Portal:Maryland roads

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Maryland Roads

The Maryland highway system consists of roads in the US state of Maryland that are maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). The three main systems of roads that comprise the Maryland highway system are Interstate Highways, US Highways, and Maryland state highways. Other roads in Maryland are maintained by individual cities and counties.

Interstate Highways and US Highways are assigned at the national level. Interstate Highways are numbered in a grid—even-numbered routes are east–west routes (the lowest numbers are along Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico), and odd-numbered routes are north–south routes (with the lowest numbers along the Pacific Ocean). US Highways are also numbered in a grid—even numbered for east–west routes (with the lowest numbers along Canada) and odd numbered for north–south routes (with the lowest numbers along the Atlantic Ocean). For this reason, mainline (two-digit) Interstate Highways in Maryland all have numbers between 81 and 97 for north-south routes and between 68 and 70 for east-west routes. In addition, mainline US Highways all have numbers between 1 and 29 for north-south routes and between 40 and 50 for east-west routes. Three-digit Interstate and U.S. Highways, also known as "child routes," are branches off their main one- or two-digit "parents". The Interstate and US Highways are generally maintained by the SHA, with some toll roads maintained by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and some roads maintained by municipalities, including most roads in the city of Baltimore. Interstate 95 (I-95) and U.S. Route 40 (US 40) are the longest examples in the state.

Maryland state highways are the other state highways maintained by the SHA. Some state highways are maintained by municipalities while the Maryland Route 200 (MD 200) toll road is maintained by the MDTA. All roads maintained by the SHA are assigned route numbers, ranging from through routes passing through multiple counties to minor service roads that are less than a mile long. Many of the shorter state highways are unsigned. Some routes consist of multiple segments with letter suffixes; these suffixes are unsigned with the exception of MD 835A. There are two geographical clusters for Maryland state highways. The first, ranging from 2 to 37, consists of longer intercounty routes, with 2 to 6 in Southern Maryland, 7 to 10 originally skipped, 12 to 21 on the Eastern Shore, and 22 to 37 running west from Central Maryland to Western Maryland. The second cluster consists of routes from 38 to 378, running across the state from Garrett County in the west to Worcester County in the east. Numbers above 378 are assigned randomly.

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I-68/US 40/US 220 concurrency in Cumberland
I-68/US 40/US 220 concurrency in Cumberland

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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MD 227 heading eastbound in Charles County
MD 227 heading eastbound in Charles County
Credit: User:Kumba42
MD 227 heading eastbound in Charles County

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