Maryland Route 355
Maryland Route 355 is a north-south road in western central Maryland in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is in Bethesda in Montgomery County, where Wisconsin Avenue meets the county's border with Washington, D.C. The northern terminus is just north of a bridge over Interstate 70 /U.S. Route 40 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County, where the road continues north as Market Street through Frederick toward MD 26.
MD 355 serves as a major thoroughfare through Frederick and Montgomery counties, passing through Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Clarksburg, Hyattstown, Urbana, and Frederick, roughly parallel to I-270. The southern portion of the route from the Washington, D.C., border to Germantown is a suburban four- to six-lane divided highway lined with many businesses. North of Germantown, the route is predominantly a two-lane rural road until it reaches Frederick, where it passes through commercial areas in the southern part of the city. The road changes names along its route: from south to north, it is called Wisconsin Avenue, Rockville Pike, Hungerford Drive, Frederick Road, and Urbana Pike.
MD 355 is the original route of US 240, which was planned in 1926 to run from Washington, D.C., north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; instead, the route was designated a part of US 15 north of Frederick. This route served as the primary connector linking Frederick and points west to Washington, D.C. During the 1950s, US 240 was moved in stages to the Washington National Pike, a freeway between Bethesda and Frederick shared with I-70S. MD 355 was designated onto the former alignment of US 240 between Bethesda and Frederick as each stage of freeway was built. MD 355 was also designated through Frederick along Market Street, which was the former alignment of US 15 through the city before it was moved to a bypass in 1959. US 240 was decommissioned in 1972, and MD 355 was extended south along the former US 240 to the Washington, D.C. border. In 2006, the interchange with US 15 at the route's northern terminus was removed, resulting in MD 355 ending just short of US 15 at a dead end. By 2009, a four-lane divided bypass of Urbana for MD 355, funded by private developers, was completed. The former alignment of MD 355 through Urbana was designated as MD 355 Business before being removed from the state highway system. The same year, the portion of MD 355 north of I-70 was transferred to the city of Frederick and is no longer considered part of the route.
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
MD 355 begins in the Bethesda CDP, at the intersection with Western Avenue NW / Western Avenue, the northwestern border between Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland.The road is the northern extension of Wisconsin Avenue NW, which begins in Georgetown at an intersection with K Street NW underneath US 29, 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 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 one-way eastbound, the westbound direction of MD 410, and MD 187, 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 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 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 and Wootton Parkway. MD 355 intersects MD 660, which is a short connector to MD 28 that the route intersects a short distance later.
Past this intersection, MD 355 continues into downtown Rockville, where it becomes Hungerford Drive. The road passes by the Rockville station, which is used by the Metro's Red Line, MARC's Brunswick Line, and Amtrak's Capitol Limited. MD 355 heads into more commercial areas and passes the Rockville Campus of Montgomery College before intersecting Gude Drive. Past this intersection, MD 355 becomes Frederick Road and heads northwest into a mix of commercial and residential areas in Derwood, drawing further away from the railroad tracks. The route leaves Rockville and intersects Shady Grove Road. Past Shady Grove Road, MD 355 has an interchange with I-370 and crosses into Gaithersburg. Here, the road heads through more commercial areas before heading into residential neighborhoods. It heads into business areas again and passes northeast of Gaithersburg High School as it approaches downtown Gaithersburg, where the route has an interchange with MD 117 and passes over CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision before continuing northwest past more businesses. MD 355 passes southwest of the former Lakeforest Mall before intersecting MD 124. MD 355 passes more strip malls past this intersection before crossing over Great Seneca Creek and leaving Gaithersburg. The route continues northwest into Germantown through residential areas before passing businesses again and intersecting Middlebrook Road. It passes through residential developments, with the road narrowing to four lanes before it reaches an intersection with MD 118. From here, the road passes more homes and a shopping center prior to crossing MD 27.
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. 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.
Frederick County
After passing through Hyattstown, MD 355 crosses into Frederick County, where it becomes Urbana Pike. Here, it passes some businesses before intersecting MD 75. Past this intersection, the road continues into a more rural setting consisting of farmland, woods, and some residential areas and businesses. The route reaches Urbana, where it heads onto a four-lane divided bypass called Worthington Boulevard to the east of the community, while the former alignment of MD 355 continues through Urbana as Urbana Pike. MD 355 intersects MD 80 and passes through residential areas in the Villages of Urbana subdivision, encountering two roundabouts. Upon leaving Urbana, the route intersects Lew Wallace Street and returns to its alignment along two-lane undivided Urbana Pike as it continues north through areas of woods and farms with some rural residences. The road passes Monocacy National Battlefield, the site of the Battle of Monocacy Junction in the American Civil War fought on July 9, 1864. Past the battlefield, the road crosses the Monocacy River and CSX's Old Main Line Subdivision railroad line.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, 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.