page_title: Maryland Route 2
section_title: Improvements
hierarchical_section_title: Maryland Route 2 / History / Improvements
caption_attribution_description: English: View south along Maryland State Route 2 (Governor Ritchie Highway) at Maryland State Route 170 (Belle Grove Road) in Brooklyn Park, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
context_page_description: Maryland Route 2 is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The 79.24-mile route runs from Solomons Island in Calvert County north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 /US 40 Truck in Baltimore. The route runs concurrent with MD 4 through much of Calvert County along a four-lane divided highway known as Solomons Island Road, passing through rural areas as well as the communities of Lusby, Port Republic, Prince Frederick, and Huntingtown. In Sunderland, MD 2 splits from MD 4 and continues north as two-lane undivided Solomons Island Road into Anne Arundel County, still passing through rural areas. Upon reaching Annapolis, the route runs concurrent with US 50 and US 301 around the city. Between Annapolis and Baltimore, MD 2 runs along the Governor Ritchie Highway, a multilane divided highway that heads through suburban areas, passing through Arnold, Severna Park, Pasadena, Glen Burnie, and Brooklyn Park. In Baltimore, the route heads north on city streets and passes through the downtown area of the city.
  What would become part of MD 2 was originally planned as two different state roads in 1909.
context_section_description: In 1930, a concrete cut-off was built in Glen Burnie that allowed MD 2 traffic to bypass the community's central intersection to the northeast. In 1934, the Maryland State Roads Commission recommended expanding Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard to at least 30 feet (9.1 m) in width for its entire length, with a width of 40-foot (12 m) urged from MD 177 to MD 3 and on MD 2 from the center of Glen Burnie to Furnace Branch. The first portion of Governor Ritchie Highway was completed as a four-lane divided upgrade to existing MD 2 from the Baltimore city limit in Brooklyn Park to Furnace Branch in 1934 and 1935. Construction on the remainder of Governor Ritchie Highway began in 1936 and was completed south from Furnace Branch to the Severn River in 1938. All old segments of MD 2 were redesignated MD 648 by 1939, with MD 2 designated on the Governor Ritchie Highway. This highway was named for former Maryland Governor Albert C. Ritchie. The Governor Ritchie Highway portion of MD 2 was upgraded to a divided highway in 1950. Throughout the mid 20th-century, a commercial district developed along MD 2 in Glen Burnie, which included several car dealerships and the Harundale Mall. 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 16 to 18 feet (4.9 to 5.5 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m) from Owings to MD 509. The first upgrades to MD 2 between Solomons and Prince Frederick occurred in 1937, when the highway was widened and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel from Prince Frederick south to Port Republic. 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 22 feet (6.7 m) 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.
  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 27 feet (8.2 m) and resurfaced with bituminous concrete through Prince Frederick in 1950. This improvement occurred contemporaneously with or shortly before the construction of the Prince Frederick bypass; MD 2 moved to the new 24-foot (7.3 m) wide bituminous stabilized gravel highway in the autumn of 1951. 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. MD 2 from Owings to Edgewater starting receiving its first major upgrades in the 1950s, including several relocations of the highway. The bypassed portions of MD 2 became segments of MD 778, with the letter suffix on the highway designation corresponding to the order the sections were bypassed. The highway from Edgewater south to Harwood (then known as Butlers) was widened and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1950 and 1951. MD 2 from Harwood south to Lothian was widened and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1952 and 1953. Old Solomons Island Road between
caption: MD 2 southbound at MD 170 in Brooklyn Park
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