page_title: Interstate 97
section_title: Predecessor highways
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 97 / History / Predecessor highways
caption_attribution_description: English: View south along Interstate 97 (Glen Burnie Bypass) from the overpass for Wellham Avenue in Ferndale, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
context_page_description: Interstate 97 is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs entirely within Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The Interstate runs 17.62 miles from U.S. Route 50 and US 301 in Parole near Annapolis north to I-695 and I-895 in Brooklyn Park near Baltimore. The Interstate is the primary highway between Baltimore and Annapolis. I‑97 connects Annapolis with Baltimore–Washington International Airport and links the northern Anne Arundel County communities of Crownsville, Millersville, Severna Park, Glen Burnie, and Ferndale. It is the second shortest primary Interstate Highway after I-87 in North Carolina.
  I-97 was constructed along the corridor of Maryland Route 3 between Millersville and Ferndale and MD 178 between Parole and Millersville. From Millersville to south of Glen Burnie, the Interstate closely follows the former course of MD 3, which was built in the late 1910s and early 1920s and expanded to a divided highway in the late 1950s. North of there, the highway follows the Glen Burnie Bypass, a freeway built in the mid-1950s. The segment of I-97 from Millersville to Crownsville originated as a two-lane portion of MD 32 in the early 1970s.
context_section_description: The first modern highway along the path of what is now I-97 followed the corridor from New Cut Road to south of the intersection of MD 178 and Veterans Highway at Dorrs Corner. This highway was intended as a second route from Glen Burnie to Annapolis to complement the highway along the east side of the Severn River; this western route later became known as General's Highway, a name still applied to its MD 178 portion. Construction of this highway was underway by 1919. The new highway was completed as a gravel road from New Cut Road to north of Benfield and as a concrete road through Benfield and across Severn Run to near Dorrs Corner by 1921. In 1922, this highway was designated part of Robert Crain Highway, a new highway to connect the Baltimore area with Southern Maryland. The Glen Burnie–Dorrs Corner portion of the new highway was reconstructed and completed as a concrete road from Glen Burnie south through Millersville by 1923. Robert Crain Highway became part of MD 3 in 1927 and then US 301 in 1939 when the U.S. Highway was extended from Virginia to Baltimore. MD 3 was reconstructed in 1933 and 1934. The reconstruction eliminated several dangerous curves, particularly near Severn Run, and expanded the highway from a width of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 m). Veterans Highway follows much of that early 1930s course.
  The next portion of I-97 predecessor highway was built as the four-lane Glen Burnie Bypass from Robert Crain Highway and New Cut Road north to the Baltimore Beltway. Construction on the four-lane freeway began in August 1954 with construction of several bridges over or for the highway; these bridges were completed in 1955 and 1956. The dual roadways and interchange ramps from the southern end of the bypass to MD 648 were constructed starting in March 1955; the concrete-surfaced highway was completed in February 1957. The northernmost portion of the bypass, including the adjacent portion of the Baltimore Beltway, was constructed between December 1955 and September 1957. US 301 was moved onto the bypass and the adjacent portion of the Beltway when the projects were completed in 1957. The small portion of I-97 north of the Beltway was added to the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel project as a direct connection between the Glen Burnie Bypass and the Harbor Tunnel Thruway's southern approach from MD 2 in 1955. This segment was completed and opened with the tunnel and its approach highways in November 1957. The Glen Burnie Bypass was constructed with five interchanges: a partial cloverleaf interchange at MD 3 Business and New Cut Road; a tighter four-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange at MD 174; a diamond interchange at MD 176; the current four-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange at MD 648; and a half-cloverleaf interchange at I-695 allowing full access between the Glen Burnie Bypass and Beltway but no access between the Beltway and the Harbor Tunnel Thruway.
  US 301 was expanded to a divided highway from the southern end of the Glen Burnie Bypass to Benfield in 1956 and 1957. The highway's second set of lanes, including a new bridge across Severn Run, was constructed and the existing roadway was reconstructed from Benfield to Millersville between 1957 and 1960. The second set of lanes was built on the west side of what became a very wide median, which allowed businesses to site themselves in the median between the northbound and southbound lanes. During construction of the Benfield–Millersville stretch, US 301 was relocated to its present course from Bowie to the Eastern Shore and replaced with MD 3. A pair of ramps between the Glen Burnie Bypass and MD 177's freeway southern bypass of Glen Burnie (now MD 100) were constructed between 1963 and 1965. The first section of highway south of Dorrs Corner was built between 1969 and 1972 as a two-lane segment of MD 32 from east of Odenton to MD 178 in Crownsville. The highway used what are now the ramps of I-97's partial interchange with MD 178 and had a five-ramp interchange with MD 3 in Millersville that lacked access from northbound MD 3 to eastbound MD 32 and from westbound M
caption: View south along I-97 from Wellham Avenue in Ferndale
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