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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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...)

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I-68 bridge over the Wills Creek in Cumberland
I-68 bridge over the Wills Creek in Cumberland
Credit: User:Malepheasant
I-68 bridge over the Wills Creek in Cumberland

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