Maryland Route 537


Maryland Route 537 is a collection of unsigned state highways in the U.S. state of Maryland. These two existing highways and two former sections of state highway are segments of old alignment of U.S. Route 213, which is now MD 213, in Chesapeake City in southern Cecil County. Some of the roads that became segments of MD 537 were constructed in the mid-1910s as part of the original state road between Elkton and Cecilton. Other portions of MD 537 were part of the approach roads to a bridge across the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal that was built in the mid-1920s and destroyed in 1942. After the modern Chesapeake City Bridge and its approach roads were completed in 1949, US 213 was moved to the new bridge and approach roads and MD 537 was assigned to the bypassed sections of US 213. Much of MD 537 outside of Chesapeake City was transferred to county maintenance in the late 1950s. In 2015, the remaining section of MD 537 north of the canal was turned over to municipal maintenance.

Route description

There are two existing sections of MD 537 and two former sections of the highway. MD 537A and MD 537B were north of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and MD 537C and MD 537D are south of the canal. This description runs north to south starting from the north end of the Chesapeake City area:
The Cecilton-Elkton highway was one of the original state roads the Maryland State Roads Commission designated for improvement in 1909. The portion of the highway from Elkton to the north town limit of Chesapeake City was constructed as a macadam road between 1911 and 1914. The highway through Chesapeake City and south toward Cecilton was completed as a concrete road in 1915. At that time, the main highway from the north used Knights Corner Road, Elk Forest Road, and Spears Hill Road, entered Chesapeake City along Hemphill Street, crossed the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal on a one-lane bridge, turned west and crossed Back Creek on a wooden bridge, turned south onto Bohemia Street in South Chesapeake City, turned west onto Third Street, and turned south onto George Street to the south end of town, from which the highway followed Basil Avenue toward Cecilton.
In the 1920s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers widened, straightened, and deepened the canal. As part of their work, the agency constructed a vertical lift bridge across the canal. Between 1924 and 1926, the Maryland State Roads Commission constructed approaches to the new bridge on both sides of the expanded canal, eliminating two narrow and dangerous bridges and four right-angle turns in Chesapeake City. The new route along George Street and Lock Street, which became part of US 213 in 1927 and is now MD 285 and MD 537, entirely bypassed what is now MD 284. After the tanker Franz Klasen' destroyed the vertical lift bridge on July 28, 1942, the Maryland State Roads Commission established a ferry service across the canal. Between 1946 and 1949, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the present tied arch Chesapeake City Bridge and new approach roads to the bridge.
US 213 was moved to the new Chesapeake City Bridge, and MD 537 was assigned to the bypassed portions of highway approaching and within Chesapeake City. On May 8, 1958, the Maryland State Roads Commission and Cecil County signed a road transfer agreement to turn maintenance of the approach roads outside the town of Chesapeake City to county maintenance. These roads included all of MD 537A, most of MD 537D, and much of MD 537B. The portion of MD 537B from US 213 to the north town limit was returned to state maintenance through an August 22, 1961, road transfer agreement. All three segments of MD 537 were resurfaced with bituminous concrete in 1976. The intersection of MD 537B and MD 284 was transformed from a tangent intersection to the present orthogonal intersection in 1982. The following year, the portion of MD 537B between MD 213 and MD 285's then western terminus at the intersection of Biddle and Lock streets was renumbered as an extension of MD 285. The remainder of MD 537B not maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was transferred to Chesapeake City in 2015.

Junction lists

The route progression in these tables is south to north.

MD 537C

MD 537D