Maryland Route 173 (MD 173) is a
state highway 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 sove ...
of
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 ...
. Known for most of its length as Fort Smallwood Road, the state highway runs from
Fort Smallwood Park near
Jacobsville north to
MD 2 in the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
neighborhood of
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 ...
. MD 173 connects the beach communities of
Riviera Beach and
Orchard Beach in northeastern
Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, whi ...
and
Interstate 695 (I-695) with industrial areas in the Baltimore neighborhoods of
Hawkins Point and
Curtis Bay, including the
United States Coast Guard Yard
The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the largest industrial fac ...
. MD 173 was mostly constructed in the 1920s and early 1930s. The state highway was put in its modern form with the completion of the bridge over
Stony Creek in the late 1940s and expansion to 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 ...
between Orchard Beach and Curtis Bay in the late 1970s.
Route description
MD 173 begins at the entrance to Fort Smallwood Park northeast of Jacobsville. The state highway heads south as Fort Smallwood Road, a two-lane undivided road that passes by several small beach communities on the Hog Neck peninsula. After intersecting Bayside Beach Road, MD 173 turns southwest and passes along the northern edge of Jacobsville, where the highway meets the northern end of
MD 607 (Hog Neck Road). The state highway crosses Rock Creek and meets the northern end of Edwin Raynor Boulevard, where the highway turns north onto a four-lane road with a
center left-turn lane
A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and li ...
. MD 173 passes east of
Northeast Senior High School in Riviera Beach before the highway reduces to a two-lane road with center turn lane at its intersection with Duvall Highway.
MD 173 continues north into
Riviera Beach. At its intersection with Riviera Drive and Bar Harbor Road, the state highway turns west and crosses Stony Creek on a
drawbridge. In
Orchard Beach, MD 173 intersects the western end of its old alignment,
MD 642 (Greenland Beach Road), then expands to a four-lane road with a center left-turn lane. Passing Cox Creek, the state highway becomes a four-lane divided highway and passes west of the
Herbert A. Wagner Generating Station
The Herbert A. Wagner Generating Station is an Power station, electric generating station located on Fort Smallwood Road north of Orchard Beach, Maryland, Orchard Beach in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just east of ...
and the adjacent
Brandon Shores Generating Station
The Brandon Shores Generating Station is an electric generating station located on Fort Smallwood Road north of Orchard Beach, Maryland, Orchard Beach in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, near Glen Burnie, Maryland, Gle ...
. MD 173 turns north at Solley Road and passes Marley Neck Boulevard before entering the city of Baltimore.
Upon entering the Hawkins Point area, the state highway meets Fort Armistead Road, which leads to
Fort Armistead Park and an entrance ramp to eastbound I-695 (Baltimore Beltway). MD 173 turns west and its name changes to Hawkins Point Road before the highway intersects Quarantine Road, which leads to a three-quarter
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.
MD 173 continues west as a four-lane undivided highway through the industrial area of Hawkins Point. The state highway passes
MD 172 (Arundel Cove Road) and then the access road to the U.S. Coast Guard Yard. MD 173 crosses
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
's Marley Neck Branch railroad line and expands to a divided highway. The state highway, now named Pennington Avenue, passes under I-695 and then over
Curtis Creek
Curtis Creek is a tidal creek located in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the cove Curtis Bay and is adjacent to the west of the South Baltimore community of Curtis Bay. The creek begins at the confluence ...
on a drawbridge. The state highway meets
MD 710 (Ordnance Road) before reducing to an undivided highway and crossing Cabin Branch on twin bridges. MD 173 intersects CSX's Marley Neck Branch rail line at-grade and enters the neighborhood of Curtis Bay. The northbound direction of MD 173 makes a pair of right-angle turns, east onto Birch Street and then north onto Curtis Avenue; the southbound direction uses Pennington Avenue through the neighborhood. Curtis Avenue divides the residential and industrial portions of the neighborhood. MD 173 meets
MD 171 (Church Street) within Curtis Bay. At the northern end of the neighborhood, 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.
Descripti ...
ends and MD 173 turns west onto Patapsco Avenue to pass through Brooklyn as a four-lane undivided street. The westbound highway has an entrance ramp to
I-895 (Harbor Tunnel Thruway) immediately before reaching its northern terminus at MD 2 (Potee Street).
Patapsco Avenue
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 Balt ...
continues as a municipal highway across the
Patapsco River toward Southwest Baltimore.
MD 173 is part of the
National Highway System as an
intermodal connector between Quarantine Road in Hawkins Point and Patapsco Avenue in Curtis Bay. The highway is also a National Highway System principal arterial from MD 607 in Jacobsville to Quarantine Road and from Patapsco Avenue to its northern terminus in Baltimore.
History
Patapsco Avenue was under construction as a wide macadam road by 1911 and completed by 1915.
Pennington Avenue from Patapsco Avenue south to Birch Street at the south end of the Curtis Bay neighborhood was paved with wide bituminous concrete by 1915.
Both streets and Hawkins Point Road were in Anne Arundel County until the Baltimore city limits expanded to their present boundaries in 1919. MD 173 from the city limit south of Fort Armistead Road to Marley Neck Road was paved in concrete in 1924 and 1925. The adjacent city portion of the state highway was paved northwest to Arundel Cove Avenue in 1925 and 1926.
The pavement was extended from Marley Neck Road to the west side of Stony Creek in Orchard Beach in 1928.
MD 173 was paved from the east side of Stony Creek east and south to the southern end of Riviera Beach starting in 1930.
That segment and the remainder of the highway to Fort Smallwood were complete in 1932.
The gap in MD 173 between Arundel Cove Avenue and the south end of the Curtis Bay neighborhood was filled in 1935, completing the wide concrete highway from Baltimore to Fort Smallwood.
MD 173's original bridge over Stony Creek between Riviera Beach and Orchard Beach was replaced with a new structure in 1948, replacing a wooden one-lane structure.
The approach to the defunct bridge became MD 642. MD 173 was widened to and resurfaced south of Riviera Beach that same year.
MD 173 was relocated at its crossing of Curtis Creek contemporaneously with the construction of the Baltimore Beltway through the area. The highway's new four-lane drawbridge over the creek was completed and the highway was expanded to a four-lane divided highway from MD 710 east to the city limit in 1976.
MD 173 was expanded to a divided highway from the city limit southeast to Orchard Beach in 1978.
The highway's new dual bridges over Cabin Branch were completed in 1986.
Junction list
Auxiliary route
MD 173A is the
unsigned designation for a bypassed section of MD 173 near the intersection of that highway and Edwin Raynor Boulevard. MD 173A runs from MD 173 north to Rock Hill Road near Jacobsville.
The state highway was assigned in 2001 when the intersection of MD 173 and Edwin Raynor Boulevard was rebuilt so the roads meet at a right angle.
See also
*
References
External links
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MDRoads: MD 173Maryland Roads - MD 173
173
Year 173 ( CLXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Pompeianus (or, less frequently, year 926 ''Ab urbe c ...
Maryland Route 173
Maryland Route 173