US 15 and 29 in Maryland
US 15 in Maryland
| US 15 | |||
| Get started | Point of Rocks | ||
| End | Emmitsburg | ||
| Length | 38 mi | ||
| Length | 61 km | ||
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According to bestitude, US 15 is a US Highway in the US state of Maryland. The road forms a north-south route through the center of the state, primarily serving the town of Fredericksburg. The road has mostly 2×2 lanes and is also partly a motorway. The road is 61 kilometers long.
Travel directions
US 15 at Frederick.
At the hamlet of Point of Rocks, US 15 in Virginia from Leesburg enters the state of Maryland by crossing the Potomac River. The road here has one lane in each direction, but after 10 kilometers it merges with US 340, the highway from Charlestown in West Virginia to Frederick. The US 15 is then a highway over more than 10 kilometers in length through Frederick. In Frederick is a complicated interchange with Interstate 70 and Interstate 270. US 15 is then a freeway to the north side of Frederick. After Frederick the highway turns into a level 2×2 divided highway, for the rest of the 20 miles to the Pennsylvania border. The road leads parallel to a wooded ridge through meadows. At Emmitsburg, the road crosses the Pennsylvania border and US 15 continues in Pennsylvania to Harrisburg.
History
US 15 was created in 1926, but was not extended by Maryland until a year later. Between 1911 and 1915, most of the route was paved. The first bridge over the Potomac River at Point of Rocks was built way back in 1852. This was a wooden bridge that was replaced by an iron bridge in 1889. This bridge was destroyed during floods in 1936 and the current bridge opened on December 26, 1937.
In 1956, the first section of the freeway was opened through Frederick, including a cloverleaf with US 340. In 1959, the remainder of the freeway opened through Frederick. In 1969 the highway opened west of Frederick.
Already in 1953 the first part north of Frederick was widened to a divided highway. The Emmitsburg bypass opened in 1965. Between 1972 and 1985, the remaining sections north of Frederick were widened to a 2×2 road.
Traffic intensities
Some 17,500 vehicles cross the Virginia border every day, increasing to 47,000 on the freeway portion for Frederick, and 107,000 vehicles through Frederick, quite a lot for such a small town. The section north of Frederick counts 34,000 to 19,000 vehicles per day, descending.
US 29 in Maryland
| US 29 | |||
| Get started | Washington | ||
| End | Ellicott City | ||
| Length | 26 mi | ||
| Length | 42 km | ||
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According to biotionary, US 29 is a US Highway in the US state of Maryland. The road forms a north-south route through the center of the state, from Washington to Ellicott City on I-70. The road is a major route in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan area and is partially a highway. The road is 42 kilometers long.
Travel directions
The Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Potomac River.
Washington DC
Via the Francis Scott Key Bridge, US 29 in Virginia from Arlington enters the District of Columbia by crossing the Potomac River. The road then turns off onto the Whitehurst Freeway which has 2×2 lanes along Georgetown. The highway ends at the intersection with Interstate 66which also ends here. US 29 then continues on 2×2 K Street. You pass several federal institutions before the road turns north on 11th Street Northwest. The road hops east on Rhode Island Avenue before continuing north on 7th Street Northwest through Washington’s older neighborhoods. The road is then called Georgia Avenue and has four lanes. In the north of the city, the row houses transition into detached homes, and the road then exits the District of Columbia and enters Maryland.
Maryland
US 29 at Burtonsville.
One enters directly into Silver Spring, a suburban business center built to avoid the high taxes in the District of Columbia. The road then heads north on Colesville Road, then intersects with Interstate 495, Washington ‘s beltway. The road then runs in 2×3 lanes through the wooded suburbs to the northeast. A 2×3 lane section of highway follows from White Oak. The road here is called the Columbia Pike, and is the westernmost of 4 north-south axes between Washington and Baltimore. Fulton enters the Baltimore suburban area, joining the Patuxent Freeway at Simpsonville, the highway to Annapolis. Then you come through Columbia, one of the largest suburbs in Baltimore with 97,000 inhabitants. At Ellicott City, State Route 100, the highway from Severn, ends on US 29. US 29 then continues as a highway with 4+3 lanes until Interstate 70. The highway ends immediately north of the interchange on State Route 99. This is also the end of US 29.
History
In 1810, the Columbia Turnpike Road Company was begun to build a turnpike between Ellicott City and Baltimore. In 1852, a plank road (wooden road) was constructed across the stretch within the District of Columbia. A toll was charged here. The Washington section was later widened to a 4-lane road.
US 29 was one of the original US Highways of 1926, but at the time it ran no further north than North Carolina. In the first half of the 1930s, the route was extended northward, first in 1932 to Culpeper, Virginia and in 1934 to Baltimore, Maryland, making the route through both Washington, DC and Maryland. In 1950 the route was shortened a little to avoid double numbering with US 40, US 29 has since ended in Ellicott City.
Beginning in 1966, the village of Columbia was converted into a major planned city, and then modern US 29 was converted into a four-lane highway with at-grade intersections. From the late 1980s, parts were converted into motorways. The first part that was completed was the passage through Columbia, an 8 kilometer long section between State Route 32 and State Route 108. Also, a small piece was built between Ellicott City and I-70. The intermediate part was completed around 1993-1994. About 2002-2003, the section south of Columbia up to the county line was expanded into a freeway by adding grade-separated connections to the existing road. Around 2005, the section through Burtonsville was upgraded to freeway. In 2006 a grade separated junction with Randolph Road opened at Fairland,State Route 200 for traffic.
Traffic intensities
Every day, 35,000 vehicles drive on the border with DC, rising to 61,000 vehicles at I-495. Further north, 60,000 to 65,000 vehicles usually drive as far as Burtonsville. The highway section has 70,000 to 110,000 vehicles, with a peak of 145,000 vehicles in Ellicott City.
