U.S. Route 11 in Maryland

U.S. Route 11 In Maryland

U.S. Route 11 (US 11) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from New Orleans, Louisiana to Rouses Point, New York. In Maryland, the federal highway runs 12.83 miles (20.65 km) from the West Virginia state line at the Potomac River in Williamsport north to the Pennsylvania state line near Maugansville. US 11 is the primary north–south surface highway in central Washington County, connecting Hagerstown with Williamsport to the south and Hagerstown Regional Airport to the north. The federal highway was once a major long-distance highway, but that role has been assumed by Interstate 81 (I-81), which parallels US 11 not only in Maryland but for most of its course from Tennessee to Upstate New York. US 11 is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration except for the municipally-maintained portions within the corporate limits of Williamsport and Hagerstown.

US 11 is the descendant of a trail blazed through the Great Appalachian Valley in the 18th century. In the 19th century, this trail was upgraded to a pair of turnpikes, one from Williamsport to Hagerstown and the second from Hagerstown to the Pennsylvania state line. The highway was constructed in its modern form in the early 20th century, with the bridge across the Potomac River constructed in 1909 and the old turnpikes paved as all-weather roads by the nascent Maryland State Roads Commission in the 1910s. These highways and the streets of Hagerstown and Williamsport were designated Maryland's portion of US 11 in 1926. The federal highway was improved outside of the towns in the years surrounding 1930 and again around 1950. Since the completion of I-81 in two sections in the late 1950s and mid-1960s removed long-distance traffic from the highway, US 11 has seen its two major relocations: one that removed the highway from downtown Hagerstown and another required by expansion at Hagerstown Regional Airport.