telegraph road from severn to odenton was built as a concrete road in three sections. the highway was constructed from the right-angle turn in the camp meade road in severn south to evergreen road in 1932 and 1933. another section of md 554 was completed from odenton road (then md 180 and later md 677) in odenton to a point north of old mill road in 1936. the gap in md 554 was filled in or shortly after 1940. md 170 was widened to from brooklyn park to pumphrey in 1940. with the outbreak of world war ii, md 170 was designated a road of strategic importance to connect baltimore with fort meade; the highway was reconstructed as a asphalt-surfaced concrete road in 1942. by 1946, md 170 and md 554 had swapped numbers, with the former now the road from severn to odenton.