Editing Interstate 68 (section)

===Predecessors===
Prior to the construction of the freeway from Morgantown to Hancock, several different routes carried traffic across the region. [[West Virginia Route&nbsp;73]] (WV&nbsp;73) extended from [[Bridgeport, West Virginia|Bridgeport]] to [[Bruceton Mills, West Virginia|Bruceton Mills]], serving regions now served by I-79 (Bridgeport to Morgantown) and I-68 (Morgantown to Bruceton Mills). After the I-68 freeway, then known as US&nbsp;48, was completed in West Virginia, the WV&nbsp;73 designation was removed. Portions of the road still exist as County Route&nbsp;73 (CR&nbsp;73), CR&nbsp;73/73, and CR&nbsp;857. Between I-68's exit&nbsp;10 at [[Cheat Lake, West Virginia|Cheat Lake]] and exit&nbsp;15 at [[Coopers Rock State Forest|Coopers Rock]], I-68 was largely built directly over old WV&nbsp;73's roadbed.

At Bruceton Mills, WV&nbsp;73 ended at [[West Virginia Route 26|WV&nbsp;26]], which, from there, runs northeast into Pennsylvania, becoming [[Pennsylvania Route&nbsp;281]] at the state line and meeting [[U.S. Route 40|US&nbsp;40]] north of the border. From there, eastbound traffic would follow US&nbsp;40 into Maryland. I-68 now parallels US&nbsp;40 through western Maryland.<ref name=arc_core>{{cite book |author = Wilbur Smith Associates |date = July 1998 |publisher = [[Appalachian Regional Commission]] |chapter = Highway and Traffic Analysis |page = 11 |chapter-url = http://www.arc.gov/images/reports/wsa/wsa-4chap3.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090407200809/http://www.arc.gov/images/reports/wsa/wsa-4chap3.pdf |archive-date = April 7, 2009 |title = ADHS Economic Evaluation |access-date = April 11, 2009 }}</ref>

US&nbsp;40 followed the route of the [[National Road]] through Pennsylvania and Maryland. The National Road was the first federally funded road built in the U.S., authorized by [[United States Congress|Congress]] in 1806. Construction lasted from 1811 to 1837, establishing a road that extended from Cumberland to [[Vandalia, Illinois]]. Upon the establishment of the [[U.S. Numbered Highway System]] in 1926, the route of the National Road became part of US&nbsp;40.<ref name=National_Road>{{cite book |location = Baltimore |publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn = 978-0-8018-5155-1 |year = 1996 |page = 131 |first1 = Karl |last1 = Raitz |first2 = George |last2 = Thomson |name-list-style=amp |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_XSoga0PSd0C&pg=PA131 |access-date = October 11, 2008 |via= [[Google Books]] |title = The National Road }}</ref>