Maryland Route 7

Maryland Route 7 (MD 7) is a collection of state highways in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for much of their length as Philadelphia Road, there are five disjoint mainline sections of the highway totaling 40.63 miles (65.39 km) that parallel U.S. Route 40 (US 40) in Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil counties in northeastern Maryland. The longest section of MD 7 begins at US 40 just east of the city of Baltimore in Rosedale and extends through eastern Baltimore County and southern Harford County to US 40 in Aberdeen. The next segment of the state highway is a C-shaped route through Havre de Grace. The third mainline section of MD 7 begins in Perryville and ends at US 40 a short distance west of the start of the fourth section, which passes through Charlestown and North East before ending at US 40 just west of Elkton. The fifth segment of the highway begins at MD 213 and passes through downtown Elkton before reconnecting with US 40 west of the Delaware state line.

MD 7 is the old alignment of US 40 in northeastern Maryland. The route was first laid out early in colonial times and later formed part of the post road between Baltimore and Philadelphia and between the northern and southern colonies. The highway in Baltimore and Harford counties became a turnpike in the 19th century. The Maryland State Roads Commission marked portions of what became known as the Philadelphia Road close to Baltimore and between Perryville and Elkton for improvement as state roads in 1909. Those sections and the highway between Aberdeen and Havre de Grace were constructed as modern roads in the early to mid-1910s. The remainder of the highway was constructed in the 1920s and designated US 40 in 1927. The high volume of traffic and the required continuous expansion of the highway led the Maryland State Roads Commission to construct the modern Pulaski Highway between 1935 and 1941. Old sections of US 40 became segments of MD 7 between 1938 and 1941 as portions of the new four-lane divided highway opened from Baltimore to Elkton.