History
The first section of what was to become MD 77 was paved in concrete from the railroad crossing at Graceham east to Old Frederick Road near Loys Station by 1923. This section of improved road was extended east with concrete to Rocky Ridge starting in 1924 and completed by 1927. MD 77 was also extended west to the eastern edge of Thurmont as a macadam road by 1927. The concrete highway was extended east 1 mile (1.6 km) from Rocky Ridge in 1928 and to the Monocacy River in 1930. MD 77 was extended east to the Frederick–Carroll county line at Double Pipe Creek just west of Detour starting in 1930. The state highway's truss bridge over the Monocacy River was built in 1932, replacing an old truss bridge of the same design as one that had catastrophically failed on US 240's (now MD 355) crossing of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1930.
MD 77 was connected to US 15 in Thurmont by municipally-maintained Main Street and from Detour to MD 71 (now MD 194) in Keymar by a county connecting road. The first portion of the western half of MD 77 was built between 1936 and 1938 from Cavetown to Foxville. The westernmost part of MD 77 included Cavetown Church Road from MD 64 (now MD 66) in Cavetown to just east of Wolfsville Road. The two sections of MD 77 were connected by county-maintained Foxville Road from Foxville to Thurmont. Foxville Road between Foxville and Thurmont and Middleburg Road from Double Pipe Creek east to MD 194 became part of MD 77 in 1956. MD 77 was widened through Thurmont that same year.
In 1956, construction began on MD 77's interchange with the US 15 bypass, which opened in 1958. The US 15 interchange originally consisted of one two-way ramp in the northeast quadrant of the junction between MD 77 and the two-lane bypass. When US 15 was expanded to a four-lane divided highway in 1985, the southbound US 15 ramps in the southwest quadrant of the junction were constructed. MD 77's western terminus was moved from Cavetown to the Smithsburg Bypass when MD 64 was moved to the new highway in 1960. The old alignment of MD 77 west to Cavetown consists of Cavetown Church Road, which is unsigned MD 844 between MD 64 and a dead end adjacent to modern MD 77 east of Wolfsville Road.
Read more about this topic: Maryland Route 77
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