History
US 11 is the descendent of a trail blazed from Pennsylvania following the establishment of Evan Watkins's ferry across the Potomac River at the mouth of Conococheague Creek in 1744. This trail became part of the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia south through the Great Appalachian Valley to Virginia and North Carolina. In the center of the Hagerstown Valley along the trail, German immigrant Jonathan Hager laid out his namesake town in 1762. In the 19th century, the Hagerstown and Middleburg Turnpike was constructed between Hagerstown and Middleburg, a settlement on the Pennsylvania side of the state line. In addition. the Williamsport and Hagerstown Turnpike was constructed between the town that sprung up at the Potomac River crossing and the county seat of Washington County. Starting in 1896, the Hagerstown Railway Company of Washington County operated an interurban between Williamsport and Hagerstown adjacent to the turnpike. The streetcar suburb of Halfway developed along the turnpike and trolley line at the midpoint between the two municipalities.
The first portion of modern US 11 to be constructed was the bridge over the Potomac River at Williamsport, which was financed and constructed by Washington County and completed in 1909. The new bridge, which became the only crossing between Cumberland and Washington, D.C. to survive the flood of March 1936, charged tolls from a tollgate at the West Virginia end of the bridge. The Maryland State Roads Commission later purchased the bridge in 1954 and removed the tolls in 1958. Both the Williamsport Pike and Middleburg Pike, their right-of-way now owned by the Maryland State Roads Commission, were paved by 1921. Those highways as well as Potomac Street in the town of Williamsport and the streets connecting the two former turnpikes within the city of Hagerstown—Virginia Avenue, Jonathan Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue—were designated Maryland's portion of US 11 in 1926.
The first upgrades to US 11 occurred when Williamsport Pike and Middleburg Pike were rebuilt and widened in the late 1920s and early 1930s, respectively. Williamsport Pike was rebuilt again in 1948, with the highway widened using the right-of-way of the Williamsport–Hagerstown interurban that had ceased service in 1947. By 1950, US 11 in Hagerstown followed a one-way pair: the northbound direction followed Summit Avenue and Jonathan Street between Virginia Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue and the southbound direction used Prospect Street through the downtown area. The first relief from long-distance traffic came to US 11 when the first section of I-81 was completed from US 40 to the Pennsylvania state line in 1958. Following the completion of I-81 from US 40 south to the Potomac River in 1966, US 11 became a highway mainly for local traffic. US 11's bridge across the Potomac River was rebuilt in 1979. In addition, the highway's name south of Hagerstown was changed from Williamsport Pike to Virginia Avenue around 1995.
Despite the construction of I-81, another bypass of downtown Hagerstown, Burhans Boulevard, was constructed in the 1960s. Burhans Boulevard was named for Winslow F. Burhans, the mayor of Hagerstown from 1953 to 1965 who was instrumental in elevating the tracks of the Western Maryland Railway on the west side of downtown Hagerstown to eliminate a series of grade crossings. The boulevard was started in 1960 between Salem Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. Construction was underway on the section between Virginia Avenue and Elgin Boulevard by 1962. Both sections were completed by 1965. Burhans Boulevard was completed around 1968 from Elgin Boulevard to Washington Street, from which the boulevard continued north paralleling the Western Maryland tracks along what had formerly been Foundry Street. At the southern end of Hagerstown, Burhans Boulevard, Virginia Avenue, and Wilson Boulevard were relocated to eliminate two grade crossings with the Norfolk Southern Railway tracks in 1983. Burhans Boulevard remained a regular municipal street until US 11 was rerouted away from downtown Hagerstown around 1987.
The other major relocation of US 11 occurred around Hagerstown Regional Airport. Due to the airport's east–west runway being extended eastward, US 11 was relocated by Washington County in 1964, resulting in a wide curve in what had been a straight highway. The portion of highway between Showalter Road and the Pennsylvania state line was subsequently county-maintained until 1972. Another extension of the east–west runway occurred between 2004 and 2007. For this extension, US 11 was relocated to a tunnel underneath the extended runway along the curved alignment in 2006.
Read more about this topic: U.S. Route 11 In Maryland
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