Current and historic US Highway endpoints in Ocean City, MD
Photo credits: Corey
Dukes; Jeff
Schroeder; me
Additional research: Corey
Dukes; Adam
Froehlig
| Highway | Approx. time period |
|---|---|
| US 213 | 1926-1948 |
| US 50 | 1948-present |
US 213 was among the original 1926 routes, and its south terminus was in Ocean City. US 213 followed what is now MD hwy. 707 (or Old Bridge Road) through West Ocean City. The photo below was taken looking east along that road:
me, June 2009
Originally that road continued straight ahead (through the newer houses that now occupy its former right-of-way) and spanned the narrowest crossing of the Sinepuxent Bay to Fenwick Island (the barrier island upon which Ocean City is built). That bridge came into town aligned with Worcester Street, so US 213 originally ended on Worcester at Philadelphia Avenue, or MD hwy. 528. Note the water tower in the distance, because that's situated right at the intersection of Worcester and Philadelphia:
Dukes
That's on Fenwick Island (in Ocean City proper), looking east on Worcester - US 213 ended just ahead, at Philadelphia Av. The bend in the road is where the original bridge approach (behind the camera) curves to align with the orientation of the city street grid. In fact, if you follow the alignment of the bridge approach straight across the bay, it lines up perfectly with Old Bridge Rd in West Ocean City. Today Worcester dead-ends at the bay, and there is a small fishing platform where the bridge landing was once located:
me, June 2009
By the time of my visit in 2009, I didn't observe any remnants of the old bridge. Looking straight across the Bay, you can see the same houses visible in the first photo above.
In 1944 that bridge was replaced by the current Harry W. Kelly Memorial Bridge. The western approach is now known as "Ocean Gateway", but the bridge actually comes into Ocean City aligned with North Division Street (which is about five blocks north of Worcester). So then the south end of US 213 was where the current bridge met Philadelphia Av:
me, June 2009
But that was the case for only about four years: in 1948, the US 50 designation was extended east from Annapolis across Chesapeake Bay (although the Bay Bridge wasn't opened to traffic until 1952, so during the first four years of this extension, US 50 used the Skidmore-Matapeake ferry). At Wye Mills it took over what had been US 213 and replaced that designation from there to Ocean City. So what had been the south end of US 213 for four years became the east end of US 50, and that remains the case to this day...
...well, not so fast: Adam has discovered that Maryland route logs indicate US 50 actually ends at MD 378 (or Baltimore Avenue, which is one block east of Philadelphia). That's because at some point Philadelphia was changed to one-way southbound, and Baltimore became its northbound counterpart (I'm told MD 378 is not signed in the field; rather it's signed as MD 528, just like Philadelphia). So if we continue one block ahead from the photo above, we reach Baltimore:
me, June 2009
So those cars are at the official east end of US 50. Just ahead is the famous Ocean City Boardwalk, then a wide sandy beach, and beyond that the Atlantic Ocean... a pretty cool place for a transcontinental highway to end.
The photo below was taken from from the opposite direction (from Baltimore, looking west on North Division):
Schroeder,
Aug. 2007
These cars are at the east end of US 50. The next block ahead is Philadelphia (southbound MD 528). And beyond that, barely visible in the distance, is the bridge over the Sinepuxent Bay. But North Division is one-way eastbound, so this isn't the east beginning of US 50. Instead, signage along Baltimore directs US 50 traffic to follow any of a number of streets to get to Philadelphia:
me, June 2009
Once you're heading south on Philadelphia, approach signage for the beginning of US 50 looks like this:
me, June 2009
The photo below is the assembly ahead from there, at the actual intersection:
me, June 2009
That turn marks the east beginning of US 50 (and also the final terminus of US 213). For reference, the watertower in the distance is the same one pictured in the other photos on this page, so the original beginning of US 213 was ahead a few blocks. After making that right turn, the first westbound sign is posted on the bridge...
me, June 2009
...as is the famous "Sacramento: 3073 miles" sign, visible at upper left. Photos of its counterpart in California appear on my main US 50 page.