Maryland Route 2 (MD 2) is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. At , it is the longest state highway in Maryland. MD 2/MD 4 heads north to an intersection with MD 497 (Cove Point Road) and turns north-northwest, passing near Calvert Cliffs State Park. The road passes more residences and then businesses before again crossing over MD 648. The highway was graded and surfaced as an improved dirt road from Owings south to Hunting Creek in 1910 and 1911 and from there to Prince Frederick between 1911 and 1913. Solomons Island Road from Lothian to Edgewater was built as a wide gravel road in 1915.

In 1910, the Maryland General Assembly authorized funding for the construction of a boulevard between Annapolis and Baltimore. This boulevard, which would have a minimum road width of , would begin in Annapolis, cross the Severn River, head northwest to Glen Burnie, and continue through Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties to the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in South Baltimore. The newly formed Maryland State Roads Commission was placed in charge of constructing the new Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard. The boulevard was constructed as a wide macadam road from the Severn River north to Arnold and from Severna Park to Pasadena in 1910 and 1911. The sections between Arnold and Severna Park and from Pasadena to Glen Burnie were completed in 1912.

thumb|left|MD 2 southbound at US 50/US 301/MD 450 in Arnold

Unrelated to the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard, the commission constructed a wide macadam road from Glen Burnie to Brooklyn, which was then in Anne Arundel County, in 1915. In Brooklyn, the new highway connected with the south end of the Light Street Bridge that crossed the Patapsco River into Baltimore. The final gap in the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard was filled when the first modern Severn River Bridge was completed in 1924. This concrete bridge, which had a roadway width of and a steel bascule draw with a horizontal clearance of , replaced a narrow one-lane bridge. The entire length of the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard was widened to with a pair of wide concrete shoulders by 1927. The highway's bridge over Marley Creek was rebuilt from a width of to in 1926.

When Maryland assigned state route numbers in 1927, MD 2 was designated between Solomons and Baltimore. The route followed Solomons Island Road from Solomons to west of Annapolis, where it ran concurrent with US 50 into the city on West Street. MD 2 passed through downtown Annapolis on College Avenue and King George Street before it left the city on the Severn River Bridge and continued north along Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard to Glen Burnie. From Glen Burnie, MD 3 continued along Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard while MD 2 headed north to Baltimore and connected to Potee Street. In 1934, the Maryland State Roads Commission recommended expanding Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard to at least in width for its entire length, with a width of urged from MD 177 to MD 3 and on MD 2 from the center of Glen Burnie to Furnace Branch. Construction on the remainder of Governor Ritchie Highway began in 1936 and was completed south from Furnace Branch to the Severn River in 1938. In 1953, the freeway to the north of Annapolis was completed. A divided highway connector between Solomons Island Road and this freeway was built in 1955, and MD 2 was rerouted to bypass Annapolis along with US 50 on this freeway. The former alignment of US 50 and MD 2 in Annapolis was designated as MD 450.

By 1934, the Maryland State Roads Commission proposed Solomons Island Road be widened from to from Owings to MD 509. The highway was upgraded from Port Republic south through St. Leonard to beyond Quaker Swamp, with several relocations including a relocation at that creek, in 1939 and 1940.

The MD 2 reconstruction continued south a few miles to the northern end of Lusby in 1942, a stretch widened to and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel. The highway through Lusby was relocated, reconstructed, and surfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1944. The gravel portions of MD 2 from Port Republic to Lusby were bituminous stabilized in 1946. The reconstruction of MD 2 from Prince Frederick to Solomons concluded in 1949 when the highway from Solomons north to the southern end of Lusby was relocated, resurfaced, and surfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel.

thumb|left|View south along MD 2 from I-595/US 50/US 301 in Parole

MD 2 originally followed Armory Road through the northern part of Prince Frederick. By 1946, the highway had been relocated to its modern alignment and paved north of Armory Road to Sunderland. The bypassed portion of Armory Road was marked as MD 750 by 1950 but may have been removed from the state highway system by 1952. MD 2 was widened to and resurfaced with bituminous concrete through Prince Frederick in 1950. The bypass was resurfaced with bituminous concrete in 1954 and 1955. By 1956, the old road through the county seat was marked as the first section of MD 765.

The route was paved between Owings and Edgewater by 1946. Old Solomons Island Road between Harwood Road and Polling House Road in Harwood remained part of the state highway system until 1987.

thumb|right|MD 2/MD 4 southbound in Calvert County past the north end of the concurrency

In 1960, MD 416 was designated concurrent with MD 2 between Solomons and Sunderland. In 1965, the MD 416 concurrency was replaced by an overlap with MD 4. Also, MD 2 was shifted to a new alignment between Sunderland and Owings, with the former route becoming MD 765. MD 2/MD 4 was widened to a divided highway between Huntingtown and the split in Sunderland in 1967. The divided highway was extended to south of Huntingtown in 1969, bypassing Huntingtown to the east. The former alignment through the community became MD 524. In 1970, MD 2/MD 4 became a divided highway between Prince Frederick and south of Huntingtown. In January 1978, MD 4 was rerouted north of Solomons onto the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge over the Patuxent River. In 1979, the divided highway was extended south from Prince Frederick to Port Republic. MD 2/MD 4 was shifted west to a new divided highway between south of St. Leonard to Port Republic in 1981, with the former two-lane routing designated part of MD 765. In 1987, MD 2/MD 4 between Solomons and south of St. Leonard was shifted to a new divided highway. The bypassed alignment through Lusby and Solomons became another part of MD 765. Originally, MD 10 was intended to provide a limited-access route between Baltimore and Annapolis, but this route was not completed south of Pasadena after it was deemed that an alternative freeway along the MD 3 corridor (present-day I-97), which required less destruction of residences and businesses, should be built.

In 2010, construction took place to improve the intersection of MD 2/MD 4 and MD 231 in Prince Frederick, widening the road to six lanes in the vicinity of the intersection. This project was the first phase of a larger project to expand MD 2/MD 4 to six lanes between MD 765 south of Prince Frederick and Stoakley Road north of Prince Frederick. In 2018, construction began on the second phase of widening between north of the MD 231 intersection and Fox Run Boulevard. The widening of this section was completed on November 23, 2020.

Junction list

Maryland Route 2 Truck is a truck bypass of the Federal Hill neighborhood south of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The route runs east from MD 2 (Hanover Street) on McComas Street, paralleling I-95. From McComas Street, at exit 55 of I-95 just west of the Fort McHenry Tunnel, the route continues onto Key Highway and heads north and west to MD 2 (Light Street), mostly paralleling the Northwest Harbor and serving the piers on the harbor.

thumb|left|MD 2 Truck along Key Highway in Baltimore

The road was laid out to a width of 160 feet (50 m) from Light Street to Locust Point in the early 1910s, providing better access to the new city-owned piers in preparation for increased trade via the Panama Canal and existing steamship lines to Europe. It was named Key Highway because it was originally planned to extend to Fort McHenry, near where Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." However, the extension of the road to the fort was never built. A rail line<!--owned by who?--> ran the length of Key Highway, connecting to the tracks in Pratt Street via Light Street. A two-lane extension of the highway and rail line was built in 1930, branching off the old route east of Ludlow Street and running south under Fort Avenue to McComas Street. The short portion of the old road east of the extension is now East Key Highway; the rail tracks have been removed.

  • MD 2AB runs along an unnamed road from MD 778N east to MD 2 in Anne Arundel County. The route is long.
  • MD 2AD runs along Solomons Island Road from the interchange with I-595/US 50/US 301/MD 2, where the road heads south as part of MD 2, north to Jennifer Road, where the road becomes Medical Parkway, in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County. The route is long.
  • MD 2AE runs along Coster Mill Bridge Road from MD 2T/MD 2Z east to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2AF runs along Nursery Road from MD 2/MD 4 east to MD 765P in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2AG runs along an unnamed road from MD 4, heading south before curving east under the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge before ending at Solomons Island Road south in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2B runs along an unnamed road that parallels MD 2/MD 4 to the west, coming to dead ends on both ends and intersecting MD 2H along the way, in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2C runs along Henry Court from MD 2K north to a dead end in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2D runs along David Gray Road and Kingsberry Drive from a dead end north to a private driveway in St. Leonard, Calvert County, intersecting MD 2O. The route is long.
  • MD 2E runs along an unnamed road that parallels MD 2/MD 4 to the west, coming to dead ends on both ends and intersecting MD 2I along the way, in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2F runs along an unnamed road from a dead end north to MD 765S in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2G runs along an unnamed road from MD 4 east to the southern terminus of MD 2 in Solomons, Calvert County, where it continues as Lore Road. The route is long.
  • MD 2H runs along an unnamed road from MD 2B east to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2I runs along an unnamed road from MD 2E, where it continues west as West End Boulevard, east to MD 2/MD 4, where it continues east as MD 2J, in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2J runs along Western Shores Boulevard from MD 2/MD 4, where it continues west as MD 2I, east to MD 765 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2K runs along Lancaster Drive from MD 2C east to MD 2/MD 4 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2L runs along Parran Road from a bridge over Leonard Creek northeast to MD 2/MD 4 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2M runs along an unnamed road from a dead end north to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2N runs along Calvert Cliffs Parkway from MD 2/MD 4 east to the entrance of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2O runs along David Gray Road from MD 2D east to MD 2/MD 4 in St. Leonard, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2P runs along White Sands Drive from Heron Lane east to MD 2/MD 4 in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2Q runs along an unnamed road from MD 2/MD 4 east to MD 765Q in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2S parallels MD 2/MD 4 to the west, running from two dead ends and intersecting MD 2Y, in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2T runs along Coster Road from the beginning of state maintenance north to MD 2AE/MD 2Z in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2V runs along Dowell Road from MD 765Q/MD 765R northwest to MD 2/MD 4 in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2W runs along Creston Lane from MD 765X east to MD 2/MD 4 in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2X runs along Newtown Road from MD 765R east to Schooner Loop in Solomons, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2Y runs along Mystic Lane from MD 2/MD 4 northwest to MD 2S in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.
  • MD 2Z runs along Mill Bridge Road from MD 2AE/MD 2T north to the end of state maintenance in Lusby, Calvert County. The route is long.

See also

  • List of state highways in Maryland

References

  • MD 2 at MDRoads.com
  • MD 2 at AARoads.com
  • Maryland Roads - MD 2