets of Grantsville and Frostburg. (more...)

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Interstate 895 (I-895) is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as the Harbor Tunnel Thruway, the highway runs 14.87 miles (23.93 km) between one junction with I-95 in Elkridge and another interchange with I-95 on the east side of Baltimore. I-895 is a toll road that crosses the Patapsco River estuary via the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. The highway is designed for through traffic by having partial interchanges that require vehicles from almost all starting points to pass through the tunnel and the tunnel toll plaza, where a $3 toll is charged to passenger vehicles, before exiting the facility. The idea of a crossing of the Patapsco River south of downtown Baltimore has been studied since the 1930s. In the early 1950s, the Maryland State Roads Commission chose to construct a four-lane tunnel between the Canton and Fairfield neighborhoods of Baltimore and approach highways. The tunnel and approach highways were constructed beginning in 1955 and opened in November 1957, opening a bottleneck for Baltimore through traffic. The Harbor Tunnel Thruway was connected with the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway in the early 1960s and the portion of I-95 south to Washington in the early 1970s and became congested. The congestion was not resolved until I-95 through Baltimore was completed when the eight-lane Fort McHenry Tunnel opened in November 1985. The transfer of most traffic to the new tunnel allowed the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel to be partially shut down for extensive maintenance in the late 1980s. (more...)

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Maryland Route 12 is a state highway on the Eastern Shore in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs 30.63 mi (49.29 km) from the Virginia border south of Stockton, Worcester County, where it continues into Virginia as State Route 679, north to Main Street in the city of Salisbury in Wicomico County. The route is known as Snow Hill Road for most of its length and passes mostly through areas of woods and farms as well as the communities of Stockton, Girdletree, and Snow Hill. MD 12 intersects several roads including Maryland Route 366 in Stockton, U.S. Route 113 and U.S. Route 113 Business in Snow Hill, Maryland Route 354 in Indiantown, and U.S. Route 13 near Salisbury. Portions of MD 12 near Snow Hill and Stockton existed as unnumbered state roads by 1910. When the first state highways in Maryland were designated by 1927, MD 12 was assigned to run from Stockton north to Salisbury. By 1940, the route was extended south to the Virginia border and a small incomplete portion between Snow Hill and Salisbury was finished. (more...)

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Maryland Route 228 (MD 228) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Berry Road, the state highway runs 6.88 miles (11.07 km) from MD 210 in Accokeek east to U.S. Route 301 (US 301) and MD 5 Business in Waldorf. MD 228, which is a four-lane divided highway for its entire length, is a major commuter route between southwestern Prince George's County and northern Charles County. In conjunction with MD 210, the state highway serves as an alternative to US 301 and MD 5 as a route to Washington from Southern Maryland. MD 228 also serves as part of the connection, again via MD 210, between Waldorf and Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center. MD 228 did not originally connect Waldorf with Accokeek; instead, the state highway headed west from Waldorf and turned south near the Prince George's – Charles county line, following what is now MD 229 to Pomfret. The state highway was built from Pomfret to Berry in the late 1920s. MD 228 was completed between Berry and Waldorf in the mid 1930s. MD 228 was expanded to a divided highway in Charles County and extended into Prince George's County in the mid 1990s. In 2000, the Prince George's County section of the state highway was reconstructed as a divided highway west to the MD 210 intersection, which was rebuilt as the second continuous-flow intersection in the U.S. (more...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/11 Maryland Route 704 (MD 704) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, the highway runs 6.53 miles (10.51 km) from Eastern Avenue at the District of Columbia boundary in Seat Pleasant east to MD 450 in Lanham. MD 704 is a four- to six-lane divided highway that connects the northern Prince George's County communities of Seat Pleasant, Landover, Glenarden, and Lanham. The highway was constructed along the right of way of the abandoned Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway (WB&A) in the early 1940s. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, MD 704 served as a temporary routing of U.S. Route 50 (US 50) while the U.S. Highway's freeway was under construction from Washington to Lanham. The route was expanded to a divided highway between Seat Pleasant and US 50 in the late 1960s and early 1970s. MD 704 was completed as a divided highway when the portion east of US 50 was expanded in the late 1990s. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/12 Maryland Route 49 (MD 49) is a state highway located in Allegany County in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Braddock Road, the state highway runs 2.7 miles (4.3 km) from MD 658 in La Vale east to Greene Street in Cumberland. MD 49 is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) for 1.02 miles (1.64 km) on the west side of Haystack Mountain. The 1.7-mile (2.7 km) eastern segment, which is maintained by the city of Cumberland, is not recognized as part of the state highway by MDSHA but is signed as MD 49. Braddock Road was cleared as a military trail in the 1750s and was part of the National Road in the early 19th century. The modern MD 49 was constructed in the 1920s. The state highway originally extended west to MD 53 just south of U.S. Route 40 (US 40), but the highway was physically truncated by the construction of Interstate 68 (I-68) in the early 1970s. The eastern part of MD 49 was transferred to Cumberland in the early 1990s. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/13 Maryland Route 274 (MD 274) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Joseph Biggs Memorial Highway, the state highway runs 7.35 miles (11.83 km) from MD 273 in Rising Sun east to MD 272 in Bay View. In conjunction with MD 272, MD 274 connects Rising Sun with Interstate 95 (I-95) in central Cecil County. The highway was built near Rising Sun in two segments, one before 1910 and the other in the mid-1920s. MD 274 was completed to Bay View in the early 1940s. The highway was relocated at Bay View in the late 1960s and reconstructed the rest of the way to Rising Sun in the late 1970s and early 1980s. MD 274 had a truck bypass using MD 273 and MD 272 via Calvert. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/14 Maryland Route 80 (MD 80) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Fingerboard Road, the highway runs 14.79 miles (23.80 km) from MD 85 in Buckeystown east to MD 27 near Damascus. MD 80 connects Buckeystown and Urbana in southern Frederick County with Damascus in far northern Montgomery County. At the suburban community of Urbana, the route has junctions with Interstate 270 (I-270) and MD 355. MD 80 was constructed between MD 27 and MD 75 in the mid- to late 1920s. The highway was built from Urbana to MD 75 in the mid-1930s and from Buckeystown to Urbana in the late 1930s. MD 80 was relocated at its western end in the mid-1970s and relocated and expanded through Urbana in the 2000s. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/15 Maryland Route 305 (MD 305) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Hope Road, the highway runs 5.08 miles (8.18 km) from MD 213 in Centreville east to an intersection with Dean Road and Hayden Road at Hope east of its intersection with U.S. Route 301 (US 301) in central Queen Anne's County. MD 305 was constructed in the early 1910s and early 1920s. The highway was planned to extend to Ingleside, but only one segment of that extension was built at the Ingleside end in the mid-1940s. That disjoint part of MD 305 was removed from the state highway system in the early 1960s. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/16 Maryland Route 67 (MD 67) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Rohrersville Road, the state highway runs 12.20 miles (19.63 km) from U.S. Route 340 (US 340) in Weverton north to US 40 Alternate in Boonsboro. MD 67 parallels the western flank of South Mountain in southeastern Washington County, connecting Boonsboro with Weverton and Rohrersville. In conjunction with US 340 and US 40 Alternate, MD 67 connects Hagerstown and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a link that made the highway one of the original state roads marked for improvement in 1909. The first section of the state highway was constructed through Rohrersville around 1920. The remainder of the highway was built between Boonsboro and Weverton in the late 1920s and early 1930s. MD 67 was reconstructed with multiple relocations starting in the late 1950s, culminating in a relocation at the southern terminus to tie into the US 340 freeway in the late 1960s. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/17 Maryland Route 413 (also known as MD 413 or Route 413) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) state highway in Somerset County in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from a dead end at Crisfield's city dock, which is located on the Tangier Sound, northeast to U.S. Route 13 (US 13) in Westover. It is the main highway leading into Crisfield, and is known as Crisfield Highway for much of its length. The highway travels through mostly rural areas of farms and woods as well as the communities of Hopewell, Marion Station, and Kingston. It is a two-lane undivided road for most of its length; a portion of the road in Crisfield is a four-lane road that follows a one-way pair. MD 413 is part of two scenic routes: Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway and the Beach to Bay Indian Trail; both are Maryland Scenic Byways.

The Crisfield–Westover Road was one of the original state roads marked for improvement by the Maryland State Roads Commission. The highway was paved in the 1910s and designated MD 413 in 1927. MD 413 was relocated starting in the late 1930s to a new alignment parallel to the Eastern Shore Railroad line that made Crisfield the "Seafood Capital of the World." The relocation began in Crisfield and was completed to Westover in 1950. The old alignment of MD 413 was designated MD 667. The state highway was expanded to a divided highway in the mid-1950s in Crisfield. The railroad track was abandoned in 1976 and later removed, and the right-of-way began conversion into a rail-trail in 2019. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/18 Interstate 270 (I-270) is a 34.7-mile (55.8 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maryland that travels from I-495 (Capital Beltway) just north of Bethesda in Montgomery County north to I-70 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County. It consists of the 32.6-mile (52.5 km) mainline as well as a 2.1-mile (3.4 km) spur that provides access to and from southbound I-495. I-270 is known as the Washington National Pike, and makes up the easternmost stretch of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway. Most of the southern part of the route in Montgomery County passes through suburban areas around Rockville and Gaithersburg that are home to many biotech firms. This portion of I-270 is up to 12 lanes wide and consists of a local–express lane configuration as well as high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) that are in operation during peak travel times. North of the Gaithersburg area, the road continues through the northern part of Montgomery County, passing Germantown and Clarksburg as a six- to eight-lane highway with an HOV lane in the northbound direction only. North of here, I-270 continues through rural areas into Frederick County and toward the city of Frederick as a four-lane freeway.

The freeway was built between 1953 and 1960 as the Washington National Pike between Bethesda and Frederick and carried U.S. Route 240 (US 240), which was rerouted off what is now Maryland Route 355 (MD 355) between these two points. With the creation of the Interstate Highway System a few years later, the road was designated as I-70S along with US 240. There were plans to extend I-70S to I-95 in Washington, D.C., on the North Central Freeway from the Capital Beltway; however, they were canceled in the 1970s due to opposition from residents in the freeway's path. The concurrent US 240 designation was removed in 1972 and I-70S became I-270 in 1975. Increasing traffic levels led to a $200-million (equivalent to $496 million in 2023) widening of the road in Montgomery County to its current configuration. Many improvements are slated for I-270, including the widening of the route that would add high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes). (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/19 U.S. Route 220 (US 220) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from Rockingham, North Carolina, to South Waverly, Pennsylvania. In Maryland, the federal highway runs 27.30 miles (43.94 km) from the West Virginia state line at the North Branch Potomac River in McCoole north to the Pennsylvania state line in Dickens. Known as McMullen Highway for much of its length in Maryland, US 220 is the primary north–south route in central Allegany County, connecting Cumberland with its southern suburbs and Keyser, West Virginia, to the south and Bedford, Pennsylvania, to the north. The federal highway is part of the National Highway System between the West Virginia state line and Maryland Route 53 (MD 53) in Cresaptown and between Interstate 68 (I-68), with which it is concurrent through Cumberland, and the Pennsylvania state line.

The road to Bedford was paved within the city of Cumberland by 1910 and constructed north to Pennsylvania in the 1910s. This highway comprised the southernmost portion of US 220 when the U.S. Highway System was established in 1927. McMullen Highway was constructed starting from Cumberland and finishing in McCoole in the 1920s. When that highway was completed around 1930, US 220 was extended south into West Virginia. Both the northern and southern portions of the federal highway were reconstructed in the 1940s and 1950s, including a new bridge over the North Branch Potomac River. US 220 was rerouted within Cumberland multiple times before being placed on I-68 in the early 1980s to bypass downtown Cumberland. The bypass of Bedford Road between I-68 and the Pennsylvania state line opened in 2000. A new bridge over the North Branch Potomac River was completed in 2013. In addition, relocation of the highway from I-68 south into West Virginia is under consideration. (Full article...)

Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/20 Maryland Route 97 (MD 97) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs 55.27 mi (88.95 km) from U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, north to the Pennsylvania border in Carroll County, where the road continues into that state as Pennsylvania Route 97 (PA 97). Throughout most of Montgomery County, MD 97 is known as Georgia Avenue, which continues south from the southern terminus along US 29 into Washington, D.C. It is a suburban four- to six-lane divided highway from Silver Spring north to Olney. From here, the route continues as a rural two-lane undivided road north through Brookeville and into Howard County. MD 97 continues through Carroll County where it passes through the county seat of Westminster. The route intersects many major roads, including Interstate 495 (I-495, Capital Beltway) north of Silver Spring, MD 28 and MD 200 (Intercounty Connector) in Norbeck, I-70/US 40 near Cooksville, MD 26 in Dorsey Crossroads, and MD 27, MD 32, and MD 140 in the Westminster area.

With the creation of the U.S. Highway System in 1926, present-day MD 97 north of Westminster became a part of US 140. MD 97 was first designated by 1933 from MD 27/MD 410 (now US 29) in Silver Spring to north of US 40 in Cooksville. Two portions of the route between Cooksville and Westminster became MD 570 in 1939. In 1956, MD 97 was extended north from Cooksville to the Pennsylvania border northwest of Emmitsburg, Frederick County. It replaced the two sections of MD 570 along with the MD 32 designation between Westminster and the Pennsylvania border. MD 97 was rerouted to bypass Westminster in 1960 and was moved to a new alignment between Westminster and Taneytown in 1965; both former alignments became MD 32. In 1961, the route was realigned between MD 26 and MD 32, with the former segment becoming MD 854. MD 97 was rerouted to its current northern terminus in 1979, replacing that portion of US 140, while the former route between Westminster and northwest of Emmitsburg became part of MD 140. (Full article...)