U.S. Route 111

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U.S. Route 111 was a U.S. Route that ran from Baltimore, Maryland north to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area. It replaced part of the Susquehanna Trail and was in turn replaced by Interstate 83. Portions of its pre-freeway alignment are now Maryland Route 45 and Interstate 83 Business. Other old sections in Pennsylvania are now unsigned Quadrant Routes or township-maintained roads.

US 111 extended north to the Pennsylvania-New York state line where U.S. Route 15 now crosses it, and possibly into New York, between 1926 and ca. 1936.^[1]^[2]^[3]

[edit] History

In the preliminary 1925 plan for what were then called "Interstate Highways", US 111 was assigned to the Baltimore-Harrisburg route; it met its "parent" - U.S. Route 11 - at Harrisburg.^[4] The changes made by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) during the next year included the creation of U.S. Route 220 from Cumberland, Maryland north to the New York state line at Lawrenceville.^[5] (It did not continue into New York due to the insistence of Frederick S. Greene of that state to designate only the most major highways, "thinking that [other states] wanted to justify their great amount of roads by having New York pursue the same ridiculous policy."^[6]) However, Pennsylvania soon objected (after the final plan had been approved), on the basis that the U.S. Highways did not follow the existing auto trails. In particular, the Washington-Buffalo Susquehanna Trail had four numbers in Pennsylvania - US 111 to Harrisburg, U.S. Route 11 to Northumberland, U.S. Route 120 to Williamsport, and U.S. Route 220 north to New York, as opposed to the single number - Pennsylvania Route 4 - that had been assigned in 1924.^[7] By April 1927, Pennsylvania and AASHO had come to an agreement: US 111 was extended north, concurrent with US 11 and US 120 to Williamsport, where it took over former US 220 to New York. (US 220 itself was rerouted to its current alignment along what had been U.S. Route 711.)^[8]

From Baltimore to Lemoyne, US 111 roughly followed the present Interstate 83. Its south end was at Greenmount Avenue (now Maryland Route 45) and North Avenue (still U.S. Route 1) in Baltimore. The old alignment in Maryland is now Maryland Route 45, while in Pennsylvania - except through York, where it is now Interstate 83 Business - it is mostly unsigned Quadrant Routes and township roads, many still named Susquehanna Trail. At the intersection of 3rd Street and Market Street in Lemoyne, US 111 met U.S. Route 11, which it ran concurrent with to Northumberland. The combined US 11 and US 111 crossed the Susquehanna River three times: the Market Street Bridge^[9] between Wormleysburg and Harrisburg, the Clarks Ferry Bridge north of Harrisburg, and the Route 11 Bridge over the West Branch Susquehanna River at Northumberland. Between the bridges, US 11 and US 111 used the main roads along the river.^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]

In Northumberland, US 11 and US 111 split at the intersection of Water Street (still US 11) and Duke Street (now Pennsylvania Route 147). U.S. Route 120 also passed through Northimberland on the present alignment of PA 147, running concurrent with US 111 to Williamsport. Along this section, US 111 and US 120 roughly followed the east bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River along PA 147, Pennsylvania Route 405 and a number of Quadrant Routes. However, between Milton and Muncy, the alignment was more inland, fairly close to the present Interstate 180. (Much of this road is still known as Susquehanna Trail.) At Water Street (now PA 405) in Muncy, US 111 and US 120 met U.S. Route 220, which joined the other routes the rest of the way to Williamsport. The three routes passed through Williamsport on Washington Street, Market Street, 7th Street, Hepburn Street and Park Avenue. US 120 and US 220 split at Campbell Street, heading south and then west on 4th Street, while US 111 continued along Park Avenue and High Street. From the end of High Street, US 111 used former and current alignments of U.S. Route 15 the rest of the way to New York. (By 1940, US 111 - by then US 15 - and the other routes through Williamsport had moved to Washington Boulevard, Harris Place, Hepburn Street and High Street, with the split still occurring at Campbell Street.)^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]

After a possible extension north to Corning, New York (along present and former US 15), US 111 was truncated back to Lemoyne around 1936, and U.S. Route 15 was extended north from Lemoyne along the former US 111 and beyond to Rochester, New York.^[1]^[3] Soon after 1940, US 15 was rerouted to roughly its present alignment, only crossing the Susquehanna River once - on the Market Street Bridge at Williamsport.^[2]^[12]

Later changes to US 111 included an extension to Front Street and Walnut Street in Wormleysburg when US 11 was moved to its present alignment, relocations to the new freeway (now Interstate 83) south of Lemoyne, and finally a relocation from Lemoyne over the John Harris Bridge with I-83 to end at U.S. Route 22 in Lower Paxton Township. The route disappeared in 1963, by then completely replaced by I-83, and running along I-83 except inside the Baltimore Beltway (where it used present Maryland Route 45 to the end).^[3]^[1]^[14]