TOMORROW'S ROADS TODAY - Maryland State Highway ...

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Maryland’s Highways 1938-1941
Maryland’s interwar highway construction period culminated in 1941 following the
construction of US 40 east ([Pulaski Highway] 1936-1939) and west ([Baltimore National Pike]
1934-1940) of Baltimore City, the Governor Harry W. Nice Bridge (US 301 over the Potomac)
and the Susquehanna River Bridge (US 40 over the Susquehanna River), both completed in
1940. East of Baltimore, US 40 paralleled the original Philadelphia Road (MD 7) between the
Baltimore City line and the Maryland-Delaware State line in Cecil County. It bypassed towns
such as Havre de Grace and Elkton, but routed through the center of Aberdeen, near the
Aberdeen Proving Ground’s entrance. In Baltimore City, the highway entered on Orleans Street,
and as it crossed The Fallsway, it became a 1726-foot long viaduct crossing the North Central
Railroad tracks, and Calvert and St. Paul streets before touching down. US 40 then split and
westbound traffic was confined to Franklin Street, while eastbound traffic used Mulberry Street.
The traffic used both streets until US 40 joined together again on Edmondson Avenue and
became a rural arterial highway outside the City limits. Instead of building expressways in the
1930s, Baltimore City chose this method of routing traffic through the city, using one-way streets
to create an arterial highway. 12 Although the road was termed an “arterial highway” it
conformed to city streets with sidewalks and stoplights to regulate pedestrians and traffic.
West of Baltimore, US 40 or the National Pike, paralleled and sometimes used the
original National Pike alignment from the Baltimore City line to the Maryland-Pennsylvania
State line west of Keyser’s Ridge in Garrett County. Like the eastern leg of the highway, it
passed through Ellicott City, but bypassed Frederick. The SRC designed these highways using
the current AASHO and SRC standards on file with the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) at the
Department of Commerce. 13 Both highways, which were on new locations in the nine northern
counties, had 20-foot wide lanes divided by large medians. Regardless, the SRC treated both
segments of highway and median as one road, so the alignments were always parallel, and did
not respond to variations in the landscape. On the eastern alignment, the bridges were designed
as concrete encased metal girder or concrete beams with open railing parapets. On the western
alignment, the SRC designed two open spandrel arch bridges – US 40 over the Patapsco River
12 Maryland State Roads Commission, Report of the State Roads Commission of Maryland, Operating Report for the
years 1935-1936 and Financial Report for the fiscal year 1936, Baltimore, MD: March 1937, page 3, see also
Frontispiece that shows the completed Orleans Viaduct. The SRC appears to have assisted with the construction of
the Orleans Viaduct. See also MIHP Form No. B-4542, SHA Bridge No. BC-1202, Orleans Viaduct, on file at
Maryland Historical Trust, Crownsville, MD. A portion of the City’s interstate system was constructed in the 1970s
when a depressed interstate spur road, I-170, was built and cut through a nine-block section of West Baltimore. This
is the expressway that was supposed to replace US 40 as part of the East-West Expressway.
13 See Footnote 3 above on page 9 for explanation of the AASHO acronym.