Portal:Maryland roads
Maryland Roads
The Maryland highway system consists of roads in the US state of Maryland that are maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). The three main systems of roads that comprise the Maryland highway system are Interstate Highways, US Highways, and Maryland state highways. Other roads in Maryland are maintained by individual cities and counties.
Interstate Highways and US Highways are assigned at the national level. Interstate Highways are numbered in a grid—even-numbered routes are east–west routes (the lowest numbers are along Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico), and odd-numbered routes are north–south routes (with the lowest numbers along the Pacific Ocean). US Highways are also numbered in a grid—even numbered for east–west routes (with the lowest numbers along Canada) and odd numbered for north–south routes (with the lowest numbers along the Atlantic Ocean). For this reason, mainline (two-digit) Interstate Highways in Maryland all have numbers between 81 and 97 for north-south routes and between 68 and 70 for east-west routes. In addition, mainline US Highways all have numbers between 1 and 29 for north-south routes and between 40 and 50 for east-west routes. Three-digit Interstate and U.S. Highways, also known as "child routes," are branches off their main one- or two-digit "parents". The Interstate and US Highways are generally maintained by the SHA, with some toll roads maintained by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and some roads maintained by municipalities, including most roads in the city of Baltimore. Interstate 95 (I-95) and U.S. Route 40 (US 40) are the longest examples in the state.
Maryland state highways are the other state highways maintained by the SHA. Some state highways are maintained by municipalities while the Maryland Route 200 (MD 200) toll road is maintained by the MDTA. All roads maintained by the SHA are assigned route numbers, ranging from through routes passing through multiple counties to minor service roads that are less than a mile long. Many of the shorter state highways are unsigned. Some routes consist of multiple segments with letter suffixes; these suffixes are unsigned with the exception of MD 835A. There are two geographical clusters for Maryland state highways. The first, ranging from 2 to 37, consists of longer intercounty routes, with 2 to 6 in Southern Maryland, 7 to 10 originally skipped, 12 to 21 on the Eastern Shore, and 22 to 37 running west from Central Maryland to Western Maryland. The second cluster consists of routes from 38 to 378, running across the state from Garrett County in the west to Worcester County in the east. Numbers above 378 are assigned randomly.
Selected article
Interstate 270 (I-270) is a 34.7-mile (55.8 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maryland that travels from I-495 (Capital Beltway) just north of Bethesda in Montgomery County north to I-70 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County. It consists of the 32.6-mile (52.5 km) mainline as well as a 2.1-mile (3.4 km) spur that provides access to and from southbound I-495. I-270 is known as the Washington National Pike, and makes up the easternmost stretch of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway. Most of the southern part of the route in Montgomery County passes through suburban areas around Rockville and Gaithersburg that are home to many biotech firms. This portion of I-270 is up to 12 lanes wide and consists of a local–express lane configuration as well as high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) that are in operation during peak travel times. North of the Gaithersburg area, the road continues through the northern part of Montgomery County, passing Germantown and Clarksburg as a six- to eight-lane highway with an HOV lane in the northbound direction only. North of here, I-270 continues through rural areas into Frederick County and toward the city of Frederick as a four-lane freeway.
The freeway was built between 1953 and 1960 as the Washington National Pike between Bethesda and Frederick and carried U.S. Route 240 (US 240), which was rerouted off what is now Maryland Route 355 (MD 355) between these two points. With the creation of the Interstate Highway System a few years later, the road was designated as I-70S along with US 240. There were plans to extend I-70S to I-95 in Washington, D.C., on the North Central Freeway from the Capital Beltway; however, they were canceled in the 1970s due to opposition from residents in the freeway's path. The concurrent US 240 designation was removed in 1972 and I-70S became I-270 in 1975. Increasing traffic levels led to a $200-million (equivalent to $496 million in 2023) widening of the road in Montgomery County to its current configuration. Many improvements are slated for I-270, including the widening of the route that would add high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes). (Full article...)
Selected picture
Did you know?
- ...that Maryland Route 135 once had a sign that suggested to truck drivers "If Brakes Fail Ditch Truck Immediately" on the highway's steep descent of Backbone Mountain?
- ... that the Benedict Bridge, which carries Maryland Route 231 between Charles and Calvert counties in Southern Maryland, was the southernmost crossing of the Patuxent River for 25 years?
- ... that Maryland Route 648I is the designation for the driveway to a Knights of Columbus hall and is named McGivney Way in honor of Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the organization?
Related portals
Subcategories
Topics
- Maryland highway system, an overview of the numbered highway system
- Interstate Highways in Maryland
- U.S. Highways in Maryland
- State highways in Maryland
- Maryland Scenic Byways
- Pre-freeway turnpikes in Maryland
Quality content
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Featured articles
Good articles
Baltimore–Washington Parkway- Interstate 70 in Maryland
- Interstate 81 in Maryland
- Interstate 97
- Interstate 195 (Maryland)
- Interstate 270 (Maryland)
- Interstate 370
- Interstate 695 (Maryland)
- Interstate 895
- Maryland Route 2
- Maryland Route 5
- Maryland Route 7
- Maryland Route 10
- Maryland Route 12
- Maryland Route 16
- Maryland Route 18
- Maryland Route 22
- Maryland Route 23
- Maryland Route 24
- Maryland Route 30
- Maryland Route 32
- Maryland Route 33
- Maryland Route 55
- Maryland Route 68
- Maryland Route 70
- Maryland Route 97
- Maryland Route 135
- Maryland Route 150
- Maryland Route 151
- Maryland Route 170
- Maryland Route 177
- Maryland Route 194
- Maryland Route 198
- Maryland Route 213
- Maryland Route 222
- Maryland Route 228
- Maryland Route 231
- Maryland Route 234
- Maryland Route 235
- Maryland Route 285
- Maryland Route 291
- Maryland Route 300
- Maryland Route 313
- Maryland Route 318
- Maryland Route 322
- Maryland Route 331
- Maryland Route 346
- Maryland Route 355
- Maryland Route 363
- Maryland Route 404
- Maryland Route 410
- Maryland Route 413
- Maryland Route 500
- Maryland Route 528
- Maryland Route 537
- Maryland Route 615
- Maryland Route 704
- Maryland Route 743
- Route 54 (Maryland–Delaware)
- U.S. Route 11 in Maryland
- U.S. Route 13 in Maryland
- U.S. Route 15 in Maryland
- U.S. Route 40 Alternate (Hagerstown–Frederick, Maryland)
- U.S. Route 40 Scenic
- U.S. Route 219 in Maryland
- U.S. Route 220 in Maryland
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Nominations and votes for selected articles are always needed. Anyone can nominate an article, and anyone can vote for an article. Additional selected pictures and Did you know? hooks are welcome to be nominated as well. Feel free to improve articles about Maryland roads, we would like to get as many articles to Good Article or Featured Article status as possible.
