Route 50, stretching from West Sacramento to Maryland’s Ocean City, carries more than just travelers– it carries a unique piece of highway history. Sometime between the late 1970s to early 1980s, Ocean City officials installed a sign marking the eastern termination of US 50, proudly displaying the distance to Sacramento (3,073 miles) as a nod to the highway’s distant beginning on the West Coast.
A few years after Ocean City’s sign was erected, Caltrans followed suit by installing a reciprocal mileage sign in Sacramento. Motorists on US 50 East in the state capital now see the name “Ocean City, Maryland” listed with an astonishing distance of 3,073 miles– a nod to the original gesture made by Ocean City officials.
The Sacramento sign was instated on the initiative of then Caltrans highway maintenance head John R. Cropper, Jr., who recounted being inspired by his visit to Ocean City. Despite some initial resistance from colleagues who felt the sign was superfluous, Cropper’s decision underscored the value of distinctive and engaging roadway markers.
However, maintaining these signs has not been without challenges. The Ocean City sign in Sacramento was stolen twice, once in 1999 and again in 2001. After the second theft, officials replaced it with a larger design to deter future thefts. An error in the replacement sign initially misreported the distance as 3,037 miles instead of the accurate 3,073 miles– a mistake corrected after a short delay.
Photos courtesy of Google Maps and Maryland State Highway Administration. Information courtesy of Fox40, and CapRadio.