Maryland Route 246
Encyclopedia
Maryland Route 246 is a state highway
State highway
State highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state or provincial government in a country that is divided into states or provinces :#A...

 in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. Known as Great Mills Road and Cedar Point Road, the state highway runs 3.35 miles (5.4 km) from MD 5
Maryland Route 5
Maryland Route 5 is a long state highway that runs north–south in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from Point Lookout in St. Mary's County north to the Washington, D.C. border in Suitland, Prince George's County....

 in Great Mills
Great Mills, Maryland
Great Mills is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. Great Mills High School serves the lower end of the county, including the town of Lexington Park; there is a public swimming pool adjacent...

 east to the entrance to Naval Air Station Patuxent River
Naval Air Station Patuxent River
"Pax River" redirects here. For the river, see Patuxent River.Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States Naval Air Station located in St. Mary's County, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to the U.S...

 (NAS Patuxent River) just east of the highway intersection with MD 235
Maryland Route 235
Maryland Route 235 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Three Notch Road, the state highway runs between its southern intersection with MD 5 in Ridge and its northern intersection with MD 5 near Mechanicsville...

 in Lexington Park
Lexington Park, Maryland
Lexington Park is a census-designated place in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States, and the principal community of the Lexington Park, Maryland Micropolitan Statistical Area...

. In conjunction with MD 5, MD 246 connects NAS Patuxent River and the suburban area surrounding the military base with Leonardtown
Leonardtown, Maryland
Leonardtown is a town in and the county seat of St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,896 at the 2000 census. Leonardtown is perhaps most famous for the national oyster-shucking championship that occurs annually at the St...

. The state highway was originally constructed around 1920. MD 246 extended east onto land now occupied by NAS Patuxent River to serve a ferry from St. Mary's County to the southern end of Calvert County
Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It occupies the Calvert Peninsula which is bordered on the east by the Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region. Calvert County's residents are among the highest...

. The ferry was discontinued and the state highway's eastern terminus was rolled back to MD 235 when NAS Patuxent River was constructed during World War II; the remainder of MD 246 was upgraded as a military access project. MD 246 was expanded to a multi-lane highway in the 1990s.

Route description

MD 246 (Great Mills Road) begins at an intersection with MD 5 (Point Lookout Road) in Great Mills. The state highway intersects its old alignment, which is named Old Great Mills Road and designated MD 5A, before curving northeast as a five-lane road with center turn lane. MD 246 passes Great Mills High School
Great Mills High School
Great Mills High School is a comprehensive public high school of 1600+ students in grades 9-12. It serves students at the confluence of the Potomac River, Patuxent River, and Chesapeake Bay. The area is a mixture of rural and suburban communities. Many of the families are employed by NAS Patuxent...

 before meeting the southern end of MD 237
Maryland Route 237
Maryland Route 237 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Chancellors Run Road, the route runs from Maryland Route 246 in Lexington Park north to Maryland Route 235 in California...

 (Chancellors Run Road) and entering the suburban community of Lexington Park, where the highway is lined with residential subdivisions, apartment complexes, office parks, and shopping centers. MD 246 intersects FDR Boulevard and Shangri La Drive before reaching MD 235 (Three Notch Road). Immediately east of the MD 235 intersection, MD 246 becomes Cedar Point Road and reaches its eastern terminus at the main entrance to NAS Patuxent River.

History

MD 246 was constructed as a gravel road by 1921. The state highway originally extended east onto the Cedar Point peninsula from its present terminus in Lexington Park (previously known as Jarboesville) to the hamlet of Pearson's Corner, then north to Millstone Landing. Millstone Landing was the location of a ferry across the Patuxent River to the southern terminus of MD 2
Maryland Route 2
Maryland Route 2 is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from Solomons Island in Calvert County north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 40 Truck in Baltimore...

 in Solomons
Solomons, Maryland
Solomons is a community and census-designated place in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,536 at the 2000 census...

 in Calvert County between 1933 and at least 1940. The highway connecting Pearson's Corner with Cedar Point, which was designated MD 248, was constructed in two sections. The first section from Pearson's Corner was constructed as a gravel road in 1925 and 1926. The second section to a point near the Cedar Point Golf Course was completed around 1930.

Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, the U.S. Navy seized much of the Cedar Point peninsula to construct NAS Patuxent River in 1942. All of MD 248 and the portion of MD 246 on the military base were removed from the state highway system. The roads on which MD 246 was formerly assigned still exist within the military property, while MD 248 was mostly obliterated by the construction of runways. The remainder of MD 246 from the naval air station to Great Mills was reconstructed with a bituminous concrete surface in 1944 to better connect the military base with Leonardtown. The state highway was reconstructed again from Great Mills to Lexington Park in 1954 and 1955. MD 246 was expanded to a five-lane road between Forest Run Drive and MD 235 by 1993. The remainder of the highway to Great Mills was widened to a five-lane road by 1999.

Junction list

The entire route is in St. Mary's County.
{| class=wikitable
!Location
!Mile
!Destinations
!Notes
|-
|Leonardtown
Great Mills, Maryland
Great Mills is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. Great Mills High School serves the lower end of the county, including the town of Lexington Park; there is a public swimming pool adjacent...


|0.00
|
|Western terminus
|-
|rowspan=3|Lexington Park
Lexington Park, Maryland
Lexington Park is a census-designated place in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States, and the principal community of the Lexington Park, Maryland Micropolitan Statistical Area...


|0.97
|
|
|-
|3.26
|
|
|-
|3.35
|Entrance to Naval Air Station Patuxent River
Naval Air Station Patuxent River
"Pax River" redirects here. For the river, see Patuxent River.Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States Naval Air Station located in St. Mary's County, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to the U.S...


|Eastern terminus

External links

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