 Maryland Route 170 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maryland Route 170 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MDSHA | ||||
| Length | 12.98 mi[1] (20.89 km) | |||
| Existed | 1927–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  MD 175 in Odenton | |||
| North end |  MD 2 in Brooklyn Park | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Maryland | |||
| Counties | Anne Arundel | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Maryland Route 170 (MD 170) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs 12.98 miles (20.89 km) from MD 175 in Odenton north to MD 2 in Brooklyn Park. MD 170 connects the western Anne Arundel County communities of Odenton and Severn and the North County communities of Linthicum, Pumphrey, and Brooklyn Park with Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI Airport). The highway connects BWI Airport with Interstate 695 (I-695) and MD 100 and forms part of the Airport Loop, a circumferential highway that connects the airport and I-195 with many airport-related services.
MD 170 originally served as the main highway between Baltimore and Fort George G. Meade. This highway, which included part of modern MD 174 west of Severn, was mostly constructed shortly after Camp Meade was established during World War I in the late 1910s. The Odenton–Severn portion of MD 170 was originally built as MD 554 in the 1930s, but became part of MD 170 in the mid-1940s. MD 170 went through another round of upgrades in the early 1940s due to its strategic importance during World War II. The highway originally passed through the area now occupied by BWI Airport. MD 170 was relocated north of MD 176 in the late 1940s during the construction of the airport and south of MD 176 in the late 1950s. The highway has been expanded to four lanes around its interchanges with I-195, I-695, MD 32, and MD 100 and along the perimeter of BWI Airport since the 1960s.