End of US highway 48[II]

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Andy Field; Dan Moraseski; Alex Nitzman; Tim Reichard

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1973-1980s Cumberland, MD Morgantown, WV
1980s-1991 Hancock, MD Morgantown, WV

There was a US 48 among the original 1926 routes; it ran between US 99 at French Camp CA (outside Stockton) and US 101 at San Jose, and lasted only until 1931 (you can read more about it here). In 1973 the second US 48 was commissioned. It was designed as a limited-access freeway from the start... perhaps even with the intention of becoming an interstate upon completion. Its west terminus was outside Morgantown WV:

Moraseski, Aug. 2002

That's where modern I-68 (formerly US 48) ends at I-79; the exit for downtown Morgantown is four miles to the north. Below is a photo of the former beginning of US 48 as seen from southbound I-79...

Nitzman, Aug. 2004

...and below is a view from the opposite direction:

Nitzman, Aug. 2004

US 48 began to the right via what is now signed as I-68.

Originally US 48 [II] ran eastward to the Willowbrook Road interchange (now exit 44) in Cumberland MD, where it met US 40:

Nitzman, Aug. 2004

The photo below shows the original east beginning of US 48:

Nitzman, Aug. 2004

That's westbound on US 40, which used to exit here, and US 48 began straight ahead.

Sometime in the 1980s, the designation was extended eastward to Hancock. The photo below shows the east end of I-68 (formerly US 48) at I-70:

Field, Oct. 2001

Below we're looking at the former east beginning of US 48 (to the right) as seen from eastbound I-70...

Nitzman, Aug. 2004

...and below is a shot from the opposite direction:

Nitzman, Aug. 2004

By Feb. 2007, that tipping truck sign was a bit wider, and it's topped with flashing lights.

US 48 [II] was decommissioned in 1991 and replaced with the I-68 designation. Modern US 48 (the third highway to use that designation) was commissioned in 2002; you can read about its endpoints here.