Maryland Route 254 (MD 254) 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 as Cobb Island Road, the state highway runs from
Cobb Island
Cobb Island is a small island located at the confluence of the Potomac and Wicomico rivers in southern Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is located approximately south of Washington, and is considered to be within the Washington, D.C ...
north to
MD 257 near
Rock Point. MD 254 connects the mainland to Cobb Island, which was originally established as a summer resort in the early 1920s, at the southern end of
Charles County
Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Wash ...
. The state highway was constructed as Maryland Route 533 in the early 1930s. The state highway was rebuilt and renumbered as MD 254 in the 1950s.
Route description
MD 254 begins south of the intersection of Cobb Island Road and Neale Sound Drive on Cobb Island. Cobb Island Road continues south as a county-maintained two-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 ...
avenue to Potomac River Drive on the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
side of the island. North of Neale Sound Drive, MD 254 is a two-lane undivided road and leaves the island by crossing over Neale Sound on the Cobb Island Bridge. The state highway passes between marinas and curves northwest to parallel the coast. At Pine Grove Road, MD 254 veers north to its terminus at Rock Point Road. Rock Point Road heads southeast as a county highway toward Rock Point and northwest as MD 257 up Cobb Neck to
U.S. Route 301 in
Newburg.
History
The original bridge from the mainland to Cobb Island, a "noisy one-way wooden bridge that was prone to summer traffic jams," was constructed in 1923 shortly after the establishment of the island as a summer resort by
Robert Crain
Robert S. Crain (February 12, 1865 – August 26, 1928) was a lawyer and farmer from Maryland who was active with the Democratic Party. He was the namesake of the Crain Highway.
Early life
Robert S. Crain was born on February 12, 1865, at the ...
.
In 1932, 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 ...
rebuilt Cobb Island Road as a modern gravel road and replaced the "hazardous" 1923 bridge with a
creosoted timber bridge.
This bridge was still one-lane, being wide, but had a passing area near the middle.
Cobb Island Road was originally designated MD 533.
MD 533 was widened to and resurfaced with bituminous stabilized gravel in 1951.
MD 533 was renumbered MD 254 in 1958.
MD 254 had originally been assigned to Davidsonville Road between
Davidsonville and
Edgewater in central
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 ...
; that highway was renumbered as an eastward extension of
MD 214 (Central Avenue) by 1939.
A two-lane steel girder Cobb Island Bridge was built in 1963.
In 2015, plans were made to construct a new Cobb Island Bridge to replace the existing structure that was structurally deficient. The new Cobb Island Bridge, which includes wider travel lanes, a sidewalk, and lighting, cost $18 million to build and opened to traffic on April 28, 2020.
Junction list
See also
*
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
MD 254 @ MDRoads.com
254
Year 254 ( CCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerianus and Gallienus (or, less frequently, year 1007 ''Ab urbe ...
Maryland Route 254