 By 1934, heavy traffic between Baltimore and Sparrows Point led the Maryland State Roads Commission to recommend MD 151 and MD 20 from Sparrows Point to Baltimore be expanded from in width.Modern MD 151 was constructed between 1940 and 1944 as a defense access project to better connect Baltimore with Bethlehem Steel's steel mills and shipyards at Sparrows Point.MD 151 was reconstructed and extended north as a four-lane divided highway from Sparrows Point to Wise Avenue in Dundalk between 1940 and 1942.