End of historic US highway 48 [ii] |
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Note: not to be confused with the original US 48 [i] (which served California during the 1920s and '30s), or the current US 48 (serving Virginia and West Virginia). Maryland and West Virginia secured permission for a new US route a few years before the highway was actually built. Below is an agenda item from AASHO's October 1969 meeting...
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...but it wasn't until 1973 that the second US 48 was signposted. It was designed as a limited-access freeway from the start, perhaps even with the intention of being re-designated as an interstate upon completion. Its west terminus was outside Morgantown:
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Moraseski, Aug. 2002
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That is where modern I-68 (formerly US 48) ends at I-79; the exit for downtown Morgantown is four miles to the north. Next up are photos of the former beginning of US 48 as seen from both directions on I-79:
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Nitzman, Aug. 2004
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Nitzman, Aug. 2004
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US 48 began via what is now signed as I-68. Originally US 48 [II] ran eastward to the Willowbrook Road interchange (now exit 44) in Cumberland, where it met US 40:
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Nitzman, Aug. 2004
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This photo shows the original east beginning of US 48:
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Nitzman, Aug. 2004
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That was westbound on US 40, which formerly exited there, and US 48 began straight ahead. In 1986, AASHTO approved an eastward extension of the US 48 designation:
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Despite what that said, the junction with I-70 was in Hancock, not Hagerstown. This photo shows the east end of I-68 (formerly US 48) at I-70:
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Field, Oct. 2001
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Next we are looking at the former east beginning of US 48 as seen from both directions on I-70:
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Nitzman, Aug. 2004
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Nitzman, Aug. 2004
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By Feb. 2007, that tipping truck sign was a bit wider, and it was topped with flashing lights. In June 1989, AASHTO agreed to decommission the US 48 designation, replacing it with the I-68 designation, although it may have been 1991 by the time signage along the highway was actually changed:
Research and/or photo credits: Andy Field; Dan Moraseski; Alex Nitzman; Tim Reichard; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2003;
last updated Jan. 25, 2020.
last updated Jan. 25, 2020.
