 Maryland Route 117 | ||||
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 Maryland Route 117 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MDSHA | ||||
| Length | 12.40 mi[1] (19.96 km) | |||
| Existed | 1927–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  MD 28 near Dawsonville | |||
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| East end | West Diamond Avenue in Gaithersburg | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Maryland | |||
| Counties | Montgomery | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Maryland Route 117 (MD 117) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 12.40 miles (19.96 km) from MD 28 near Dawsonville east to West Diamond Avenue next to MD 355 in Gaithersburg. MD 117 is an L-shaped highway that connects the rural western Montgomery County communities of Dawsonville and Boyds with Germantown, Gaithersburg, and Interstate 270 (I-270) in the suburban central part of the county. The highway also provides access to Seneca Creek State Park, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and several commuter rail stations along MARC's Brunswick Line, which the highway parallels. MD 117 was the inspiration for the 1971 hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
MD 117 originally consisted of three disjoint segments. The segment from MD 28 to west of Boyds was built in the early 1910s and extended to Boyds in the late 1920s. The two other segments were built west from Germantown and west from MD 124 in Gaithersburg in the early 1930s. MD 117 east of MD 124 was originally part of the latter highway, which was constructed in the early 1910s. The two gaps in MD 117 were filled in the early to mid-1950s before the route between Boyds and Gaithersburg was transferred to county maintenance in the late 1950s. MD 117 was returned to its course from Boyds to Gaithersburg in the mid-1970s and extended to downtown Gaithersburg over what had been MD 124 in the 1980s. The highway was expanded to a four- to six-lane divided highway in parts of Germantown and Gaithersburg by the late 1990s.