page_title: U.S. Route 40
section_title: Maryland
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Route 40 / Route description / Maryland
caption_attribution_description: This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 71001037 Depicted place&#58; Washington Monument
context_page_description: U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40, also known as the Main Street of America, is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid-Atlantic States. As with most routes whose numbers end in a zero, US 40 once traversed the entire United States. It is one of the first U.S. Highways created in 1926 and its original termini were in San Francisco, California and Atlantic City, New Jersey. In the western United States, US 40 was functionally replaced by Interstate 80, resulting in the route being truncated multiple times. US 40 currently ends at a junction with I-80 in Silver Summit, Utah, just outside Salt Lake City.
  Starting at its western terminus in Utah, US 40 crosses a total of 12 states, including Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. US 40 passes through or by major cities including Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore, and Wilmington. Three former and four current state capitals lie along the route.
context_section_description: US 40 enters Maryland from Pennsylvania near Grantsville in the western part of the state. Here, and through most of the state, it is known as National Pike. US 40 leaves National Pike shortly after entering Maryland from the northwest and merges with I-68 and US 219 at exit 14B. The old alignment of US 40, still known as National Pike, is signed through much of the western part of the state as either "Scenic US 40" or "Alternate US 40". US 219 leaves the three-way concurrency at exit 22, but US 40 and I-68 remain on the same pavement through Frostburg and Cumberland.
  East of Cumberland, the old National Pike (formerly US 40) carries the MD 144 designation. The I-68/US 40 roadway passes through a 340-foot (100 m) deep cut in Sideling Hill. Just to the east of the cut is the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center, a museum that highlights Western Maryland geology. At Hancock, where the state of Maryland narrows to less than two miles (3 km) wide, I-68 ends, and US 40 merges onto I-70 at exit 1. The two routes closely follow the course of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac River for several miles before US 40 leaves the Interstate at exit 9. US 40 passes directly through the center of Hagerstown using Washington Avenue (eastbound) and Franklin Street (westbound). Heading southeast out of Hagerstown, US 40 diverges into two separate routes, US 40 and US 40 Alt. US 40 parallels I-70, its longtime travel partner, crossing it at exit 32 near Greenbrier State Park on the Baltimore National Pike alignment. US 40 Alt heads southeast on the Old National Pike alignment through Boonsboro, crossing South Mountain at Turner's Gap. The two routes converge just west of Frederick.
  In Frederick, US 40 uses Patrick Street before merging onto the US 15 expressway for a short distance. It leaves US 15 and rejoins I-70 on the outskirts of Frederick. MD 144 once again takes over the old alignment of US 40.
  US 40 leaves I-70 for the final time upon entering the western suburbs of Baltimore, once again as Baltimore National Pike. The route passes through Patapsco Valley State Park north of Ellicott City and enters the Baltimore city limits along Edmondson Avenue. East of Gwynns Falls Leakin Park, US 40 becomes Franklin Street, and becomes an expressway (formerly I-170) for a short distance between Pulaski Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Through this area, an alignment called "Truck US 40" diverts larger vehicles onto an alternate route. US 40 passes through the Mount Vernon neighborhood and a few blocks from Baltimore's Washington Monument. After crossing the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83), US 40 follows Orleans Street, and finally becomes the Pulaski Highway as it leaves Baltimore to the northeast.
  US 40, for the entire length of Pulaski Highway, closely parallels I-95. Pulaski Highway passes through Gunpowder Falls State Park near Joppa and the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Between Havre de Grace and Perryville it crosses the Susquehanna River on the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge. US 40 leaves Maryland in Elkton, crossing the border into Delaware.
caption: Baltimore's Washington Monument lies two blocks north of US 40 in Baltimore
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