U.S. Route 113
U.S. Route 113 is a U.S. Highway that is a spur of US 13 in the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware. The route runs from US 13 in Pocomoke City, Maryland, north to Delaware Route 1 in Milford, Delaware. In conjunction with DE 1, US 113 is one of two major north–south highways on the Delmarva Peninsula that connect Dover with Pocomoke City and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The U.S. Highway is the primary north–south highway in Worcester County, Maryland, where it connects Pocomoke City with Snow Hill and Berlin. US 113 is one of three major north–south highways in Sussex County, Delaware, where it connects Selbyville, Millsboro, and Georgetown with Milford. While US 113 does not pass through Ocean City or the Delaware Beaches, the U.S. Highway intersects several highways that serve the Atlantic seaboard resorts, including US 50, Maryland Route 90, US 9, DE 404, DE 16, and DE 1. US 113 is a four-lane divided highway for its entire length.
US 113 follows the corridor of a post road established in the late 18th century to connect the aforementioned towns on the Delmarva Peninsula with Wilmington and Philadelphia. The highway was improved as an all-weather road in the 1910s. In Maryland, the post road was designated one of the original state roads established by the Maryland State Roads Commission in 1909. In Delaware, the highway was the Selbyville–Dover portion of the DuPont Highway, a roadway whose construction was a grand philanthropic measure of Thomas Coleman DuPont. The DuPont Highway, which was started by DuPont's company and finished by the Delaware State Highway Department, spurred economic growth in the tourism and agriculture sectors in southern Delaware. The economic growth resulted in heavy traffic; US 113 was widened in both states in the early 1930s and again in the late 1940s. Bypasses of Dover and Pocomoke City were built in the mid-1930s; the bypassed section of highway in Dover became US 113 Alternate.
Expansion of US 113 to a divided highway began in the 1950s in Dover. Much of the remainder of the U.S. Highway in Delaware was expanded in the 1960s; the final section of two-lane US 113 in that state was expanded in the mid-1990s. The Berlin bypass became the first section of US 113 in Maryland to be expanded to a divided highway in the mid-1950s. In the early 1970s, US 113 between Pocomoke City and Snow Hill was expanded to a divided highway and the Snow Hill bypass was constructed, replacing what would become US 113 Business. The U.S. Highway between Berlin and the Delaware state line was expanded to a divided highway around 2000. The Maryland State Highway Administration upgraded the last remaining two-lane portions of US 113 between Snow Hill and Berlin to a four-lane divided highway, with completion in 2019. US 113's northern terminus was moved to Milford in 2004 after the U.S. Highway was superseded by DE 1 from Milford to Dover. The Delaware Department of Transportation plans to upgrade US 113 to a freeway in some areas. Originally, there had been plans to upgrade it all from Selbyville to Ellendale, but freeway bypasses of Milford and Millsboro were cancelled or altered due to community opposition.
Route description
US 113 serves as an important route carrying local and through traffic along with tourist traffic bound for the Delaware Beaches and Ocean City, Maryland, to the east; as such the highway experiences congestion in the summer months when tourism to the beach areas is at its highest. Access from US 113 to the beach areas is provided by US 9, DE 404, and DE 16 toward Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, and Dewey Beach; DE 26 toward Bethany Beach; DE 54 toward Fenwick Island; MD 90 toward northern Ocean City; US 50 toward downtown Ocean City; and MD 376 toward Assateague Island. US 113 also serves as a part of a primary hurricane evacuation route from the beach communities to inland areas to the north. In 2016, US 113 had an annual average daily traffic count ranging from a high of 38,505 vehicles at the US 9 intersection in Georgetown to a low of 6,070 vehicles between the southern terminus of US 113 Business and MD 12 in Snow Hill. All of US 113 is part of the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.Maryland
US 113 has a length of in Maryland, where the route is named Worcester Highway. The highway extends the north–south length of Worcester County and serves three of the county's four towns: Pocomoke City, Snow Hill, and Berlin. US 50 connects US 113 with the county's fourth town, Ocean City. Between Snow Hill and Berlin, the U.S. Highway is part of the Cape to Cape Scenic Byway, a Maryland Scenic Byway that comprises several highways in Worcester County.Pocomoke City to Snow Hill
US 113 begins at the city limit of Pocomoke City at an intersection with US 13, the main highway of the Delmarva Peninsula that connects Wilmington and Dover with Salisbury and Norfolk. Old Virginia Road continues west to US 13 Business. US 13 Business heads north through the Pocomoke City Historic District, which preserves buildings from Pocomoke City's late 19th century and early 20th century heyday as a river port and station on the main rail line of the Delmarva Peninsula.US 113 heads northeast from US 13 as a four-lane divided highway and intersects American Legion Drive, which leads to MD 359. The U.S. Highway crosses Town Branch, a tributary of the Pocomoke River, and leaves the Pocomoke City area after intersecting MD 756. US 113 parallels the left bank of the Pocomoke River and crosses many streams that drain into the river, including Pilchard Creek, Bachelors Branch, Mataponi Creek, Corkers Creek, and Hardship Branch. US 113 passes through Pocomoke State Forest, which preserves loblolly pine stands and bald cypress swamps along the Maryland Scenic River; by the Pocomoke River Wildlife Management Area, in which dove hunting regularly occurs; and by the Shad Landing unit of Pocomoke River State Park, which offers boating, fishing, and a nature center.
Northeast of the state park entrance, US 113 Business splits to the northeast to directly serve the town of Snow Hill, which is the county seat of Worcester County and contains several museums and colonial era buildings of the river port at the head of navigation of the Pocomoke River. US 113 bypasses the town to the south and east, coming to a northbound weigh station a short distance past the US 113 Business intersection, and intersects MD 12, which connects Snow Hill with e Salisbury and Stockton, and MD 365. The MD 365 junction is a superstreet intersection; MD 365 traffic must turn right, use U-turn ramps along US 113, and turn right again to continue on MD 365. North of MD 365, the highway crosses Purnell Branch of the Pocomoke River. US 113 has a grade crossing with the Snow Hill Line of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad and turns northeast again as the highway receives the other end of US 113 Business.
Snow Hill to Berlin
US 113 continues northeast, crosses Poorhouse Branch of the Pocomoke River, and passes west of Worcester Technical High School. North of its crossing of Five Mile Branch, the highway veers away from the Pocomoke River and enters the Atlantic seaboard watershed US 113 parallels the rail line before it intersects the rail line at an oblique grade crossing at Newark Road and crosses Marshall Creek, which flows into Newport Bay. The highway passes to the south of the village of Newark, which contains the Queponco Railway Station, a preserved Pennsylvania Railroad station. Further north, US 113 crosses Massey Branch. The highway crosses Porter Creek and Goody Hill Branch of Bassett Creek and passes through Ironshire, which contains the Federal-style plantation home Simpson's Grove.US 113 crosses Poplartown Branch of Beaverdam Creek, passes the historic Italianate-style plantation home Merry Sherwood, and enters the town of Berlin at its southern junction with MD 818. MD 818 heads north through the Berlin Commercial District, which contains several museums and preserves buildings from the late 19th century when Berlin was at the intersection of two railroad lines. East of the town center, US 113 crosses Hudson Branch of Trappe Creek and intersects MD 376 and MD 346. The U.S. Highway passes west of Atlantic General Hospital as it leaves the town of Berlin just south of its cloverleaf interchange with US 50, which connects Ocean City with Salisbury and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. North of the interchange, within which the highways cross Kitts Branch, US 113 meets the northern end of MD 818 as it begins to closely parallel the Snow Hill Line.
Berlin to Selbyville
US 113 closely parallels the railroad west of Friendship to north of its right-in/right-out junction with MD 575, an interchange only accessible to the northbound U.S. Highway. The route leaves the railroad track and meets MD 90 at a partial cloverleaf interchange; MD 90 connects the northern part of Ocean City with US 50 west of Berlin. US 113 continues north to its interchange with the northern end of MD 575 and MD 589, which leads to Ocean Pines and Ocean Downs, a harness racing track with a casino. The exit ramp from northbound US 113 intersects MD 575 a short distance south of its intersection with MD 589, and the southbound ramps connect with West Frontage Road, which serves St. Martin's Episcopal Church.US 113 continues through Showell, where the U.S. Highway crosses Church Branch, Middle Branch, and Birch Branch; these three streams together form Shingle Landing Prong of the St. Martin River, which empties into Isle of Wight Bay, a lagoon on the west side of Ocean City. Within Showell, the highway parallels Old US 113, which is accessed at its south end with a right-in/right-out junction with southbound US 113 and full access via Shingle Landing Road. US 113 intersects MD 367 at Bishop and has an oblique grade crossing with the rail line, then the route intersects the east end of MD 610. The U.S. Highway crosses Carey Branch, which flows into the Bishopville Prong of the St. Martin River, before it enters Delaware at the Transpeninsular Line, one of the lines surveyed as part of the 18th-century Penn–Calvert boundary dispute.