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

2
Abstract
Between 1948 and 1965, the Maryland State Roads Commission (SRC) built 3,452 miles
of new highways and 557 bridges throughout the state in order to correct long standing
engineering problems found on older roads. The SRC sought to create safe roads and bridges
using design standards that would result in an efficient transportation system. In Maryland, the
need for the new highways came about as a result of rapidly growing traffic volumes, new
suburban development outside the state’s cities and towns, and the need for military
preparedness because of Maryland’s common border with Washington, DC. These problems had
existed before World War II, but by 1947 required resolution. Three public works programs,
“The Five Year Plan,” “The Twelve Year Program,” and the “Go Roads Program” provided
funding for the highway construction projects. Although the SRC was solely responsible for the
design of the highways and bridges, and the development of the programs, political leadership by
Governors William Preston Lane, Jr., Theodore R. McKeldin and J. Millard Tawes allowed the
SRC to receive dedicated financing in order to complete construction of new highways and
bridges. The new highways and bridge transformed Maryland’s landscape and connected
neighboring areas within the state with ease and speed. Since 1965, ongoing expansion of the
highway system has altered many of its component parts. 1
In order to determine if any bridge built between 1948 and 1965 on the state primary or
secondary highway system could be determined eligible for inclusion in the National Register of
Historic Places (NRHP), the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) consulted State
Roads Commission reports, plans, maps, databases, newspaper and journal articles, and local and
state histories for Washington, DC, and Baltimore and Maryland, and other state and county
agency highway planning reports at the SHA and Enoch Pratt Free libraries. Field visits to the
bridges under consideration were made by SHA Architectural Historian Anne E. Bruder in 2009
and 2010. This is a comprehensive statewide study of the highways and bridges that were either
newly constructed or altered during the study period (1948-1965).
Although most of Maryland’s Interstate Highway System was constructed during this
period, on March 10, 2005, the Federal Highway Administration and the Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation exempted these highways and bridges from Section 106 consideration
unless the structure or highway section has been identified as not meeting the exemption
requirements. On the interstate roads controlled by SHA, only the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center
and approximately one mile of I-68 on Sideling Hill in Washington County do not meet the
exemption. SHA controls twelve interstate highways throughout the state, and there are
presently 211 bridges on the system that have not been evaluated because they are not considered
eligible for inclusion in the NRHP.
1 The database of bridges provided to the author by the SHA Office of Structures lists 557 bridges on SHA’s
highways. More bridges were actually constructed during this period, but some have been replaced and are not
included in this number. 286 bridges are included to be evaluated in the current study. 152 bridges are Interstate
bridges controlled by SHA which are not included in this study. 119 bridges are on other state agency’s highways
such as I-895 and I-95. Between 1948 and 1965, the Maryland Toll Authority (now the Maryland Transporation
Authority or MdTA) was part of the Maryland State Roads Commission and the bridges on the Baltimore Harbor
Tunnel Thruway (I-895) and the Kennedy Memorial Highway (I-95) were built under the SRC’s highway
construction programs. Because MdTA is a separate agency, SHA has not included those bridges in this historic
context study, although it does discuss some of the highway construction projects because of their importance to the
overall work completed between 1948 and 1965.