End of US highway 29

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Justin Cozart; Chris Elbert; Steven Nelson; Alex Nitzman; Mike Roberson; Mike Wiley
Additional research: Adam Froehlig

Approx. time period North terminus South terminus
1926-1932 Kings Mountain, NC Tuskegee, AL
1932-1934 Culpeper, VA Tuskegee, AL
1934-1936 Baltimore, MD Brewton, AL
1936-1949 Baltimore, MD Pensacola, FL
1949-1960(?) Ellicott City, MD Pensacola, FL
1960(?)-present Mt. Hebron, MD Pensacola, FL

US 29 was an original 1926 route; at the time it went only as far south as US 80 in Alabama. Hard to say whether it ended at its junction with US 80 (east of Tuskegee), or whether it was co-signed with US 80 into Tuskegee itself. This first shot is looking north on US 29 at the downtown square:

Cozart/Nitzman, Aug. 2003

This would've been a state road at the time, but it's possible that northbound US 29 signs began to the right with US 80. If not, then US 29 would've begun about 7 miles to the right, where US 29 and US 80 split:

Cozart/Nitzman, Aug. 2003

Note the erroneous "AL hwy. 80" shield on the right; they got it correct at left.

From there, US 29 initially ran only to Kings Mountain NC. I believe the photo below is looking north on Battleground Avenue:

The crossroad is King Street, which used to carry US 74, so US 29 would've ended here. In 1932 the north end of US 29 was extended to Culpeper VA. The photo below is looking north on Main Street:

Roberson, Mar. 2007

US 15 came in from the right on Orange Road and continued ahead on Main, so US 29 ended here. The shot below was taken from the opposite direction (south on Main):

Roberson, Mar. 2007

Southbound US 15 veered to the left on Orange, so straight ahead was the north beginning of US 29.

Two years later, US 29 was extended further north: to Baltimore. There, my 1947 atlas shows US 29 co-signed with US 40 along Frederick Avenue at least to Monroe Street (US 1), although it would've been smart to co-sign it with US 1 up to Franklin Street (US 40 Bypass). Below is a photo looking east on Frederick:

Elbert, July 2006

That was once northbound US 29/eastbound US 40. Since US 1 used to be routed along the cross street (Monroe), US 29 could've ended here. However, US 40 continued to the left with northbound US 1 for about five blocks, splitting off again at Fayette Street. Seven blocks further north is Franklin, along which Bypass US 40 traffic was routed, so that also would've made a logical endpoint for US 29.

Also in 1934, US 29 was extended south from Tuskegee along its modern route: through Troy and Andalusia, as far as Brewton. The photo below was taken from southbound US 29, where it junctions with US 31:

Nelson, June 2006

Today US 29 continues south along with US 31, but for a couple years, this was the south end of US 29.

It wasn't long before the US 29 designation was extended south again: from Brewton it was co-signed with US 31 for 14 miles to Flomaton, and then it replaced historic US 331 [I] running down to its current terminus in Pensacola FL. You can view photos from there on this page.

In 1949 the north end of US 29 was truncated to its junction with US 40 west of Baltimore, at Ellicott City. The photo below shows how that junction looks today:

Wiley

US 29 used to go only to the left. But after I-70 was built through the area, the US 29 designation was extended right (north) a mile or two: through the I-70 interchange (exit 87) and just a little ways beyond:

Nitzman, Sep. 2004

Approaching the current terminus at MD hwy. 99, there's an "End" sign of sorts. The signage in the distance is shown close-up below:

Nitzman, Sep. 2004

These cars are at the north end of US 29, at the intersection with MD 99. The shot below shows the same intersection, from eastbound MD 99:

Nitzman, 2000

If you take that right turn, you immediately see the first southbound US 29 reassurance marker, shown in the photo below:

Wiley

The small marker below the US 29 sign says "29th Division Memorial Highway". The signs in the distance are for the I-70 interchange; the backside of that gantry is visible in the "US 29 Ends" photo above.

For more photos of current and historic endpoints of US 29, please visit Tim Reichard's page.