Maryland Route 70 (MD 70) 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 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 Roscoe Rowe Boulevard, the highway runs from

MD 450 Maryland Route 450 (MD 450) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 Alternate (US 1 Alternate) in Bladensburg east to US 50, US 301, and MD 2 near Arnold. MD 450 forms a local complement t ...

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

north to Bestgate Road in

Parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. MD 70 is the primary highway connecting

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

(US 50) and

US 301 U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...

with downtown Annapolis. The highway also serves several sets of Maryland state government offices and

Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is an open-air stadium located off the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Opened in 1959, it serves as the home stadium of the Navy Midshipmen college football and lacrosse team ...

. MD 70 was constructed in the mid-1950s contemporaneously with the US 50 freeway. The highway was extended north to Bestgate Road in the early 1990s.

Route description

MD 70 begins at an intersection with MD 450 (College Avenue) in downtown Annapolis. This intersection is next to

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

, the residence of the

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

, and one block north of the

Maryland State House The Maryland State House is located in Annapolis, Maryland. It is the oldest U.S. state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772 and houses the Maryland General Assembly, plus the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In ...

. MD 70 heads northwest for two blocks as Bladen Street, a four-lane

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numb ...

boulevard that passes between state office buildings, including the offices of members of the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...

. At Calvert Street, the highway's name changes to Roscoe Rowe Boulevard. A two-lane ramp splits from southbound MD 70 just south of the southern end of the highway's bridge over College Creek, the point at which maintenance responsibility changes from the city of Annapolis to the state. The highway passes between several sets of government offices, including the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the state supreme court, highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The cou ...

and the Maryland State Archives, leading up to its intersection with MD 435 (Taylor Avenue). MD 70 passes to the east of Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium before crossing Weems Creek and leaving the city of Annapolis. The highway meets US 50/US 301/ MD 2 (John Hanson Highway) at a

partial cloverleaf interchange A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...

. Beyond the interchange, MD 70 curves to the west and intersects Bestgate Road and Tidewater Colony Drive; the latter street leads to the historic home Howard's Inheritance. The highway continues along Bestgate Road and becomes 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 ...

before reaching its northern terminus at an arbitrary point west of Compton Drive and Willie Drive. Bestgate Road continues west as a county highway toward the

Westfield Annapolis Westfield Annapolis is a shopping mall, owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and is located near the junction of U.S. Route 50 and Interstate 97 in Parole, near Annapolis, Maryland. As of 2022, the mall features the traditional tenants Macy's and ...

shopping mall in the center of Parole.

History

MD 70 from College Avenue to US 50 and US 301 is named for Roscoe C. Rowe, the

mayor of Annapolis The Mayor of Annapolis is the chief political figure in the city of Annapolis, which is the capital city of Maryland. The mayor is elected to a four-year term. List of Mayors of Annapolis *1708–1720 Amos Garrett *1720–1721 Thomas Lar ...

from 1949 until his 1952 death. Rowe was credited with organizing the city of Annapolis's financial contribution to construct the boulevard and for persuading the

Maryland State Roads Commission The Maryland State Highway Administration (abbreviated MDOT SHA or simply SHA) is the state transportation business unit responsible for maintaining Maryland's numbered highways outside Baltimore City. Formed originally under authority of the G ...

to finance the construction of the bridge across College Creek. Construction of MD 70 began from US 50, then also under construction, to Weems Creek, including the bridge over the creek, in October 1952. Construction on the highway resumed in May 1954; the section from Weems Creek to College Avenue was completed in November 1954, five months after the US 50 freeway opened from MD 450 to MD 2 east of the Severn River. The boulevard's interchange with US 50 was originally a

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

. MD 70's southern end was originally a

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 ...

; traffic leaving Annapolis followed Bladen Street from College Avenue toward College Creek and traffic entering Annapolis veered south onto Northwest Street to end at Church Circle. Bladen Street was expanded to a two-way boulevard in 1983. MD 70 was extended north to its present terminus and its junction with US 50 and US 301 was changed to a partial cloverleaf interchange in 1991. The state highway's bridges over Weems Creek and College Creek were replaced between 2004 and 2006.

Junction list

Auxiliary routes

MD 70 has two existing auxiliary routes and one former route. All three routes were established in 2002 along county highways relocated as part of the extension of MD 70 north to Bestgate Road. *MD 70A is the designation for the stretch of North Lawrence Road north from MD 70. *MD 70B was the designation for the portion of Tidewater Colony Drive south from the intersection between Roscoe Rowe Boulevard and Bestgate Road. MD 70B was transferred to county maintenance in 2009. *MD 70C is the designation for the segment of Bestgate Road east from the intersection of MD 70 and Tidewater Colony Drive.

References

External links