Maryland Route 355 (MD 355) is a north–south road in western central Maryland in the United States. The southern terminus of the route, Wisconsin Avenue, is located in Bethesda in Montgomery County, at the county's border with Washington, D.C. It continues south into Washington, D.C. as Wisconsin Avenue NW. The northern terminus is just north of a bridge over Interstate 70 (I-70)/U.S. Route 40 (US 40) in the city of Frederick in Frederick County, where the road continues north as Market Street through Frederick towards MD 26.
MD 355 serves as a major thoroughfare through Frederick and Montgomery counties, passing through Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Clarksburg, Hyattstown, Urbana, and Frederick, roughly parallel to I-270. The southern portion of the route from the Washington, D.C., border to Germantown is a suburban four- to six-lane divided highway lined with many businesses. North of Germantown, the route is predominantly a two-lane rural road until it reaches Frederick, where it passes through commercial areas in the southern part of the city. The road changes names along its route: from south to north, it is called Wisconsin Avenue, Rockville Pike, Hungerford Drive, Frederick Road, and Urbana Pike.
MD 355 is the original route of US 240, which was planned in 1926 to run from Washington, D.C., north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; instead, the route was designated a part of US 15 north of Frederick. This route served as the primary connector linking Frederick and points west to Washington, D.C. During the 1950s, US 240 was moved in stages to the Washington National Pike, a freeway between Bethesda and Frederick shared with I-70S (now I-270). MD 355 was designated onto the former alignment of US 240 between Bethesda and Frederick as each stage of freeway was built. MD 355 was also designated through Frederick along Market Street, which was the former alignment of US 15 through the city before it was moved to a bypass in 1959. US 240 was decommissioned in 1972, and MD 355 was extended south along the former US 240 to the Washington, D.C. border. In 2006, the interchange with US 15 at the route's northern terminus was removed, resulting in MD 355 ending just short of US 15 at a dead end. By 2009, a four-lane divided bypass of Urbana for MD 355, funded by private developers, was completed. The former alignment of MD 355 through Urbana was designated as MD 355 Business (MD 355 Bus.) before being removed from the state highway system. The same year, the portion of MD 355 north of I-70 was transferred to the city of Frederick and is no longer considered part of the route.
Route description
MD 355 is a part of the main National Highway System from the District of Columbia line to I-495, in Bethesda. The highway is also a part of the National Highway System as an intermodal connector from I-495 to Shady Grove Road in Rockville, and as a principal arterial from Shady Grove Road to MD 27 in Germantown.
Montgomery County
MD 355 begins in the Bethesda CDP, at the intersection with Western Avenue NW / Western Avenue (Maryland), the northwestern border between Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland. It heads north from this point as Wisconsin Avenue, a six-lane divided highway. Washington Metro's Red Line runs in a tunnel underneath the road. Wisconsin Avenue NW traverses southeastward inside Washington, D.C., ending in Georgetown at an intersection with K Street NW underneath US 29 (Whitehurst Freeway NW), just north of the Potomac River. From the Washington, D.C. border, MD 355 heads north through areas of retail and high-rise buildings in Friendship Heights, and the Village of Friendship Heights, including The Shops at Wisconsin Place and the Friendship Heights station along the Red Line. North of Friendship Heights, the route continues into the wooded residential area of Somerset, before passing the Chevy Chase Country Club on the east side of the road, and the residential areas of the town of Chevy Chase, and its associated villages, to the west. It then forms an intersection with MD 191 (Bradley Boulevard) and Bradley Lane. Past this intersection, MD 355 enters downtown Bethesda, where it heads back into commercial areas with high-rise buildings.