Maryland Route 22 - History

History

MD 22 was one of the original state roads marked for improvement by the Maryland State Roads Commission in 1909. The highway was part of the original main road from Baltimore to Aberdeen and Havre de Grace that passed through Bel Air. The Post Road, also known as the Philadelphia Road, did not become the main connection between Baltimore and Aberdeen until the 1920s. The highway from Bel Air to Churchville, part of the Bel Air Road extending west from Havre de Grace, was already improved beyond a rudimentary dirt road by 1910. The highway from Churchville to Paradise Road in Aberdeen was constructed in 1911. The portion of the state road between Bel Air and Churchville was reconstructed in 1913. The Post Road between Aberdeen and Havre de Grace was constructed as a state aid road around 1911. All three segments were constructed as a 14-foot (4.3 m) wide macadam road. The original construction did not include the portions of Bel Air Avenue and the Post Road within the limits of Aberdeen. The portion of Bel Air Avenue from Paradise Road to the Post Road and the Post Road from there to approximately the modern intersection of MD 22 and MD 132B were rebuilt as a 17-foot (5.2 m) wide concrete road in 1917.

MD 22 was widened to 17 feet (5.2 m) with the addition of 3-foot (0.91 m) wide concrete shoulders around 1926, just before the highway became one of the original state-numbered highways in 1927. The Post Road became part of US 40 the same year. Both MD 22 and US 40 from Aberdeen to Havre de Grace were widened to 20 feet (6.1 m) by 1930. US 40 was relocated from the Post Road to its present alignment from Aberdeen to Havre de Grace between 1930 and 1933. MD 22 was extended north along the Post Road to MD 132B's present northern terminus by 1939. Work to further modernize MD 22 began in 1951 when Churchville Road from Bel Air to MD 156 near Churchville was straightened, widened, and resurfaced. The Bel Air–Churchville work was completed in 1953; the following year, the MD 22–MD 155 intersection was reconstructed. MD 22 from MD 156 to US 40 in Aberdeen was widened and resurfaced between 1954 and 1956.

The Aberdeen Thruway was constructed to improve the east–west connection between I-95, US 40, and Aberdeen Proving Ground and to provide grade separated crossings of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (now CSX), Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak), and US 40. The grade separations had been contemplated as early as 1942. Construction on the relocation of MD 22 began in 1967 and was completed in 1969. The old alignment of MD 22 from I-95 east and north through Aberdeen to US 40 near Havre de Grace was designated MD 132. Beards Hill Road was reconstructed as a divided highway between MD 132 and MD 22 and the ramps from northbound I-95 to MD 132 and from eastbound MD 22 to MD 132 were constructed by 1972. The western end of MD 22 was changed to a one-way pair when Fulford Avenue was added to the state highway system as eastbound MD 22 in Bel Air in 1979. The state highway was expanded to a divided highway from the east end of the one-way pair to MD 543 between 1994 and 1999. MD 22 was expanded to a four-lane divided highway from the I-95 overpass west to Long Drive in 2004 concurrent with the transformation of the original diamond interchange with I-95 to a partial cloverleaf with collector-distributor lanes.