U.S. Route 1 Business (Bel Air, Maryland)
Encyclopedia
U.S. Route 1 Business is a business route of U.S. Route 1
in the U.S. state of Maryland
. The highway runs 6.9 miles (11.1 km) from US 1 and Maryland Route 147
(MD 147) in Benson
north to US 1 near Hickory. US 1 Business is the old alignment of US 1 through Bel Air, the county seat
of Harford County
. US 1 was originally constructed on both sides of Bel Air in the early 1910s. The U.S. highway was widened in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s. US 1 Business was assigned to the highway from Benson through Bel Air to south of Hickory after the Bel Air Bypass was built in the mid 1960s. US 1 Business was extended north through Hickory when US 1 bypassed Hickory in 2000.
at its intersection with Old Joppa Road. US 1 Business crosses Winters Run
at a place known as Lake Fanny Hill just to the north of a loop of old alignment that uses US 1's original bridge over the stream. East of the Lake Fanny area, the business route enters a commercial area and expands to a five-lane road with center turn lane. The highway enters the town of Bel Air just west of its intersection with Tollgate Road. US 1 Business intersects MD 24
(Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway) surrounded by shopping centers, including the Harford Mall
on the northwest corner.
US 1 Business continues east as Baltimore Pike to downtown Bel Air. The business route intersects Bond Street, which carries southbound MD 924
, and becomes one-way eastbound. At the next intersection with Main Street, the street continues as the eastbound lanes of MD 22
(Fulford Avenue) while US 1 Business turns north onto Main Street, where the business route runs concurrently with northbound MD 924. The two directions of US 1 Business pass through the Bel Air Courthouse Historic District
, which includes the Harford County courthouse and county offices. The business route also passes by the Odd Fellows Lodge
, the Bel Air Armory
, and the Graham-Crocker House
. The southbound business route passes the historic Harford National Bank
building. North of downtown, the two directions of the business route come together at Gordon Street, which heads east past the Proctor House
and west to the historic estate Liriodendron
. One block to the north, MD 924 continues straight toward Forest Hill
while US 1 Business turns east onto Broadway.
US 1 Business follows two-lane Broadway east to Hickory Avenue, onto which the business route turns north. At the northern limit of Bel Air, the business route intersects Moores Mill Road, which heads east toward the Heighe House
. US 1 Business crosses Bynum Run and continues north as Conowingo Road, which becomes a three-lane road just before the entrance to the farm complex The Vineyard
. The business route intersects US 1 at the northern end of the Bel Air Bypass; the U.S. highway continues north as the Hickory Bypass. US 1 Business becomes a two-lane road at the present alignment of MD 23
(East–West Highway). The business route intersects the old alignment of the state highway, Jarrettsville Road, adjacent to St. Ignatius Church
, then veers east through the center of Hickory. US 1 Business intersects MD 543
(Ady Road) before reaching its northern terminus at US 1 at the northern end of the Hickory Bypass. Conowingo Road continues north as mainline US 1 through northeastern Harford County.
By 1930, US 1 had been widened to 20 feet (6.1 m) throughout Harford County with the construction of concrete shoulders. Widening of Belair Road to 30 feet (9.1 m) from Baltimore County
to downtown Bel Air was underway by 1934 and completed in 1936. By 1938, US 1 entered downtown Belair on Baltimore Pike, turned north onto Bond Street, followed Main Street—which in 1938 also became part of MD 24—to Broadway, then followed Broadway to Hickory Avenue. Around 1940, the portions of Bond Street and Main Street that carried US 1 were expanded to 40 feet (12.2 m) in width. US 1 was expanded further following World War II: the highway was reconstructed and widened from downtown Bel Air through Hickory between 1950 and 1952 and from Benson to Bel Air by 1954.
Construction on the Bel Air Bypass got underway in 1963. The bypass was originally planned to pass around Hickory as well, but the northern extension was postponed by 1966. When the bypass opened in 1965, taking US 1 out of downtown Bel Air, Belair Road from Benson to downtown Bel Air was temporarily designated as an extension of MD 147. By 1966, US 1 Business was assigned from Benson north to the end of the bypass south of Hickory. The extension of the Bel Air Bypass around Hickory was constructed in 2000. US 1 was subsequently placed on the new bypass and US 1 Business was extended to its current length.
.
{| class=wikitable
!Location
!Mile
!Destinations
!Notes
|-
|Benson
|0.00
|
|Southern terminus
|-
|rowspan=5|Bel Air
|1.98
|
|
|-
|2.58
|
|
|-
|2.65
|
|US 1 Business turns north onto Main Street; south end of concurrency with MD 924
|-
|3.22
|
|US 1 Business turns east onto Broadway; north end of concurrency with MD 924
|-
|3.57
|Broadway east / Hickory Avenue south
|US 1 Business turns north onto Hickory Avenue
|-
|rowspan=4|Hickory
|5.32
|
|
|-
|5.59
|
|
|-
|6.39
|
|
|-
|6.90
|
|Northern terminus
U.S. Route 1 in Maryland
U.S. Route 1 is the easternmost and longest of the major north–south routes of the United States Numbered Highway System, running from Key West, Florida to Fort Kent, Maine. In the U.S...
in the U.S. state 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...
. The highway runs 6.9 miles (11.1 km) from US 1 and Maryland Route 147
Maryland Route 147
Maryland Route 147 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Harford Road, the state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 in Baltimore north to US 1 and US 1 Business in Benson. MD 147 is an alternate route to US 1 between Baltimore and Bel Air, the county seat of Harford County...
(MD 147) in Benson
Benson, Harford County, Maryland
Benson is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States. Benson is located at the junction of U.S. Route 1 and Maryland Route 147 southwest of Bel Air. Benson has a post office with ZIP code 21018....
north to US 1 near Hickory. US 1 Business is the old alignment of US 1 through Bel Air, the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Harford County
Harford County, Maryland
Harford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 244,826. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...
. US 1 was originally constructed on both sides of Bel Air in the early 1910s. The U.S. highway was widened in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s. US 1 Business was assigned to the highway from Benson through Bel Air to south of Hickory after the Bel Air Bypass was built in the mid 1960s. US 1 Business was extended north through Hickory when US 1 bypassed Hickory in 2000.
Route description
US 1 Business begins at an intersection with US 1 and MD 147 in the community of Benson. US 1 heads north as the Bel Air Bypass and south as Belair Road. MD 147 (Harford Road) forms the west leg of the intersection opposite US 1 Business, which heads east as Belair Road, a three-lane road with center turn lane that passes the Graystone LodgeGraystone Lodge
The Graystone Lodge, also known as Hoskins-Guidice House, is a historic structure located at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It is a two story stone building built about 1781, with a mid-19th century frame addition...
at its intersection with Old Joppa Road. US 1 Business crosses Winters Run
Winters Run
Winters Run is a river in Harford County, Maryland. The river begins north of the community of Fallston at the confluence of the West and East Branches, and flows southeast about to Atkisson Dam in Edgewood. The dam and reservoir were built by the U.S. Army in 1942 to provide an auxiliary fresh...
at a place known as Lake Fanny Hill just to the north of a loop of old alignment that uses US 1's original bridge over the stream. East of the Lake Fanny area, the business route enters a commercial area and expands to a five-lane road with center turn lane. The highway enters the town of Bel Air just west of its intersection with Tollgate Road. US 1 Business intersects MD 24
Maryland Route 24
Maryland Route 24 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from an entrance to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Edgewood north to the Pennsylvania state line near Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania. MD 24 is the main north–south highway of Harford County...
(Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway) surrounded by shopping centers, including the Harford Mall
Harford Mall
The Harford Mall is a shopping mall owned by CBL & Associates Properties that is located near the junction of Maryland Route 24 and U.S. Route 1, about north of Baltimore. Its major stores include Macy's , Old Navy and Sears...
on the northwest corner.
US 1 Business continues east as Baltimore Pike to downtown Bel Air. The business route intersects Bond Street, which carries southbound MD 924
Maryland Route 924
Maryland Route 924 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from MD 24 near Edgewood to U.S. Route 1 and MD 24 in Bel Air. MD 924 is the old alignment of MD 24 through the Bel Air area in central Harford County. The state highway was originally constructed in...
, and becomes one-way eastbound. At the next intersection with Main Street, the street continues as the eastbound lanes of MD 22
Maryland Route 22
Maryland Route 22 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 Business and MD 924 in Bel Air east to an entrance to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen. MD 22 is the main connection between the county seat of Bel Air and Aberdeen, which is the...
(Fulford Avenue) while US 1 Business turns north onto Main Street, where the business route runs concurrently with northbound MD 924. The two directions of US 1 Business pass through the Bel Air Courthouse Historic District
Bel Air Courthouse Historic District
Bel Air Courthouse Historic District is a national historic district at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It consists of a small cohesive group of buildings, mostly two or three stories of brick or frame construction that were erected or renovated in the 19th to early 20th century...
, which includes the Harford County courthouse and county offices. The business route also passes by the Odd Fellows Lodge
Odd Fellows Lodge (Bel Air, Maryland)
Odd Fellows Lodge, also known as Old First Presbyterian Church, is a historic building in Bel Air, Maryland, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975....
, the Bel Air Armory
Bel Air Armory
Bel Air Armory is a historic National Guard armory located at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland. It was constructed in 1915 of Port Deposit granite. The building consists of the main block, five bays by three, two stories over a raised basement, and the "drill hall" to the rear of the main block...
, and the Graham-Crocker House
Graham-Crocker House
The Graham-Crocker House is a historic home located at 30 North Main Street, Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It is a -story frame dwelling with a shed addition to the south and an ell to the west, and dating to about 1825....
. The southbound business route passes the historic Harford National Bank
Harford National Bank
Harford National Bank is a historic bank building located at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland. It is a one story, with day-light basement built in a modified Richardson Romanesque style of glazed red brick and rusticated brownstone...
building. North of downtown, the two directions of the business route come together at Gordon Street, which heads east past the Proctor House
Proctor House (Bel Air, Maryland)
Proctor House, also known as the Cassandra Gilbert House, is an historic home located at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It is a two-story detached Carpenter Gothic style cottage with board and batten siding, constructed between 1860 and 1873 and enlarged about 1884...
and west to the historic estate Liriodendron
Liriodendron (Bel Air, Maryland)
Liriodendron is a historic home and estate located at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It was the summer home of Laetitia and Dr Howard Kelly, a successful surgeon and founding member of the Johns Hopkins Medical College, and comprises the mansion named Liriodendron; the...
. One block to the north, MD 924 continues straight toward Forest Hill
Forest Hill, Maryland
Forest Hill is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States located north of the county seat of Bel Air. The main part of town is located at the intersection of Maryland Route 24 and Jarrettsville Road...
while US 1 Business turns east onto Broadway.
US 1 Business follows two-lane Broadway east to Hickory Avenue, onto which the business route turns north. At the northern limit of Bel Air, the business route intersects Moores Mill Road, which heads east toward the Heighe House
Heighe House
Heighe House is a historic home complex and national historic district at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. The complex consists of a Colonial Revival, -story stone main house built on and incorporating the stone foundations of the Moores Mill, built in 1745; a -story frame...
. US 1 Business crosses Bynum Run and continues north as Conowingo Road, which becomes a three-lane road just before the entrance to the farm complex The Vineyard
The Vineyard (Bel Air, Maryland)
The Vineyard is a historic home and farm complex located at Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It consists of a cluster of buildings on a knoll in the center of a working grain and livestock farm. The main house is a large stone structure, the oldest section of which comprises a...
. The business route intersects US 1 at the northern end of the Bel Air Bypass; the U.S. highway continues north as the Hickory Bypass. US 1 Business becomes a two-lane road at the present alignment of MD 23
Maryland Route 23
Maryland Route 23 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 in Hickory north and west to the Pennsylvania state line near Norrisville, where the highway continues as Pennsylvania Route 24 . MD 23 is an L-shaped highway in northwestern Harford...
(East–West Highway). The business route intersects the old alignment of the state highway, Jarrettsville Road, adjacent to St. Ignatius Church
St. Ignatius Church (Forest Hill, Maryland)
St. Ignatius Church is a historic Roman Catholic Church located at Forest Hill, Harford County, Maryland. It is a rubble stone, one-story rectangular structure of five bays, with a tall tower at the west end and a rubble stone two-story rectangular addition...
, then veers east through the center of Hickory. US 1 Business intersects MD 543
Maryland Route 543
Maryland Route 543 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 40 in Riverside north to MD 165 in Pylesville. MD 543 is a north–south highway through central Harford County that connects the communities of Creswell, Fountain Green, Hickory and...
(Ady Road) before reaching its northern terminus at US 1 at the northern end of the Hickory Bypass. Conowingo Road continues north as mainline US 1 through northeastern Harford County.
History
The highway that was to become US 1 through Bel Air was designated one of the original state roads to be improved by the Maryland State Roads Commission in 1909. By 1910, Conowingo Road had already been paved from the corner of Broadway and Hickory Avenue in Bel Air north through Hickory. Belair Road from Benson to Archer Street in Bel Air was constructed as a 14 feet (4.3 m) wide macadam road in 1913. That project included the construction of a new bridge over Winters Run at Lake Fanny Hill the same year. After incremental improvements to the road at Lake Fanny Hill in the late 1910s proved insufficient, the present bridge was constructed over Winters Run and the dangerous curve was bypassed in 1930.By 1930, US 1 had been widened to 20 feet (6.1 m) throughout Harford County with the construction of concrete shoulders. Widening of Belair Road to 30 feet (9.1 m) from Baltimore County
Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...
to downtown Bel Air was underway by 1934 and completed in 1936. By 1938, US 1 entered downtown Belair on Baltimore Pike, turned north onto Bond Street, followed Main Street—which in 1938 also became part of MD 24—to Broadway, then followed Broadway to Hickory Avenue. Around 1940, the portions of Bond Street and Main Street that carried US 1 were expanded to 40 feet (12.2 m) in width. US 1 was expanded further following World War II: the highway was reconstructed and widened from downtown Bel Air through Hickory between 1950 and 1952 and from Benson to Bel Air by 1954.
Construction on the Bel Air Bypass got underway in 1963. The bypass was originally planned to pass around Hickory as well, but the northern extension was postponed by 1966. When the bypass opened in 1965, taking US 1 out of downtown Bel Air, Belair Road from Benson to downtown Bel Air was temporarily designated as an extension of MD 147. By 1966, US 1 Business was assigned from Benson north to the end of the bypass south of Hickory. The extension of the Bel Air Bypass around Hickory was constructed in 2000. US 1 was subsequently placed on the new bypass and US 1 Business was extended to its current length.
Junction list
The entire route is in Harford CountyHarford County, Maryland
Harford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 244,826. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...
.
{| class=wikitable
!Location
!Mile
!Destinations
!Notes
|-
|Benson
Benson, Harford County, Maryland
Benson is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States. Benson is located at the junction of U.S. Route 1 and Maryland Route 147 southwest of Bel Air. Benson has a post office with ZIP code 21018....
|0.00
|
|Southern terminus
|-
|rowspan=5|Bel Air
|1.98
|
|
|-
|2.58
|
|
|-
|2.65
|
|US 1 Business turns north onto Main Street; south end of concurrency with MD 924
|-
|3.22
|
|US 1 Business turns east onto Broadway; north end of concurrency with MD 924
|-
|3.57
|Broadway east / Hickory Avenue south
|US 1 Business turns north onto Hickory Avenue
|-
|rowspan=4|Hickory
|5.32
|
|
|-
|5.59
|
|
|-
|6.39
|
|
|-
|6.90
|
|Northern terminus