| State: | MD |
| Type: | MD |
| Route: | 944 |
| Alternate Name: | Mervell Dean Road |
| Length Mi: | 2.26 |
| Length Round: | 2 |
| Established: | 1985 |
| Direction A: | South |
| Terminus A: | Mervell Dean Road near California |
| Direction B: | North |
| Terminus B: | in Hollywood |
| Counties: | St. Mary's |
| Previous Type: | MD |
| Previous Route: | 943 |
| Next Type: | MD |
| Next Route: | 945 |
Maryland Route 944 (MD 944) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Mervell Dean Road, the state highway runs 2.26miles from the beginning of state maintenance near California north to MD 235 in Hollywood. MD 944 is part of the old alignment of MD 235 between California and Hollywood. The state highway was designated in the mid 1980s following the relocation of MD 235 for its expansion to a four-lane divided highway.
MD 944 begins at an arbitrary point 0.2miles south of Airport View Drive near California. Mervell Dean Road continues south as a county highway to an intersection with MD 235 (Three Notch Road) opposite Airport Road, which leads to St. Mary's County Regional Airport. MD 944 heads north as a two-lane undivided road parallel to the northbound side of MD 235. The state highway intersects Clarkes Landing Road and Joy Chapel Road, both of which are county highways that lead to waterfront subdivisions near the Patuxent River. MD 944 intersects Old Three Notch Road, an older section of MD 235, before reaching its northern terminus at MD 235 in Hollywood.
MD 944 is the old alignment of MD 235 between California and Hollywood. The highway between its southern terminus and Old Three Notch Road in Hollywood was part of the original alignment of MD 235 upgraded as a gravel road between 1930 and 1933. The highway between Old Three Notch Road and modern MD 235 was originally constructed as part of MD 235's reconstruction as a military access highway to connect Washington and Naval Air Station Patuxent River in 1943 and 1944. MD 235 was relocated to its present alignment in 1985 as part of the project to expand the final segment of MD 235 between Lexington Park and MD 5 in Oraville to a four-lane divided highway. The bypassed highway was renamed as a northward extension of Mervell Dean Road - itself a section of old alignment of MD 235 bypassed when the original highway was reconstructed during World War II - and designated MD 944.
MD 944 has six unsigned auxiliary routes that are state-maintained portions of county highways displaced by the construction of MD 235's present alignment between California and Hollywood.