Maryland Route 222


Maryland Route 222 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from MD 7 in Perryville north to U.S. Route 1 near Conowingo. MD 222 connects Perryville, Port Deposit, and Conowingo along its route paralleling the Susquehanna River in western Cecil County. Due to limitations in the highway in Port Deposit, including a steep hill and a low railroad bridge, trucks are directed to use MD 275, MD 276, and US 1 through Woodlawn and Rising Sun to connect Interstate 95 with US 222 in Conowingo.
MD 222 was built as MD 268, a number presently assigned to North Street in Elkton. The state highway was paved from Perryville to Port Deposit in the late 1910s and early 1920s. MD 268 was extended north to Conowingo in the early 1930s. In 1938, MD 268 was superseded when US 222 was extended south from US 1 in Conowingo to US 40 in Perryville. US 222 was widened from Perryville to Port Deposit in the early 1940s and rebuilt around 1960. The highway was moved for the construction of I-95 interchange in the early 1960s and rebuilt south to Perryville in the late 1960s. MD 222 was established in 1972 on the portion of US 222 between MD 7 and US 40. The designation was extended from Perryville to Conowingo in 1995 when US 222 was rolled back to its former and present terminus at US 1 in Conowingo.

Route description

MD 222 begins at an intersection with MD 7 in the town of Perryville. The highway heads north as two-lane undivided Aiken Avenue, which reaches its northern end at US 40 immediately to the east of the toll plaza for the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge over the Susquehanna River. MD 222 continues northeast as Perryville Road, which crosses over CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision. The highway curves north and leaves the town of Perryville and passing Perryville High School. MD 222 intersects the southern end of MD 824 and the entrance to the former Perryville Outlet Center before meeting I-95 at a four-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange. At the north end of the interchange, the highway briefly re-enters the town of Perryville, intersects the ramps to and from southbound I-95 and the entrance to Hollywood Casino Perryville, and passes west of a park and ride lot before it reaches a four-way intersection with the northern end of MD 824 and the southern end of MD 275. At this intersection, MD 222 turns west onto Bainbridge Road toward Port Deposit.
MD 222 heads west through farmland, crossing Happy Valley Branch before passing the entrance to the former United States Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, which contains the Edward W. Haviland House and the original campus of the Tome School. The highway descends from a high bluff to the Susquehanna River, during which southbound MD 222 has a climbing lane. Upon entering the town limits of Port Deposit, MD 222's name changes to Main Street and the highway makes a sharp turn to the north to parallel the river and Norfolk Southern Railway's Port Road Branch. The state highway intersects MD 276 in the center of Port Deposit. MD 222 passes the Paw Paw Building and intersects Granite Avenue before crossing Rock Run and passing under a low railroad bridge to the west side of the tracks. The highway leaves the town of Port Deposit and continues north as Susquehanna River Road, closely paralleling the river and passing through a unit of Susquehanna State Park along the river. Soon after crossing Octoraro Creek, MD 222 reaches its northern terminus at an intersection with US 1 at the eastern end of Conowingo Dam. Following US 1 northeast to the community of Conowingo leads to the southern terminus of US 222.
MD 222 is a part of the National Highway System as a principal arterial from US 40 north to MD 275 within Perryville.

History

What is now MD 222 was originally designated MD 268. MD 268 was replaced by a southern extension of US 222 from US 1 at Conowingo to US 40 in Perryville in 1938. The Susquehanna River Road section of US 222 was transferred from state to county maintenance through a May 8, 1958, road transfer agreement. However, that section was returned to state control through an August 23, 1961, agreement after Cecil County requested it be returned to the state. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials approved rolling back the southern end of the US 222 designation from US 40 to US 1 at their April 1995 spring meeting. The Maryland State Highway Administration proposed and AASHTO approved the redesignation of US 222 to MD 222 from US 40 to US 1 in February 1996; however, the new designation had already been enacted officially and marked publicly in 1995. The redesignation did not apply to Aiken Avenue; indeed, Aiken Avenue's designation was changed from US 222 to MD 222 in 1972.
The first stretch of the Perryville-Conowingo highway to be improved was in Perryville, where Cecil County constructed with state aid a macadam road from the Aikin station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad south toward the Post Road by 1910. Cecil County extended the macadam road to the Post Road by 1919. The highway from the Aikin railroad crossing to Port Deposit was paved as a concrete road in two sections: from the railroad to near Port Deposit by 1921 and through Port Deposit by 1923. MD 268 was paved as a concrete road from Port Deposit to US 1 at Conowingo Dam between 1930 and 1933; the construction work included repurposing a railroad bridge across Octoraro Creek as a highway bridge. MD 268's bridge across the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was constructed between 1931 and 1934. The old highway approaching the Aikin grade crossing became MD 449.
MD 268 was proposed to be widened to from US 40 to US 1 in 1934. The portion of US 222 from US 40 to near Port Deposit was expanded to improve access between the U.S. Highway and United States Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, east of Port Deposit in 1942 and 1944. US 222 was widened and resurfaced between what is now the MD 222-MD 275—MD 824 intersection and Port Deposit in 1959 and 1960. The U.S. Highway was relocated as part of the construction of its original diamond interchange with I-95 in 1962 and 1963. The old alignment of US 222 east of its I-95 interchange became MD 824. The highway was resurfaced with bituminous concrete from MD 7 to US 40 and reconstructed and widened from US 40 to the southern MD 824 intersection in 1968 and 1969. The widening work included widening US 222's bridge across the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which was removed and replaced between 1987 and 1989. The I-95 interchange was converted from a standard diamond to a four-ramp partial cloverleaf with all four ramps east of MD 222 between 1993 and 1994. Aiken Avenue was reconstructed in an urban streetscape project in 2001 and 2002.

Junction list

Related routes

Former truck route

Maryland Route 222 Truck was a signed truck bypass of MD 222 from MD 222 in Perryville to US 1 and US 222 in Conowingo. The signed route followed MD 275 from MD 222 in Perryville north to MD 276 in Woodlawn. MD 222 Truck continued north on MD 276 from Woodlawn north to US 1 west of Rising Sun. The truck route then headed west on US 1 to US 222's southern terminus in Conowingo. MD 222 Truck was first signed by 2002. Signs for MD 222 Truck were removed by 2016 and replaced with signs directing trucks to I-95 and US 40 southbound and to US 222 northbound.
Junction list

Auxiliary routes

MD 222 has three auxiliary routes that are maintained by the Maryland Transportation Authority and provide access to the authority's facilities around I-95's interchange with MD 222 and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway toll plaza to the east of the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge. The highways were created as part of the reconstruction of MD 222's interchange with I-95 in 1993 and 1994.