Maryland Route 355

Maryland Route 355 is a 36.94-mile (59.45 km) north–south road in western central Maryland in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the Washington, D.C. border in Friendship Heights, Montgomery County, where it continues south as Wisconsin Avenue into Washington. The northern terminus is just north of an overpass with Interstate 70 and U.S. Route 40 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County, where the road continues north as Maryland Route 26 (MD 26). MD 355 serves as a major thoroughfare through Frederick and Montgomery counties, passing through Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Clarksburg, Hyattstown, Urbana, and Frederick, roughly parallel to Interstate 270. The southern portion of the route from the D.C. border to Germantown is a suburban four- to six-lane divided highway lined with many businesses. North of Germantown, the route is predominantly a two lane rural road until it reaches Frederick, where it passes through commercial areas in the southern part of the city.

MD 355 is the original route of U.S. Route 240, which was planned in 1926 to run from Washington, D.C. north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; however, the route was designated a part of US 15 north of Frederick. This route served as the primary connector linking Frederick and points west to Washington, D.C. In 1953, a freeway called the Washington National Pike was built for US 240 between Bethesda and Frederick, which became Interstate 70S (now I-270) with the creation of the Interstate Highway System. Meanwhile, the portion of former US 240 north of the freeway’s southern terminus was designated MD 355 by 1960. By 1975, the US 240 designated was removed from the U.S. Highway System, and MD 355 was extended south to the D.C. border. In 2006, the interchange with US 15 at the route’s northern terminus was removed, resulting in MD 355 ending just short of US 15 at a dead end. By 2009, a four lane divided bypass of Urbana for MD 355, funded by private developers, was completed. The same year, the portion of MD 355 north of I-70 was transferred to the city of Frederick and is no longer considered part of the route.

Read more about Maryland Route 355:  History, Junction List, Auxiliary Routes

Famous quotes containing the word route:

    In the mountains the shortest route is from peak to peak, but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are spoken should be big and tall of stature.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)