Maryland Route 26 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maryland Route 26 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MDSHA and Baltimore DOT | ||||
| Length | 44.10 mi[1][2] (70.97 km) | |||
| Existed | 1927–present | |||
| Tourist routes |  Old Main Streets Scenic Byway | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  US 15 in Frederick | |||
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| East end |  MD 140 in Baltimore | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Maryland | |||
| Counties | Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, City of Baltimore | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Maryland Route 26 (MD 26) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Liberty Road, the state highway runs 44.10 miles (70.97 km) from U.S. Route 15 (US 15) in Frederick east to MD 140 in Baltimore. MD 26 connects Frederick and Baltimore with the highway's namesake of Libertytown in eastern Frederick County, the suburban area of Eldersburg in southern Carroll County, and the western Baltimore County suburbs of Randallstown, Milford Mill, and Lochearn. The highway also serves as a major thoroughfare in the western part of Baltimore, where the street is named Liberty Heights Avenue. MD 26 is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration outside of Baltimore and by the Baltimore City Department of Transportation within the city.
MD 26 follows much of the course of three turnpikes established in the 19th century. The Maryland State Roads Commission marked the portion of the highway from Baltimore to Eldersburg for improvement as one of the original state roads in 1909 and reconstructed the old turnpike in the early to mid-1910s. The Frederick– Libertytown segment of Liberty Road was reconstructed in the early 1920s. The remainder of MD 26 between Libertytown and Eldersburg was built in the mid-to-late 1920s and early 1930s. MD 26 was one of the original state-numbered highways designated in 1927; however, the Frederick– Libertytown portion was marked as MD 31 until 1933. Improvements to the highway at the Baltimore end began in the late 1910s and continued periodically through the 1950s. MD 26 was reconstructed from Frederick to Eldersburg throughout the 1950s, with major work concluding in the early 1960s. Many bypassed portions of the old road became parts of MD 850. MD 26 was extended west to modern US 15 in the late 1950s as a divided highway. That divided highway was extended east to MD 194 in Ceresville in the late 1990s.