Maryland Route 129 (MD 129) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, running north-northwesterly from U.S. Route 40 (US 40) and MD 295 in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

into

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

, ending at Garrison Forest Road east of

Reisterstown Reisterstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,968. Founded by German immigrant John Reister in 1758, Reisterstown is located ...

. The route leaves downtown on the

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

of McCulloh Street and Druid Hill Avenue, and then uses the entire length of Park Heights Avenue to the end. MD 129 connects

Downtown Baltimore Downtown Baltimore is the central business district of the city of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, Franklin Street to the north, President Street to the east and the Inner Harbor area to the s ...

with

Druid Hill Park Druid Hill Park is a urban park in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. Its boundaries are marked by Druid Park Drive (north), Swann Drive and Reisterstown Road (west and south), and the Jones Falls Expressway / Interstate 83 (east).MD 140) in the northwestern part of the city, providing access to

The Maryland Zoo The Maryland Zoo — also known as The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and formerly known as The Baltimore City Zoo or the Baltimore Zoo — is a 135-acre park located in historic Druid Hill Park in the northwestern area of the City of Baltimore, Ma ...

and

Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Ol ...

. In Baltimore County, MD 129 passes through Pikesville, where it has a junction with Interstate 695 (I-695) and serves an affluent rural area north of Pikesville and east of Reisterstown.

Route description

MD 129 begins at Franklin Street, the westbound direction of US 40, in the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. Both routes are one-way pairs: MD 129 begins northbound as Paca Street and ends southbound as Pennsylvania Avenue; the eastbound US 40 follows Mulberry Street one block to the south. Paca Street and Greene Street, the southern continuation of Pennsylvania Avenue, continue south as MD 295. MD 129 passes along the edges of the pentagonal block that contains St. Mary's Park, St. Mary's Seminary Chapel, and the Mother Seton House, which along with nearby

Orchard Street United Methodist Church Orchard Street United Methodist Church, formerly known as Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic Methodist Episcopal church located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is a church built in a mixture of revival styles. It wa ...

lie within the Seton Hill Historic District. North of St. Mary's Park, northbound MD 129 veers northwest onto McCulloh Street and southbound MD 129 makes its way from McCulloh Street's partner to the west, Druid Hill Avenue, to Pennsylvania Avenue via either St. Mary Street, a one-way street in the wrong direction which follows the northwest side of St. Mary's Park, or Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which both McCulloh Street and Druid Hill Avenue intersect two blocks to the northwest. The one-way pair of MD 129 passes between the Upton neighborhood to the southwest and Madison Park to the northeast. The northbound direction passes southwest of Renaissance Academy at Lafayette Street. Both streets pass through Druid Heights, where they intersect North Avenue, which carries

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

and US 40 Truck. MD 129's constituent streets pass between the

Reservoir Hill Reservoir Hill, also known as Whitelock, is a neighborhood in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is located south of Druid Hill Park, north of Bolton Hill, east of Penn-North, and west of Jones Falls. It is bounded by Druid Par ...

neighborhood to the northeast and Penn–North to the southwest. McCulloh Street and Druid Hill Avenue come together as a

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

called Auchentoroly Terrace (also known as Swann Drive) at Druid Park Lake Drive, where MD 129 starts to follow the southwestern edge of Druid Hill Park and the northeastern edge of the Woodbrook neighborhood. Northbound MD 129 has three to five lanes while the southbound direction has three travel lanes. The boulevard passes the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore then intersects Liberty Heights Avenue, which becomes MD 26 west of MD 140, and Greenspring Avenue, which enters the park and provides access to The Maryland Zoo. One block north of that intersection, MD 129 meets MD 140 (Reisterstown Road) at an oblique directional intersection that prevents direct access from northbound MD 129 to southbound MD 140 and from northbound MD 140 to southbound MD 129, movements which are provided via Liberty Heights Avenue. MD 129 and MD 140 follow eight-lane divided Reisterstown Road for three blocks between Druid Hill Park and the Liberty Square neighborhood to the west. At Druid Park Drive, the two routes diverge, with MD 129 heading north onto six-lane divided Park Heights Avenue. MD 129 and MD 140 parallel each other one block apart through the Park Circle neighborhood, site of the Park Circle Historic District, and into Central Park Heights, where the two routes intersect

Cold Spring Lane This is a list of notable streets in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. A B C D E F G H Heath St. Route 64. (MTA Maryland) K L M N O P R Ramsay st S U W Y Numbered streets In Bal ...

and then veer away from each other. Park Heights Avenue becomes a four-lane undivided highway shortly before Belvedere Avenue, where the highway passes the western edge of Pimlico Race Course, the site of the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on ...

. MD 129 passes between the

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

neighborhood to the northeast and Arlington to the southwest, then intersects Northern Parkway. The state highway passes through the affluent Glen neighborhood and between the heavily Jewish neighborhoods of Cross Country to the northeast and Fallstaff to the southwest before intersecting Slade Avenue at the northwest corner of the city of Baltimore, just north of Temple Oheb Shalom. Once in Baltimore County, MD 129 veers north, reduces to two lanes, and passes between the Suburban Park Golf Course to the west and the Dumbarton Historic District on the east. At the north end of both complexes, the state highway intersects

Old Court Road Old Court Road is a state- and county-maintained highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Including the adjacent road in Howard County known as Woodstock Road, the highway runs from Maryland Route 99 (MD 99) near Woodstock east to Joppa Road near ...

, which heads east as MD 133. MD 129 passes Druid Ridge Cemetery before temporarily expanding to a four-lane divided highway for its half-

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

with I-695 (Baltimore Beltway). The east leg of the intersection with the exit ramp from eastbound I-695 is Brooks Robinson Drive, which is

unsigned Unsigned can refer to: * An unsigned artist is a musical artist or group not attached or signed to a record label ** Unsigned Music Awards, ceremony noting achievements of unsigned artists ** Unsigned band web, online community * Similarly, the c ...

MD 129A and connects MD 129 with the complementary half-diamond interchange at Stevenson Road. A short distance north of I-695, MD 129 exits Pikesville and enters a rural area with scattered estate residences. The state highway crosses

Jones Falls The Jones Falls is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 stream in Maryland. It is impounded to create Lake Roland before running through the city of Baltim ...

and intersects MD 130 west of the hamlet of Stevenson. North of Caves Road, MD 129 passes to the east of Caves Valley Historic District and through the affluent Worthington area before reaching its northern terminus at Garrison Forest Road east of Reisterstown. MD 129 is a part of the National Highway System as a principal arterial between US 40 and MD 140 within Baltimore.

History

Park Heights Avenue was paved from the Baltimore city limits near Cold Spring Lane north to Caves Road by 1910. The avenue was proposed for improvement south to Reisterstown Road. There were also plans to improve Park Heights Avenue north to its current terminus and extend the avenue toward northern Baltimore County along the route following by Garrison Forest Road, Greenspring Avenue, Tufton Avenue, Mantua Mill Road, Green Road, Butler Road, and Falls Road north to Mount Carmel Road. The segments along Butler Road and Falls Road became part of MD 128 and MD 25, respectively. The remainder of the route north of MD 129's terminus remained county roads. Park Heights Avenue between Cold Spring Lane and Reisterstown Road and Reisterstown Road south to Liberty Heights Avenue were paved in concrete by 1921. By 1923, Park Heights Road between Caves Road and Garrison Forest Road was paved in macadam, completing the highway in Baltimore County. That same year, Druid Hill Avenue was reconstructed with concrete from Paca Street to Druid Hill Park. The portion of Park Heights Avenue from Cold Spring Lane to Belvedere Avenue was reconstructed with concrete in 1924 and 1925. McCulloh Street was paved with concrete around 1933. By 1950, Park Heights Avenue was expanded to a divided highway from Reisterstown Road to Belvedere Avenue. Druid Hill Avenue and McCulloh Street became a one-way pair by 1955. Auchentoroly Terrace was completed by 1963, thus completing MD 129's modern route within the city of Baltimore.

Junction list

Auxiliary route

MD 129A is the designation for Brooks Robinson Drive, which spans between MD 129 and Stevenson Road parallel to the eastbound direction of I-695 in Pikesville. MD 129A is a two-lane road that connects the complementary half-diamond interchanges between I-695 and MD 129 at the west end of the highway and Stevenson Road at the east end. MD 129A was assigned no later than 1972. The highway was formerly known as Radio Tower Drive. In 2007, the route was renamed for Brooks Robinson, the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

References

External links