Maryland Route 355

Route description

MD 355 is a part of the main National Highway System from the District of Columbia line to I-495, in Bethesda. The highway is also a part of the National Highway System as an intermodal connector from I-495 to Shady Grove Road in Rockville, and as a principal arterial from Shady Grove Road to MD 27 in Germantown.

Montgomery County

The road is the northern extension of Wisconsin Avenue NW, which begins in Georgetown at an intersection with K Street NW underneath US 29 (Whitehurst Freeway NW), just north of the Potomac River.

From the D.C. border, MD 355 heads north as Wisconsin Avenue, a six-lane divided highway. Washington Metro's Red Line runs in a tunnel underneath the road.

It runs past retail and high-rise buildings in Friendship Heights and the Village of Friendship Heights, including The Shops at Wisconsin Place and the Friendship Heights station along the Red Line. North of Friendship Heights, the route continues into the wooded residential area of Somerset, before passing the Chevy Chase Country Club on the east side of the road, and the residential areas of the town of Chevy Chase, and its associated villages, to the west. It then forms an intersection with MD 191 (Bradley Boulevard) and Bradley Lane.

Past this intersection, MD 355 enters downtown Bethesda, where it heads back into commercial areas with high-rise buildings. The road intersects MD 410 (Montgomery Avenue) one-way eastbound, the westbound direction of MD 410 (East West Highway), and MD 187 (Old Georgetown Road), a short distance north, near the Red Line's Bethesda station. The road continues through the community, passing Bethesda Theatre, a 1938 Art Deco cinema. It leaves the downtown area of Bethesda and becomes Rockville Pike at the intersection with Glenbrook Parkway / Woodmont Avenue. From here, the road passes west of Naval Support Activity Bethesda, which is home to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, one of the United States' most prominent military hospitals, and east of the National Institutes of Health, which is home to the United States National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library. The Medical Center station along the Red Line is located in this area.

The road then passes west of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, intersects Cedar Lane, and heads north into wooded areas, passing near residences as well as the Bethesda Meeting House, an 1850 wood-frame church. MD 355 continues north through more suburban residential areas before coming to an interchange that provides access to I-495 (Capital Beltway) and the southern terminus of I-270, where the Metro Red Line comes above the surface in the median of the route and passes over I-495. Past this interchange, the road skirts the edge of Rock Creek Park, coming to an intersection with Grosvenor Lane that features a northbound jughandle. The route passes to the west of the Linden Oak at the Grosvenor Lane intersection. MD 355 continues into residential areas of North Bethesda, where the Red Line parallels the route to the east to the Grosvenor–Strathmore station before returning to running under the road. Farther north, the route comes to the intersection with MD 547 (Strathmore Avenue) east of Georgetown Preparatory School.

The route heads through some residential neighborhoods before entering a commercial area with strip malls and some high-rise buildings where White Flint Mall, once one of the D.C. metropolitan area's largest shopping malls, was located on the east side of the road. MD 355 passes to the west of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission headquarters and heads past the North Bethesda station along the Red Line. The road comes to an intersection with Old Georgetown Road as well as a grade-separated interchange at Montrose Parkway. The Metro Red Line tunnel draws farther east from MD 355 before it crosses into Rockville, the county seat of Montgomery County. In Rockville, the road passes more commercial development with the Metro Red Line and CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision railroad line paralleling the road a short distance to the east. The route intersects MD 911 (First Street) and Wootton Parkway. MD 355 intersects MD 660 (Dodge Street), which is a short connector to MD 28 (Veirs Mill Road) that the route intersects a short distance later.

Past MD 27, the road passes more suburban developments before narrowing to a two-lane undivided road and heading through some woodland. It continues northwest through a mix of rural woodland and suburban development in Clarksburg, where MD 355 passes northeast of Clarksburg High School and intersects MD 121 (Clarksburg Road). Past this intersection, the route passes Little Bennett Regional Park on the east and businesses on the west, running closely parallel to I-270 located to the west. The route eventually draws farther east of I-270 and heads through residential neighborhoods and woodland before reaching Hyattstown. In Hyattstown, MD 355 intersects MD 109 (Old Hundred Road).

Frederick County

In a short distance, MD 355 heads from rural areas into a commercial district on the outskirts of Frederick. The road widens to four lanes as it passes by the Francis Scott Key Mall and several other businesses. It intersects MD 85 (Buckeystown Pike), which provides access to and from I-70/US 40. MD 355 passes over I-70/US 40 and ends just north of the overpass, with the road continuing north into Frederick as locally maintained Market Street.

History

The Rockville Pike portion of MD 355 dates back to what was a Native American trail that led from the mouth of Rock Creek to the great Conestoga Trail. In later times it was used as an escape route from Washington during the War of 1812 as well as a route for settlers to travel from Montgomery County to developing areas north and west.

The stretch in the District of Columbia was renamed Wisconsin Avenue in 1891, as was the part in Bethesda by 1913.

In 1911, a small portion of state highway leading northwest out of Rockville was completed, with the remainder between Rockville and Gaithersburg under contract. A state highway was proposed between Gaithersburg and Germantown. The state road between Gaithersburg and Germantown was finished by 1915.

By 1921, the portions of state highway between the Washington, D.C., border and Rockville, to the northwest of Germantown, and between northwest of Urbana and Frederick were completed. At this time, a state highway was proposed between northwest of Germantown and northwest of Urbana. The state road was completed between Germantown and Clarksburg and through Urbana to a point southeast of the community by 1923. The entire length of the state road connecting Washington, D.C. and Frederick was completed by 1927. In the approved plan for the U.S. Highway System in 1926, US 240 was planned to run from Washington, D.C. to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania via Frederick. In 1927, US 240 was designated along the proposed 1926 route south of US 15/US 40 in Frederick with the US 15 designation given to the road north of Frederick. In 1950, US 240 was widened into a divided highway between the Washington, D.C. border and Bethesda.

In 1972, the American Association of State Highway Officials approved for the US 240 designation to be removed. As a result, MD 355 was extended south along the former US 240 alignment to the Washington, D.C. border. MD 355 was widened into a divided highway between Rockville and Gaithersburg in 1977. The divided highway was extended north from Gaithersburg to Germantown by 1997. In 2006, the northern terminus of MD 355 at the interchange with US 15 in Frederick was truncated to a dead end a short distance south of that route. In 2009, the portion of MD 355 north of the I-70 overpass was transferred to the city of Frederick, with the MD 355 designation officially being removed from this stretch. In 2010, an interchange was completed at Montrose Parkway.

In Frederick County, the two bridges that carry portions of MD 355 receive annual inspections, as part of the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory (NBI). The Monocacy River crossing was built in 1930, and reconstructed in 1980. Its June 2016 NBI report noted that this bridge is possibly eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The CSX crossing was built in 1931, but never reconstructed. This bridge's NBI report, from September 2016, determined that its deck was in poor condition, with advanced section loss or deterioration. The 2016 inspection reports for both bridges concluded that both of these MD 355 carriers' deck geometries were "[b]asically intolerable requiring high priority of replacement."

A four-lane divided bypass of Urbana was constructed for MD 355 in the 2000s. The primary reason for constructing the bypass was to relieve traffic heading through the community brought on by the construction of numerous shopping centers in the area, and the costs for constructing the bypass were entirely paid for by the developers of an area shopping center. The proposal for the bypass called for two roundabouts to control traffic. The first portion of the road opened in late 2005 from MD 355 south to a roundabout at Sugarloaf Parkway. On October 30, 2008, construction began to build the connection of the bypass to MD 355 south of MD 80. The bypass was completed by January 2009, at which point MD 355 was realigned onto it and the former alignment became MD 355 Bus. In 2013, maintenance of the bypass of MD 355 around Urbana was transferred from the developers to the state.

Junction list

Related routes

MD 355 Business

Maryland Route 355 Business (MD 355 Bus.) was the designation of a 1.06 mi business route of MD 355 in Urbana that ran along Urbana Pike. The route began at MD 355 south of Urbana, heading west as a two-lane undivided road and coming to an intersection with MD 80. Past this intersection, the road continued northwest through residential areas. The business route reached its terminus at another intersection with MD 355. The entire length of MD 355 Bus. originally followed MD 355C.

Junction list

Auxiliary routes

• MD 355A runs along an unnamed road from MD 355 north to a cul-de-sac in Frederick, Frederick County. The route is 0.05 mi long.
• MD 355B ran along an unnamed road from MD 355 Bus. east to a dead end in Urbana, Frederick County. The route was 0.12 mi long. MD 355B was turned over to county maintenance in 2014.

References

References

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