Maryland Route 496 (MD 496) 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 ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in the U.S. state of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. Known as Bachmans Valley Road, the state highway runs from
MD 97 near
Pleasant Valley east to
MD 30 in
Melrose. MD 496 was constructed from Pleasant Valley to Bachman Mills in the mid-1930s. The state highway was completed to Melrose in the late 1940s.
Route description
MD 496 begins at an intersection with MD 97 (Littlestown Pike) near the hamlet of Pleasant Valley north of
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
. The state highway heads northeast as a two-lane undivided road through farmland. MD 496 crosses Bear Branch, on which lies the Bear Branch Nature Center, and passes Saw Mill Road, which leads to the
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938), ...
Farm. The state highway intersects Old Bachmans Valley Road just south of the hamlet of Bachman Mills, where the highway crosses Big Pipe Creek. Old Bachmans Valley Road leads southwest to the historic
Christian Royer House and
John Orendorff Farm. MD 496 continues northeast to the community of Melrose north of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, where the state highway reaches its eastern terminus at MD 30 (Hanover Pike). The roadway continues northeast as county-maintained Wentz Road.
History
The first sections of MD 496 from what was then
U.S. Route 140
U.S. Route 140Pennsylvania "Legislative Route 42")was a U.S. highway connecting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore, Maryland. The route was deleted from the system in 1979; today the road's route is followed by portions of Pennsylvania R ...
(now MD 97) to Bachman Mills were completed as a concrete road by 1933.
The next segment of the state highway was constructed from Bachman Mills to near Hoover Mill Road between 1934 and 1936.
Traffic from Bachman Mills to Melrose followed county-maintained Ebbvale Road until MD 496 was completed as a macadam road on a new alignment to MD 30 in 1947.
Junction list
See also
*
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
MDRoads: MD 496
496
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Year 496 ( CDXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus without colleague (or, less frequently, ye ...
Maryland Route 496
Maryland Route 496 (MD 496) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Bachmans Valley Road, the state highway runs from MD 97 near Pleasant Valley east to MD 30 in Melrose. MD 496 was constructed from Pleasant Valley to Bach ...