Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/March 2014

US 40 Alternate westbound approaching MD 17 in Middletown, with South Mountain in the background

U.S. Route 40 Alternate (US 40 Alternate) is an alternate route of US 40 in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 22.97 miles (36.97 km) from Potomac Street in Hagerstown east to US 40 in Frederick. US 40 Alternate parallels US 40 and much of Interstate 70 (I-70) to the south through eastern Washington County and western Frederick County. The alternate route connects Hagerstown and Frederick with Funkstown, Boonsboro, Middletown, and Braddock Heights. US 40 Alternate crosses two major north–south components of the Blue Ridge Mountains that separate the Great Appalachian Valley and the Piedmont. US 40 Alternate is the old alignment of US 40. The highway's path was blazed in the mid-18th century to connect the Hagerstown Valley and Shenandoah Valley with eastern Pennsylvania and central Maryland. In the early 19th century, US 40 Alternate's path was improved as part of a series of turnpikes to connect Baltimore with the eastern terminus of the National Road in Cumberland. The highway was improved as one of the original state roads in the early 1910s and designated US 40 in the late 1920s. Construction on a relocated US 40 between Hagerstown and Frederick began in the mid-1930s and was completed in the late 1940s. US 40 Alternate was assigned to the old route of US 40 in the early 1950s. (more...)

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