page_title: Maryland Route 68
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Maryland Route 68 / History
caption_attribution_description: A sign on w:Interstate 70 in Maryland showing that w:MD 68 is not w:Interstate 68.
context_page_description: Maryland Route 68 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs 18.50 miles from U.S. Route 40 in Clear Spring east to US 40 Alternate in Boonsboro. MD 68 crosses central Washington County to the south of Hagerstown, connecting Clear Spring and Boonsboro with Williamsport, where the highway runs concurrently with MD 63. A small segment of MD 68 west of Boonsboro was constructed around 1920, using as part of the route two early 19th-century stone bridges. The remainder of the highway between Boonsboro and Williamsport was constructed in the second half of the 1920s. MD 68 was extended west from Williamsport to Clear Spring in the mid-1950s. The state highway was relocated south of Williamsport for the construction of Interstate 81 in the mid-1960s. Since the early 1990s, I-68 has also existed in Washington County; signs on I-70 aim to avoid confusion between I-68 and MD 68.
context_section_description: The first section of MD 68, from Lappans to Millpoint near Boonsboro, was constructed in 1920. This segment made use of a pair of stone arch bridges over Antietam Creek and Beaver Creek constructed in 1833 and 1824, respectively. These bridges remain open to traffic as part of MD 68. MD 68 was extended east from Millpoint to Boonsboro in 1925.  Construction of MD 68 from Williamsport to Lappans began in 1926, with a section complete from Williamsport to the Cumberland Valley Railroad (now Winchester and Western Railroad) by 1927. The last section of the Williamsport–Lappans Road was completed in 1930. The state highway's western terminus was originally US 11 in Williamsport, within which MD 68 followed Artizan Street south to Sunset Avenue at the southern town limit. Artizan Street continued south as MD 63 and MD 68 followed Sunset Avenue southeast toward Lappans. Clear Spring Road remained a county highway until MD 68 was extended west to Clear Spring in 1956.
  MD 68 was relocated south of Williamsport, replacing Sunset Avenue and what is now Kendle Road, in 1965.  The state highway was relocated for a grade separation of the Cumberland Valley Railroad and to tie into an interchange with I-81 and the south end of Conococheague Street.  MD 63 joined MD 68 in a concurrency along Conococheague Street north to US 11.  The new alignment of MD 68 and MD 63 was built as a four-lane divided highway around the interchange with I-81, which originally only contained ramps to and from the direction of West Virginia when the interchange opened with the completion of I-81 in 1966. That interchange was completed with ramps to and from Hagerstown between 1981 and 1989. Since the completion of I-68 in 1991, the Interstate and state-numbered highways with the same number have co-existed separated by 17 miles (27 km) on I-70.  Multiple signs on westbound I-70 in advance of the Interstate's interchange with MD 68 advise motorists that I-68 and MD 68 are not the same highway and remind them to remain on I-70 to access I-68.
caption: Disambiguation sign posted in advance of the MD 68 interchange on westbound I-70 near Clear Spring
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