Maryland Route 213 - History

History

The route was originally designated as U.S. Route 213 with the creation of the U.S. Highway System in 1926, running from Ocean City north to US 40 in Elkton. The route ran along what is now Maryland Route 707 and Maryland Route 346 to Salisbury, where it intersected with its parent route, U.S. Route 13. From Salisbury, US 213 followed the present US 50 corridor to Mardela Springs, where it turned north on MD 313 and followed that route to Eldorado. Here, the route ran along present-day Maryland Route 14 and Maryland Route 331 to Easton, where it continued north along current MD 662 and MD 213 to Elkton. By 1940, US 213 was realigned between Mardela Springs and Easton to follow the present US 50 corridor, crossing the Choptank River at Cambridge on the Emerson C. Harrington Bridge that opened in 1935. Also by this time, Maryland Route 280 was designated along present-day MD 213 between US 40 and the Pennsylvania border. On July 28, 1942, the vertical lift bridge carrying US 213 over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, built in 1927, was destroyed when the tanker Franz Klasen struck it. The destroyed bridge was replaced by the current Chesapeake City Bridge, which opened in 1949. The approaches to the original bridge are now designated as MD 537 and a western extension of MD 285. In 1949, the route was replaced by U.S. Route 50 between Ocean City and Wye Mills shortly before the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and as a result US 213 no longer crossed US 13. By 1975, US 213 became MD 213, and the route was extended from US 40 to the Pennsylvania border along the former Maryland Route 280.