Status: Marked north-south.

NHS: North of I-695 to PA line.

Associated Secret-Obscure Routes: 411 461 477 590 591 592 888 993

Baltimore-Washington Blvd was referred to as "State Road No. 1" for legislative purposes, although it is very unlikely that it was ever signed as MD 1. It was signed as US 1 beginning with the 1926 inception of the US highway system.

Here is the relevant document. From the 1908 Code of the Public Local Laws of Maryland: [link]

1908, ch. 304, sec. 1. B. Co. C. (1916), sec. 554. 1928, sec. 650.

650. A public highway to be known as State Road No. 1 shall be constructed between the cities of Washington and Baltimore, the course of which, as near as practicable, shall be along the route of the old Baltimore and Washington Road; provided, however, that said State Road No. 1 shall be constructed upon the present roadbed of the Baltimore and Washington Road from Waterloo, in Howard County, to the Village of Halethorpe, Baltimore County, and entering the City of Baltimore at Columbia Avenue, the bed of which, so far as the same is vested in the State or the several counties through which it passes, hereby dedicated by way of easement or fee simple, as the case may be, to the public use.

US 1 was the original road from Baltimore to Washington. Changes have occurred in bypassing Elkridge, where Old Washington Blvd. was MD 477, but decommissioned in the late 1980s. There was also change of course near the Baltimore Beltway (I-695). Little sliver of Old Washington Blvd. near Lansdowne Rd. in Baltimore County is unsigned MD 993, formerly 993B. Paved circa 1914, made part of US 1 with original numbering in 1926.

Belair Rd., running straight out from Baltimore to the northeast for more than 10 miles, has had no change in alignment, thus Belair Rd. is one of the few arterial highways in Maryland not to have a companion 'old' road (sometimes numbered itself-see 993 above) darting in and out of view every few miles. There were a few new bridges, but no long stretches of old alignment. It has remained somewhat unscathed because most traffic now takes either I-95 or US 40 in this corridor, and Belair Rd was the first road in Maryland to have three lanes; one lane in each direction with a center turn lane in the middle to accomodate left turn traffic. It has been widened between I-695 and Gunpowder Falls to six lanes in s ome places, to accomodate the busy Perry Hall area. Town of Bel Air bypassed in early 1960s, rest of Belair Rd. became Business US 1. Bypass was extended north around Hickory, opening in 2000. Mile markers along the bypass are in tenths, and seem to be distance north from the Baltimore/Harford county line.

Route 1 north of Bel Air crosses the Susquehanna by way of Conowingo Dam., as it passes onward to Philadelphia. Prior to the Conowingo Dam's construction in the late 1920s, the original Susquehanna crossing was via Berkley Road (former MD 162) on the west side and Pilot Town Road (formerly part of MD 273) on the east. A bypass of Rising Sun was completed around 1957, MD 273 extended along the old portion west of town. The old US 1 east of Rising Sun (Half Mile Turn to Sylmar Road) was designated MD 592 (may have been 690 for a short while), and dropped in 1959.

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Status: Marked north-south.

Associated Secret-Obscure Routes: 411

Route through Bladensburg passes the Peace Cross Monument, at its junction with MD 450. In the 1940s, this was the Bypass US 1 and west of Bladensburg, co-signed with US 50; US 1 was also Alt US 50 and MD 411.

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Status: Marked north-south.

Associated Secret-Obscure Routes: 888 993

The alternate route is preffered if you need access to either I-95 or I-695, as mainline US 1 has minimal connections with these interstates.

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Status: Marked north-south.

Associated Secret-Obscure Routes: 461

Bypassed around 1963, extended through Hickory with completion of Hickory Bypass in 2000 (mileage not yet updated). Green US shields mark the route, both green on white as appears at left, and the reverse white on green are used. The only other case of green (or any other non-standard) markers is with the Towson Bypass (Byp MD 45).

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