User:MD355/sandbox

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, Wisconsin Avenue, is located in the Bethesda CDP, at the Washington, D.C. border. It continues south into Washington, D.C. as Wisconsin Avenue NW. 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, where the road continues north as Market Street through Frederick towards 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 I-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. The road changes names along its route, from the south, as Wisconsin Avenue, to Rockville Pike, followed by Hungerford Drive, then Frederick Road, and lastly as Urbana Pike.

MD 355 is the original route of US 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. 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, 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 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.