Maryland Route 91 (MD 91) 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 ...

. The state highway runs from MD 32 at Gamber north to MD 30 near Upperco. MD 91 connects southeastern Carroll County and the far western part of

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 ...

south of

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

with MD 140 at Finksburg. The state highway was paved at Finksburg in the early 1910s. The remainder of MD 91 was constructed in the mid- to late 1920s.

Route description

MD 91 begins at an intersection with MD 32 (Sykesville Road) at Gamber. The state highway heads northeast as two-lane undivided Gamber Road through a mix of farmland and scattered residential subdivisions. As MD 91 approaches its crossing of Middle Run, it is paralleled by a stretch of its old alignment, MD 879 (Old Gamber Road). The state highway passes three more pieces of old alignment before crossing Beaver Run and running past the historic farm Cold Saturday. MD 91 parallels another stretch of old alignment, MD 879D (Old Gamber Road), to the west as the highway reaches Finksburg, where it intersects MD 140 (Baltimore Boulevard). There is no left turn allowed from southbound MD 140 to northbound MD 91; that movement is made via a

jughandle A jughandle is a type of ramp or slip road that changes the way traffic turns left at an at-grade intersection (in a country where traffic drives on the right). Instead of a standard left turn being made from the left lane, left-turning traffic ...

adjacent to Finksburg Plaza Shopping Center. MD 91 continues northeast as Emory Road and receives the northern end of MD 879D (Cedarhurst Road) just before the mainline highway crosses over the North Branch of the

Patapsco River The Patapsco River mainstem is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal port ...

and the

Maryland Midland Railway The Maryland Midland Railway is a Class III short-line railroad operating approximately 63 miles of track in central Maryland. It was originally headquartered in the former Western Maryland Railway station in Union Bridge, Maryland: it has sinc ...

. To the north of the bridge is the final section of old alignment, a spur into an industrial park. MD 91 passes the road's namesake, Emory United Methodist Church, just before entering Baltimore County. The state highway reaches its northern terminus at MD 30 (Hanover Pike) at the hamlet of Fowblesburg to the south of the village of Upperco. Emory Road continues east as a county highway a short distance to Old Hanover Road, which leads south to Boring. MD 91 is a part of the National Highway System as a principal arterial from MD 32 at Gamber north to MD 140 in Finksburg.

History

The Gamber–Finksburg portion of MD 91 was originally a

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

called the Mechanicsville and Finksburg Turnpike, which later became one of the branches of the Baltimore and Reisterstown Turnpike. The first section of modern road built along the highway was a macadam road from the

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM beca ...

(now Maryland Midland Railway) south to near Beaver Run. A concrete road was laid in two segments from Gamber toward Finksburg in 1923 and 1924. The gap between MD 32 and

U.S. Route 140 U.S. Route 140Pennsylvania "Legislative Route 42")was a U.S. highway connecting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore, Maryland. The route was deleted from the system in 1979; today the road's route is followed by portions of Pennsylvania R ...

(now MD 140) was filled in 1928. MD 91 was paved in concrete from both the railroad north of Finkaburg and Fowblesburg beginning in 1926. The segment between MD 30 and the Baltimore–Carroll county line was completed in 1927. The final piece of MD 91 between Finksburg and the county line was finished in 1929. MD 91 was relocated in several spots between Finksburg and the rail line around 1968. The bypassed portions of the highway became segments of MD 879.

Junction list

Auxiliary route

MD 91A was the designation for unnamed connector between MD 91 and MD 879A near Gamber. The road was removed in 2012.

References

External links