Maryland Route 3

This article is about the Maryland state highway. For the Baltimore area bus route, see Route 3 (MTA Maryland).

"MD 3" redirects here. For the congressional district, see Maryland's 3rd congressional district.

Maryland Route 3
Robert Crain Highway
Route information
Maintained by MDSHA
Length:	9.56 mi[1][2] (15.39 km)
Major junctions
South end:	US 50 / US 301 in Bowie
	MD 450 near Bowie and Crofton MD 424 near Crofton MD 175 in Millersville MD 32 near Millersville
North end:	I-97 near Millersville
Highway system
Maryland highway system Interstate • US • State • Minor • Former • Turnpikes ← MD 2 MD 4 → ← MD 295 MD 297 →

Maryland Route 3, also part of Robert Crain Highway, is the designation given to the former alignment of U.S. Route 301 from Bowie, Maryland, USA, to Baltimore. It is named for Robert Crain of Baltimore.

Route description

The route is a direct continuation of the four-lane divided highway previously followed by US 301. North of MD 424, the median between the carriageways is up to 300 feet (91 m) in width; several fast-food restaurants occupy the median in this area. The route was upgraded to this format in its persona as US 301 in 1954.

The route is severely congested; attempts to bypass it with new routings have failed. One such routing would have been Interstate 297, a direct freeway link between Interstate 97 and US 50/US 301/I-595.

History

MD 3 southbound in Crofton during a snowstorm

In the past, Crain Highway originally held the designation MD 3, then US 301, and it currently carries both of these designations on different sections.

Started in 1922, Crain Highway was a new road built by the Maryland State Road Commission and ran from Baltimore to Southern Maryland. It was completed in 1927. With the opening of the Potomac River Bridge in 1940 it was joined with U.S. Route 301.^[3] After the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was built in 1952, US 301, which at that time ran along the current alignment of MD 3, was rerouted along US 50, across the Bay Bridge, and north to Wilmington, Delaware, as a bypass around the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Former US 301 north of US 50 was then given back the MD 3 designation. After the construction of Interstate 97, MD 3 was cut back to I-97/MD 32, which led to the oddity of Maryland Route 3 Business in Glen Burnie being completely orphaned from its parent route. Despite this, the route is still designated Business MD 3 as recently as 2011.

Route 3 runs from the US 50/US 301 interchange (the western end of the US 50/301 concurrency) to an interchange with Interstate 97. Business MD 3 begins 9 miles (14 km) north of MD 3's northern terminus along Interstate 97 and runs through Glen Burnie.

Junction list

County	Location	Mile [1][2]	Destinations	Notes
Prince George's	Bowie	0.0	US 50 / US 301 south (John Hanson Highway) – Washington D.C., Annapolis, Bay Bridge	Southern terminus of MD 3; road continues as US 301 south
		2.2	MD 450 west (Annapolis Road) – Lanham-Seabrook	Former route of US 50; south end of MD 3/MD 450 overlap
Anne Arundel		2.7	MD 450 east (Defense Highway) – Annapolis	Former route of US 50; north end of MD 3/MD 450 overlap
	Crofton	4.7	MD 424 east (Davidsonville Road) – Davidsonville
	Millersville	8.1	MD 175 west (Annapolis Road) – Gambrills
		8.9	I-97 south / MD 32 west (Patuxent Freeway) – Fort Meade	Grade-separated interchange between routes
		9.6	I-97 north (Robert Crain Highway) – Baltimore	Northbound entrance and southbound exit; northern terminus of MD 3

Maryland Route 3 Business

Maryland Route 3 Business
Location:	Glen Burnie
Length:	5.08 mi[2] (8.18 km)

Maryland Route 3 Business is a 5.1-mile (8.2 km) thoroughfare through Glen Burnie, Maryland and is the northernmost part of the Robert Crain Highway. Maryland Business 3 starts at the Governor Ritchie Highway (Maryland Route 2) and continues south into Southgate and then ends officially at Interstate 97 where it becomes New Cut Road and the Business Route 3 designation is discontinued. Business Route 3 is the only Maryland state highway that no longer connects with its parent route. The reason behind that is because its parent route, Maryland Route 3, used to have the right of way where Interstate 97 currently is. Now MD 3 ends 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Business Route 3's junction with Interstate 97. Robert Crain Highway is also the names of Maryland Route 3 between Millersville and Bowie and after Route 3 terminates at U.S. Route 301 in Bowie, southbound US 301 continues as that name until it reaches the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge that crosses the Potomac River into Dahlgren, Virginia.

Notes

• Before the construction of the John Hanson Highway, the section where MD 450 currently overlaps with MD 3 would have been an overlapped section of US 50 and US 301. US Routes 50 and 301 currently overlap for a much longer distance along parts of the John Hanson Highway and Blue Star Memorial Highway.
• The original route of MD 3, completed in 1927 on a greenfield alignment, was once designated Maryland Route 761.
• If MD 3 existed as a continuous route between its original southern end near Cobb Island (now signed as MD 254 and MD 257) and its original northern end at U.S. 1 in southwestern Baltimore, running via U.S. 301, Interstate 97, a short segment of the Baltimore Beltway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and Monroe Street in downtown Baltimore, it would be 74.69 miles long. MD 3 was routed via the Beltway and the Parkway to divert it away from city streets; originally it followed the Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard into Baltimore, meeting Monroe Street within today's interchange between the Parkway and Interstate 95.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Maryland State Highway Administration (2008). "Highway Location Reference: Prince George's County" (PDF). http://apps.roads.maryland.gov/keepingcurrent/performTrafficStudies/dataAndStats/hwyLocationRef/2008_hlr_all/co16.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-19. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Maryland State Highway Administration (2008). "Highway Location Reference: Anne Arundel County" (PDF). http://apps.roads.maryland.gov/keepingcurrent/performTrafficStudies/dataAndStats/hwyLocationRef/2008_hlr_all/co02.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-19. 
3. ^ Maryland's Highways Centennial

External links

• MD 3 @ MDRoads.com