State: | MD |
Type: | MD |
Route: | 229 |
Alternate Name: | Bensville Road |
Map Custom: | yes |
Map Notes: | Map of Southern Maryland with MD 229 highlighted in red |
Length Mi: | 5.25 |
Length Round: | 2 |
Established: | 1997 |
Direction A: | South |
Terminus A: | near Pomfret |
Direction B: | North |
Terminus B: | near Bennsville |
Counties: | Charles |
Previous Type: | MD |
Previous Route: | 228 |
Next Type: | MD |
Next Route: | 231 |
Maryland Route 229 (MD 229) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Bensville Road, the state highway runs 5.25miles from MD 227 near Pomfret north to MD 228 near Bennsville. MD 229 passes through the community of Bennsville in northern Charles County. The state highway was originally constructed as part of MD 228 in the late 1920s. When MD 228 was extended west to Accokeek in the mid 1990s, MD 229 was assigned to Bensville Road.
MD 229 begins at an intersection with MD 227 (Marshall Corner Road) near Pomfret. The state highway heads north as a two-lane undivided road through a forested area, intersecting the Indian Head Rail Trail and crossing over Old Womans Run before passing east of Bensville Park. MD 229 continues through scattered residential subdivisions in the community of Bennsville, where the highway intersects Billingsley Road, a major east - west county highway connecting Bryans Road with St. Charles. The state highway veers northeast, paralleling Mattawoman Creek to its northern terminus at MD 228 (Berry Road) just south of the Prince George's County line.
Bensville Road is the second highway to be designated MD 229. MD 229 was originally assigned to Morgantown Road between Morgantown and MD 3 (now MD 257) in Wayside in southern Charles County. Morgantown Road was constructed as a modern highway by 1921. MD 229 served as the connection to a Potomac River ferry that operated between Morgantown and Colonial Beach, Virginia, from 1933 to at least the early 1940s. Morgantown Road was removed from the state highway system in 1956.
Bensville Road was originally part of MD 228. The highway was constructed as a 15feet gravel road from Pomfret to Bennsville in 1925 and 1926. The remainder of Bensville Road was built in 1927. The MD 228 designation was removed from Bensville Road after that highway was extended to Accokeek in southwestern Prince George's County in 1995. MD 229 was assigned to Bensville Road by 1997.