Interstate 97
Interstate 97 (I-97) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs entirely within Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The intrastate Interstate runs from U.S. Route 50 (US 50) and US 301 in Parole near Annapolis north to I-695 and I-895 in Brooklyn Park near Baltimore. The Interstate is the primary highway between Baltimore and Annapolis. I‑97 connects Annapolis with Baltimore–Washington International Airport and links the northern Anne Arundel County communities of Crownsville, Millersville, Severna Park, Glen Burnie, and Ferndale. It is the shortest primary Interstate Highway.
Interstate 97
With Interstate funding assured, MDSHA commissioned the Baltimore–Annapolis Transportation Corridor Study in 1973 to figure out, among other things, the best route for the Baltimore–Annapolis Interstate. The study discovered a western route following the MD 3 and MD 178 corridors would be less disruptive and require fewer acquisitions of homes and businesses compared to an extension of the Arundel Expressway south along the MD 2 corridor. In June 1979, MDSHA announced plans for I-97. The original route numbering plan, which was approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) at its November 1975 meeting, was for I-97 to include its current route plus US 50 from Parole west to I-95 (Capital Beltway). That proposal included two auxiliary Interstate highways. I-197 would follow US 50 and US 301 east from I-97 to just west of the Severn River. I-297 would follow MD 3 between a pair of intersections with I-97 in Millersville and Bowie. AASHTO rescinded its approval of the 1975 plan at its June 1981 meeting, then approved what was essentially the original 1975 plan at its June 1982 meeting. The east–west segment of I-97 and I-197 was replaced by I-68. I-297 was withdrawn by request of the state of Maryland in 1983. The 1982 concept of I-68 became unsigned I-595 and I-68 was applied to the National Freeway in Western Maryland in 1991 after AASHTO approved the new designations at its June 1989 meeting.