Portal:Maryland roads/Selected article/July 2015

Maryland Route 355 (MD 355) is a 36.75 mi 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 (I-70) and U.S. Route 40 (US 40) in the city of Frederick in Frederick County. 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 I-270. The southern portion of the route from the D.C. border to Germantown is a suburban four- to six-lane divided highway. North of Germantown, the route is predominantly a two lane rural road until it reaches Frederick. MD 355 is the original route of US 240, which ran Washington, D.C. north to Frederick. This route served as the primary connector linking Frederick and points west to Washington, D.C. During the 1950s, US 240 was relocated in stages to the Washington National Pike, a freeway between Bethesda and Frederick shared with I-70S (now I-270). MD 355 was designated onto the former alignment of US 240 between Bethesda and Frederick as each stage of freeway was built. MD 355 was also designated through Frederick along Market Street, which was the former alignment of US 15 through the city before it was moved to a bypass in 1959. US 240 was decommissioned in 1972, and MD 355 was extended south along the former US 240 to the Washington, D.C. border. In 2006, the interchange with US 15 at the route’s northern terminus was removed. By 2009, a four lane divided bypass of Urbana for MD 355, funded by private developers, was completed. The former alignment of MD 355 through Urbana was designated as MD 355 Business {MD 355 Bus.) 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. (more...)

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