Maryland Route 743 (MD 743) 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
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 sover ...
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 ...
. The state highway runs from
MD 36 in
Frostburg
Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...
east to
U.S. Route 40 Alternate (US 40 Alternate) in
Eckhart Mines. MD 743 is the original alignment of
US 40 through Eckhart Mines. The state highway was designated when US 40 bypassed Eckhart Mines around 1950.
Route description
MD 743 begins at an intersection with MD 36 (New Georges Creek Road) in Frostburg just south of MD 36's southern intersection with US 40 Alternate. The state highway heads east into the unincorporated village of Eckhart Mines as a winding two-lane undivided road. After intersecting
MD 638 (Parkersburg Road) at an acute angle, MD 743 reaches its eastern terminus at US 40 Alternate (
National Pike
The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...
).
History
MD 743 is the original alignment of US 40 and, before that, the
National Road
The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the Federal Government of the United States, federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Pot ...
through Eckhart Mines. The highway was one of the original state roads scheduled for improvement by the
Maryland State Roads Commission
The Maryland State Highway Administration (abbreviated MDOT SHA or simply SHA) is the state transportation business unit responsible for maintaining Maryland's numbered highways outside Baltimore City. Formed originally under authority of the Ge ...
in 1909.
The state road was paved through the village in 1911.
MD 743 was designated through Eckhart Mines shortly after the US 40 (now US 40 Alternate) bypass of the village was completed in 1950.
MD 743 originally extended west to US 40, meeting the highway on a tangent in front of
Beall High School
Mountain Ridge High School is a high school in Frostburg, Maryland, United States, that houses over 1000 students from the Georges Creek Valley, the Greater Frostburg vicinity, and the Westernport region. Mountain Ridge is part of Allegany Cou ...
at the city limit of Frostburg.
The western end of the state highway was truncated when MD 36 was moved to its present alignment between
Midland and Frostburg in 1972.
Junction list
See also
*
References
External links
MDRoads: MD 743
{{good article
743
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Year 743 ( DCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 743 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...
Maryland Route 743
Frostburg, Maryland
U.S. Route 40
National Road