Canal Parkway, which carries the unsigned Maryland Route 61 (MD 61) designation, is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

and automobile parkway in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. The road begins at the

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

state line at the

North Branch Potomac River The North Branch Potomac River flows from Fairfax Stone in West Virginia to its confluence with the South Branch Potomac River near Green Spring, West Virginia, where it turns into the Potomac River proper. Course From the Fairfax Stone, th ...

opposite Wiley Ford, where the highway continues south as West Virginia Route 28 (WV 28). The parkway runs north to MD 51 within the city of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. Canal Parkway provides a connection between downtown Cumberland and the South Cumberland neighborhood and with Greater Cumberland Regional Airport, which is located in Mineral County, West Virginia. Canal Parkway was constructed as part of a broad group of projects to revitalize the North Branch Potomac River waterfront of Cumberland, centered on the historical

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the Grand Old Ditch, operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Patowmack Canal ...

(C&O Canal). The parkway was constructed both as a scenic highway and to improve access to South Cumberland and the airport, which were often cut off from the rest of Cumberland by flooding or traffic jams at the sole connecting point, a railroad underpass on Virginia Avenue. New bridges over the North Branch Potomac River and the C&O Canal were built in 1992 and 1997, while the portion of Canal Parkway from the canal crossing toward downtown Cumberland was constructed between 1999 and 2001.

Route description

Canal Parkway begins at the West Virginia state line on a bridge across the North Branch Potomac River between Wiley Ford and the southern edge of the city of Cumberland. The roadway continues south as WV 28 through Wiley Ford toward Greater Cumberland Regional Airport. Canal Parkway heads north as a two-lane highway, crossing the C&O Canal and its towpath on a Warren truss bridge. The state highway gains a

median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

and intersects River Avenue, part of the old connection from Cumberland to Wiley Ford that serves the South Cumberland neighborhood. No trucks are allowed on the road north of River Avenue. Canal Parkway continues north between the C&O Canal to the west and an industrial area to the east, both of which are shielded from view by trees and walls. Beyond Elder Street, the state highway reduces to a two-lane road without a median. As the parkway is approached by

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

's Cumberland Terminal Subdivision railroad line west of the Cumberland

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

, the parkway ceases to be shielded by trees. Canal Parkway rises onto a retaining wall above the level of the C&O Canal to the west and on level with the railroad that begins to closely parallel the state highway to the east. The state highway's elevation allows views of the North Branch Potomac River and Knobly Mountain to the west but discourage views of the adjacent C&O Canal and MD 51 (Industrial Parkway), which parallels the east side of the railroad. Canal Parkway descends from the retaining wall to cross a rail spur from the Cumberland Terminal Subdivision that heads north to Canal Place. The two directions of the state highway split for a partial interchange with MD 51, with the northbound lane passing under MD 51's overpass of the railroad. The northbound lane of Canal Parkway has a right-in/right-out interchange with Wineow Street before merging with westbound MD 51 a short distance south of downtown Cumberland.

History

Wiley Ford is named for a shallow spot in the North Branch Potomac River just east of the present bridge over the river. The first bridge at Wiley Ford was constructed around 1908; a replacement bridge was built in the late 1950s. Traffic heading to Wiley Ford from downtown Cumberland travelled Virginia Avenue south from Oldtown Road, the old alignment of MD 51, then followed River Avenue southwest to its present intersection with Canal Parkway, then south across the river along Ford Avenue, which followed the same alignment as Canal Parkway today. In addition to the route suffering from the standard problems of travelling through city streets, Virginia Avenue passed under the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

tracks via a low, narrow underpass that was vulnerable to flooding and, due to its location immediately south of Virginia Avenue's intersections with MD 51, was the frequent site of traffic jams. A problem at the underpass isolated South Cumberland south of the tracks from the rest of the city and required a lengthy detour through West Virginia. The same problems also hindered access to Greater Cumberland Regional Airport from the city. Canal Parkway was constructed as part of a broad group of projects to revitalize the North Branch Potomac River waterfront south of downtown Cumberland starting in 1989. These projects included: *The rehabilitation of the C&O Canal, including its re-watering, through the Cumberland portion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. *Restoration of historic

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was a small American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in 3 Southern United States, Southern US States, Maryland (Western Maryland, Western Region), West Virginia (Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Easte ...

properties, which included restoration of the former Western Maryland Railway Station and establishment of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

. *The construction of new bridges across the North Branch Potomac River and C&O Canal and an automobile parkway along a portion of the canal by the

Maryland State Highway Administration The Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA, MDOT SHA, or simply SHA) is the state mode responsible for maintaining Maryland's Maryland highway system, numbered highways outside Baltimore. Formed originally under authority of the Maryland ...

to serve as a scenic highway and to improve access to Greater Cumberland Regional Airport. *The construction of Canal Place by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

to tie together these and other historical properties, including Fort Cumberland and the Downtown Cumberland Historic District. The first section of Canal Parkway to be built was the reconstruction of Ford Avenue from the West Virginia state line to River Avenue. A new bridge over the North Branch Potomac River was completed in 1992. A new bridge over the C&O Canal was completed in 1997, eliminating an at-grade crossing of the highway and the C&O Canal towpath. Construction of Canal Parkway from River Avenue to MD 51 was underway by 1999 and completed in 2001, at which time the highway received the unsigned MD 61 designation.

Junction list

Auxiliary routes

MD 61 originally had two auxiliary routes. Both routes were transferred to municipal maintenance in 2005. *MD 61A was the designation for an unnamed connector west from the intersection of MD 61 and River Avenue to serve properties between the highway and the C&O Canal. *MD 61B was the designation for a section of River Avenue immediately east of its intersection with MD 61.

References

External links