Maryland Route 61 (MD 61) is an unsigned state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Canal Parkway, the state highway begins at the West Virginia state line at the Potomac River opposite Wiley Ford, where the highway continues south as West Virginia Route 28 (WV 28). The state highway runs 1.94 miles (3.12 km) north as an automobile parkway to MD 51 within the city of Cumberland. MD 61 provides a connection between downtown Cumberland and the South Cumberland neighborhood and with Greater Cumberland Regional Airport, which is located in Mineral County, West Virginia.
Canal Parkway was constructed as part of a broad group of projects to revitalize the Potomac River waterfront of Cumberland, centered around the historical Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal). The parkway was constructed both as a scenic highway and to improve access to South Cumberland and the airport, which were often cut off from the rest of Cumberland by flooding or traffic jams at the sole connecting point, a railroad underpass on Virginia Avenue. New bridges over the Potomac River and the C&O Canal were built in 1992 and 1997, while the portion of Canal Parkway from the canal crossing toward downtown Cumberland was constructed between 1999 and 2001.
Read more about Maryland Route 61: Route Description, History, Junction List, Auxiliary Routes
Famous quotes containing the word route:
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)