Joppa Road | |
|---|---|
 Joppa Road highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by Baltimore County | |
| Length | 14.3 mi[1] (23.0 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  MD 25 in Brooklandville |
| East end |  MD 7 near White Marsh |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maryland |
| Counties | Baltimore |
| Highway system | |
| |
Joppa Road (/ˈdʒɒpə/ JOP-ə) is a county highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway extends 14.3 miles (23.0 km) from Maryland Route 25 (MD 25) in Brooklandville east to MD 7 near White Marsh. Joppa Road has three main segments separated by very short breaks on its course through central and eastern Baltimore County. The central segment is a multi-lane highway from MD 45 and MD 146 in the county seat of Towson to U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Perry Hall. This highway is mostly a commercial strip and parallels Interstate 695 (I-695) through Towson, Parkville, and Carney. The western and eastern segments of Joppa Road are two-lane roads through mainly residential areas. The western segment connects Brooklandville and Towson via Riderwood. The eastern segment serves parts of Perry Hall and White Marsh.
Joppa Road and its western complement, Old Court Road, have been a cross-county highway since the 17th century. This highway connected the western part of the county to its original county seat of Joppa, which was sited on the Gunpowder River near the modern community of Joppatowne. Like Old Court Road, Joppa Road was improved on its state and county segments in the mid-1920s to form a circumferential paved highway around Baltimore. The state-maintained segment of the highway between Towson and Perry Hall was designated Maryland Route 148. MD 148 was widened in the mid-1930s and again in the late 1930s and 1940s. The highway's role as the primary east–west highway of Baltimore's northern suburbs was superseded by the construction of I-695 in the late 1950s and early 1960s. MD 148 was removed from the state highway system and all of Joppa Road became a county highway in the early 1960s.