Randolph Road

From District 4 -- Montgomery County, Maryland

Randolph Road is one of the main east-west arterial roads in the mid-county.

Route

At the western terminus at Seven Locks Road in Potomac, it is known as Montrose Road. It becomes Randolph Road as it crosses MD-355 (Rockville Pike) in North Bethesda before proceeding into the communities of Veirs Mill, Glenmont and Colesville. At MD-650 (New Hampshire Avenue) it becomes East Randolph Road, which until the 1970's was called Colesville Road. At US-29 (Columbia Pike) in Calverton it changes name to Cherry Hill Road and turns south-southeast before ending in College Park. Randolph Road was originally signed as MD-183 between MD-97 (Georgia Avenue) and New Hampshire Avenue, though it was decommissioned in the 1970's.

Road Type

Randolph Road is a Snow Emergency Route.

For much of its length, Randolph Road is a six-lane highway with medians and left-turn pull-outs lanes. In other parts, it is four-lane with medians, and in other parts, it is five-lane line-divided, also known as four-lane with "suicide left lanes".

Geography

Montgomery County is characterized by a large number of streams and stream-valleys, most of which are aligned north to south. Consequently, any east-west road is likely to be extremely hilly. Randolph Road is characterized by hilliness and curves adapted to help traverse the inclines. This can make for difficult driving in extreme weather conditions, especially during snow or ice storms.