Maryland Route 349 (MD 349) 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 ...
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 as Nanticoke Road, the state highway runs from a dead end in
Nanticoke Nanticoke may refer to:
* Nanticoke people in Delaware, United States
* Nanticoke language, an Algonquian language
* Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, a state-recognized tribe in New Jersey
Place names Canada
* Nanticoke, Ontario
** Nanticoke Generating S ...
east to
U.S. Route 50 Business (US 50 Business) in
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
. The first segment of MD 349 was constructed by 1910 west of Salisbury. The modern highway reached
Quantico by 1919,
Bivalve
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
by 1925, and its western terminus by 1933. The only major change to MD 349 since is a realignment near Salisbury in the mid-1950s.
Route description
MD 349 begins at a dead end at Jones Creek near the confluence of the
Nanticoke River
The Nanticoke River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula. It rises in southern Kent County, Delaware, flows through Sussex County, Delaware, and forms the boundary between Dorchester County, Maryland and Wicomico County ...
and
Wicomico River as the two rivers enter
Tangier Sound
Tangier Sound is a sound of the Chesapeake Bay bounded on the west by Tangier Island in Virginia, and Smith Island and South Marsh Island in Maryland, by Deal Island in Maryland on the north, and the mainland of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and ...
. The state highway heads north as a two-lane undivided road through the village of Nanticoke. North of Jesterville Road, MD 349 crosses Windsor Creek and Dunn Creek. The state highway continues through the hamlet of Bivalve, where the highway negotiates two sharp curves. MD 349 curves to the east as it leaves Bivalve and intersects Tyaskin Road, which was formerly
MD 541. The state highway intersects the west end of
MD 352 (Capitola Road), then turns northeast past the Chesapeake Forest Lands and traverses Wetipquin Creek.
At the hamlet of Royal Oak, MD 349 turns east toward its intersections with the southern terminus of
MD 347 (Quantico Road) and with the other end of MD 352 (Whitehaven Road) in the hamlet of Catchpenny south of Quantico. Whitehaven Road leads south to the
Whitehaven Ferry
The Whitehaven Ferry is a passenger and automobile cable ferry that crosses the Wicomico River in Whitehaven, Maryland, located to the southwest of Salisbury. The ferry is operated by the Wicomico County Department of Public Works and runs between ...
, a
cable ferry
A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...
that crosses the Wicomico River. After passing North Upper Ferry Road, which heads toward the
Upper Ferry cable ferry crossing of the Wicomico River, the state highway begins to pass residential subdivisions and crosses Rockawalking Creek. Just west of Salisbury, the old alignment of MD 349,
MD 815 (Old Quantico Road), splits to the east when MD 349 veers southeast. The state highway expands to a four-lane undivided highway before intersecting Parsons Road and the other end of MD 815. Upon crossing Mitchell Pond, MD 349 enters the city of Salisbury and municipal maintenance begins. Main Street splits to the southeast from the eastbound direction of MD 349 immediately before the state highway reaches its eastern terminus at US 50 Business (Salisbury Parkway). The road continues on the opposite side of the intersection as Isabella Street.
MD 349 is a part of the
National Highway System as a principal arterial from Fire Tower Road near Quantico to its eastern terminus in Salisbury.
History
MD 349 was paved from Salisbury west to Rockawalking Creek by 1910.
The improved highway extended west to Catchpenny in 1919 and to Royal Oak in 1921.
MD 349 was complete to Wetipquin Creek in 1923 and to Bivalve in 1925.
The highway was complete to its western terminus in Nanticoke in 1933.
Beyond the widening of the road from Salisbury to Tyaskin Road in 1950, the only significant change in MD 349 is the realignment of the highway just west of Salisbury in 1956, with MD 815 assigned to the old alignment.
Junction list
See also
*
References
External links
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MDRoads: MD 349Maryland Roads - MD 349
349
Maryland Route 349