Cromwell Bridge Road, formerly Maryland Route 567, is a two-lane roadway in the

Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...

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 ...

area of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The road begins at Providence Road in Towson, and continues past the Baltimore Beltway for several miles along the Cromwell Valley to its end, where it splits, a left turn going onto Glen Arm Road and a right turn onto Cub Hill Road. Cromwell Bridge Road, which is exit 29 off the Baltimore Beltway in a set of ramps shared with

Loch Raven Boulevard Maryland Route 542 (MD 542) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Loch Raven Boulevard, the state highway runs from MD 147 in Baltimore north to Interstate 695 (I-695) and Cromwell Bridge Road near T ...

, is mostly undeveloped. A short section of the route between Providence Road and about a block past the beltway is filled with commercial development including office buildings,

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, a

park-and-ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

lot that serves as the main northern

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

for

Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washingt ...

bus route 3 and 104 and its two major landmarks:

Loch Raven High School Loch Raven High School is a high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. History The school was established in 1972 and is part of the Baltimore County Public School System. Some of the middle schools whose graduates then enter Loch ...

and Rock City Church. The remainder of the road, which has few intersections, is designated as Maryland's "Horses and Hounds" scenic byway, mostly lined with trees, except for a portion where the Loch Raven Reservoir is visible.

History

That part of Cromwell Bridge Road between present-day Satyr Hill and Glen Arm/Cub Hill Road was once part of the original

Old Harford Road Old Harford Road, one of the oldest continuously used rights-of-way in central Maryland, United States, is a southwest–northeast thoroughfare in northeast Baltimore City and eastern Baltimore County. Present-day Old Harford Road begins in the ...

when the latter was the main route of choice between parts of southern

Harford County Harford County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

and the port of Baltimore. Part of the right-of-way of the former

Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad , familiarly known as the "Ma and Pa", was an American short-line railroad between York and Hanover, Pennsylvania, formerly operating passenger and freight trains on its original line between York and Balt ...

closely parallels Cromwell Bridge Road from the Baltimore Beltway to Cub Hill Road. The graded railroad bed and numerous bridge abutments have remained largely undisturbed along this stretch of the former railroad since its abandonment in 1958. The railroad's construction in this area occurred during 1882–1883. The MD 567 designation used for part of the road was decommissioned in 1999.

In the media

This portion of the road came to media attention in 2007, when Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) began an operation to clear the trees lining the road to prevent them from interfering with power lines and to make the road safe for motorists. After complaints from area residents over how this would impact on the road's status as a scenic byway, BGE agreed to temporarily halt cutting down these trees.Topic Galleries - baltimoresun.com
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References

Roads in Maryland {{Maryland-road-stub