Maryland Route 256 (MD 256) 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 of
Maryland. The highway runs from
MD 2 at
Tracys Landing east to
MD 468 in
Shady Side. MD 256 connects the aforementioned communities with
Deale on the shore of
Herring Bay
Herring Bay is a bay in Anne Arundel County in the U.S. state of Maryland. It lies in the mid-Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic ...
in southern
Anne Arundel County. The highway was constructed at either end in the mid-1920s and completed through Deale in the early 1930s.
Route description
MD 256 begins at an intersection with MD 2 (Solomons Island Road) at Tracys Landing. The state highway heads east as two-lane undivided Deale Road, passing south of Traceys Elementary School and Deale-Traceys Park. MD 256 enters the community of Deale, which features several marinas. The highway crosses Tracys Creek and curves north, then makes a right-angle turn east at Rockhold Creek Road and crosses Rockhold Creek. In the center of Deale, at Masons Beach Road, MD 256 turns north onto Deale Churchton Road. The highway meets the eastern end of
MD 258 (Bay Front Road) at a
roundabout
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...
. MD 256 continues through the hamlet of
Churchton, where Franklin Manor Road splits east toward
Franklin Manor-on-the-Bay. The state highway reaches its eastern terminus at MD 468 in Shady Side. That highway heads west as Muddy Creek Road toward
Galesville and east as Shady Side Road into the center of the namesake community.
History
The first segment of MD 256 was constructed as a wide gravel road from MD 2 east to the hamlet of Nutwell west of Deale, near the intersection with Franklin Gibson Road, in 1923.
This segment was originally designated as MD 257. A second segment of MD 256 was constructed as a gravel road of the same width from
MD 255 (now MD 468) in Shady Side south through Churchton to Swamp Circle Road north of the center of Deale in 1926.
The gap through Deale was filled in 1932 and 1933.
By 1934, traffic was dense enough on the Deale–Shady Side road that the
Maryland State Roads Commission recommended the highway be expanded from in width.
MD 256 replaced all of MD 257 in 1939.
The roundabout at MD 256's junction with MD 258 was installed in 2007.
Junction list
See also
*
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=inline,title
MDRoads: MD 256
256
Year 256 ( CCLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Claudius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 1009 ''Ab urbe condi ...
Maryland Route 256
Maryland Route 256 (MD 256) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from Maryland Route 2, MD 2 at Tracys Landing, Maryland, Tracys Landing east to Maryland Route 468, MD 468 in Shady Side, Maryland, Shady Side. MD 256 ...