Interstate 68 (I-68): Morgantown to Hancock Route, Length and Safety

How long is I-68?

Wikipedia and Interstate Guide agree on 113.15 miles end to end, split into 32.06 miles in West Virginia and 81.09 in Maryland. The January 2026 FHWA Route Log comes out higher at 115.59 miles, with 34.93 in West Virginia and 80.66 in Maryland.

Overlaps with other Interstates are not the reason, since the Route Log books no I-68 miles to another Interstate, and the source of the extra 2.87 West Virginia miles is unclear. Three US highways ride along on I-68 in Maryland: US 40 from Keysers Ridge to Hancock, US 219 from Keysers Ridge to exit 22, and US 220 between exits 42 and 47 in Cumberland. Those miles count as I-68's, and the crash rates below use the two Route Log rows unchanged.

Where I-68 starts and ends

The road begins at exit 148 of I-79 near Morgantown, West Virginia. It ends at its own exit 82 in Hancock, Maryland, where it joins I-70, US 40 and US 522.

Eastbound, I-68 crosses Cheat Lake and climbs out of Cheat Canyon on steep grades that include a truck escape ramp. Bruceton Mills is the only other town on the West Virginia side. In Maryland the freeway passes Keysers Ridge and Grantsville, crosses the Eastern Continental Divide just before Savage Mountain, skirts Frostburg to the south and goes through Cumberland on an elevated viaduct about a mile long. East of Cumberland it passes Rocky Gap State Park and Green Ridge State Forest, then cuts through Sideling Hill on the way to Hancock.

Interstate junctions along I-68

I-68 touches only two other Interstates, one at each end. I-79 meets it at Morgantown, and I-70 takes over at Hancock. Every interchange in between connects to US or state highways, among them US 219 at Keysers Ridge and US 220 in Cumberland.

Fatal crashes on I-68

FARS lists 22 fatal crashes on I-68 between 2020 and 2024, killing 24 people, or about 5 a year. Spread over the route's miles, that is 4.2 deaths per 100 miles a year, less than half the Interstate average of 9.5. Among the 56 routes we rate, with 1st the highest, I-68 comes 49th, so just seven have a lower rate.

West Virginia recorded 8 deaths on 34.93 miles, a rate of 4.6. Maryland recorded 16 on 80.66 miles, a rate of 4.0. Allegany County, which holds Cumberland, led with 9. Wikipedia says the speed limit steps down from 70 mph in LaVale through 55 mph to 40 mph in downtown Cumberland, and that crashes are common at Moose Curve, a sharp bend at the foot of Haystack Mountain nearby. Garrett and Monongalia counties had 5 deaths each, Preston had 3 and Washington had 2. The yearly toll went from 7 in 2020 to 5, then 6, then 3 in both 2023 and 2024.

One older crash shows what fog can do on the Maryland ridges. On May 23, 2003, 85 vehicles piled up in fog on Savage Mountain west of Frostburg. Two people died, nearly 100 were hurt, and the freeway stayed blocked for 24 hours. In 2005 the Maryland State Highway Administration installed a $230,000 fog warning system that alerts drivers once visibility falls below 1,000 feet.

Counties with the most I-68 crash deaths

Bridges on I-68

In the 2025 National Bridge Inventory, 84 bridges carry I-68's main line: 67 in Maryland and 17 in West Virginia. Four rate Poor, and all four are on the West Virginia side, so close to a quarter of that state's I-68 bridges are in Poor condition. None of Maryland's do. Across the route, 18 rate Good and 62 Fair, and the median bridge dates from 1974.

The Cumberland Thruway was one of the first pieces of the freeway built. Work on the mile-long elevated structure through Cumberland began on June 10, 1965, and it opened to traffic on December 5, 1966.

Tolls on I-68

I-68 has no toll facilities in FHWA's inventory as of January 1, 2023, and a trip from Morgantown to Hancock is free. Wikipedia and Interstate Guide mention no toll lanes opened since. Wikipedia mentions a 1989 proposal for a toll road along the planned western extension in West Virginia, which has not been built.

From US 48 to I-68: how the National Freeway opened

The road started as Corridor E of the Appalachian Development Highway System, set up under the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, and it was signed US 48 from 1965 until 1991. After the Cumberland Thruway, Maryland extended the freeway from Vocke Road west to Frostburg on October 12, 1973, and on to MD 546 on November 1, 1974. The West Virginia section opened on November 15, 1975, together with the 14 miles from the state line to Keysers Ridge. The rest of Garrett County followed on August 13, 1976.

East of Cumberland the work took longer. Interstate Guide dates a 4.5-mile section at Sideling Hill to August 15, 1985; the road cut there exposes the mountain's geology and has its own rest area and welcome center. Building the last gap, a $182 million job, started in May 1987. AASHTO approved renaming US 48 as I-68 in 1989, and the new number took effect on August 2, 1991, the day the final 19 miles from east of Cumberland to Green Ridge opened. In 2002 the US 48 number went to Corridor H, a separate road.

Plans to carry I-68 west from Morgantown to Moundsville date to 1986, according to Interstate Guide. FHWA approved the extension for the National Highway System on September 9, 2003. Governor Joe Manchin suggested dropping it in 2008, and Marshall County revived the idea in 2014.

I-68 traffic and road conditions

Searches for I-68 cameras and road conditions jump every winter. For closures and crashes today, use WV511 for the stretch from Morgantown to the state line and Maryland's CHART site from there to Hancock.

I-68 questions