Maryland Route 372
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Maryland Route 372 (MD 372) 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 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 sover ...
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 Wilkens Avenue, the state highway runs from MD 166 in
Catonsville Catonsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 41,567 at the 2010 census. The community lies to the west of Baltimore along the city's border. Catonsville contains the majority of th ...
east to
U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...
(US 1) in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. MD 372 connects Baltimore and Interstate 695 (I-695) with the
University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...
(UMBC), and
Spring Grove Hospital Center Spring Grove Hospital Center, formerly known as Spring Grove State Hospital, is a psychiatric hospital located in the Baltimore, Maryland, suburb of Catonsville. Founded in 1797 as a general medical and psychiatric retreat, Spring Grove Mental ...
. Wilkens Avenue begins westward from South Gilmor Street, and was constructed from Monroe Street in Baltimore to Rolling Road in the last quarter of the 19th century. Almost the entire length of the highway was improved in the 1930s for local and long-distance traffic. MD 372's eastern terminus was moved west twice: first in the late 1930s when US 1 was moved to the avenue east of Caton Avenue, and again in the late 1940s when US 1 was moved to its present course.


Route description

MD 372 begins at an intersection with MD 166 (Rolling Road) in Catonsville. The state highway heads northeast as two-lane undivided Wilkens Avenue. The route runs along the edge of Rolling Road Golf Course to the UMBC Roundabout, where the highway intersects Hilltop Road, which is one of the entrances to the UMBC campus. After the roundabout, MD 372 expands to a four-lane
divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
and follows the edge of the UMBC campus. The state highway curves to the east after passing Valley Road, which provides access to Spring Grove Hospital Center, and meets I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) at a
partial cloverleaf interchange A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...
. East of the Beltway, MD 372 intersects Maiden Choice Lane, where the highway reduces to a two-lane undivided highway, and Beechfield Avenue before entering the city of Baltimore. The state highway runs alongside
Loudon Park National Cemetery Loudon Park National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses , and as of the end of 2005, had 7,138 interments. It i ...
as a four-lane undivided street before meeting its eastern terminus at US 1, which continues toward
downtown Baltimore Downtown Baltimore is the central business district of the city of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, Franklin Street to the north, President Street to the east and the Inner Harbor area to the s ...
as Wilkens Avenue and heads south as Southwestern Boulevard. There is no access from northbound US 1 to westbound MD 372.


History

Wilkens Avenue was named for William Wilkens, an industrialist who owned a hair factory and donated land for the city of Baltimore to construct his namesake avenue. The avenue was originally constructed from Gilmor Street southwest to the Baltimore city limits near Gwynns Falls in 1876. Wilkens Avenue was extended southwest into
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 ...
to Rolling Road by 1887. Extending Wilkens Avenue across 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 ...
to Howard County via a bridge near a site called Orange Grove was proposed in the early 1890s but this never came to fruition. The Maryland Geological Survey granted Baltimore County state aid to pave in macadam its portion of Wilkens Avenue, starting from the contemporary city limit at Desoto Road, around 1907. Two attempts to rename the avenue were met with disdain:
H.L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
panned a 1932 attempt to rename the street as Sunset Boulevard and community opposition derailed a 1941 attempt to rename the avenue Crozier Boulevard in memory of recently deceased city engineer Bernard "Bunny" Crozier. By the 1930s, there were plans to improve the city and county portions of Wilkens Avenue to better handle commuter and long-distance traffic. In 1934, 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 Ge ...
marked MD 372 for expansion from a width of to for its entire length in Baltimore County. The highway was widened to from the city limits to the entrance to Spring Grove State Hospital in 1938. Between 1930 and 1933, the avenue was widened and resurfaced in concrete from the city–county line to Desoto Road in the city. East of there, new bridges were completed for the avenue over the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
, Gwynns Falls, and 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 ...
in 1936. Between 1936 and 1938, Wilkens Avenue was widened to a undivided street from Caton Avenue to Gwynns Falls and to a four-lane divided boulevard from Gwynns Falls east to Monroe Street. US 1, which originally followed Washington Boulevard to Monroe Street, was placed on Wilkens Avenue from Monroe Street to Caton Avenue, which was also widened, in 1939. Starting in 1947, the Wilkens Avenue Extended project was constructed from Arbutus to the Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak) bridge on Wilkens Avenue. When this four-lane divided highway, which is now named Southwestern Boulevard, was completed in 1949, US 1 was moved to its present alignment and the eastern terminus of MD 372 was rolled back from Caton Avenue to its present eastern terminus. MD 372 was expanded to a four-lane divided highway from its interchange with I-695 to east of Maiden Choice Lane in 1957 and from the Beltway to west of Valley Road in 1960. The roundabout at the junction of MD 372 and Hilltop Road was installed in 1998.


Junction list


See also

*


References


External links


MDRoads: MD 372MD 372 at AARoads.com
{{Streets in Baltimore 372
Maryland Route 372 Maryland Route 372 (MD 372) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Wilkens Avenue, the state highway runs from MD 166 in Catonsville east to U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Baltimore. MD 372 connects Baltimore and Interstate 695 (I ...
Maryland Route 372 Maryland Route 372 (MD 372) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Wilkens Avenue, the state highway runs from MD 166 in Catonsville east to U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Baltimore. MD 372 connects Baltimore and Interstate 695 (I ...