As has been noted elsewhere, Governor Hogan recently determined that widening MD 404 from US 50 to the Denton Bypass was an important highway project deserving of state funds. Others have derided this as being merely a road for people to get to out of state beaches. However, the fact that this old 2 lane road is the most hazardous in the state (according to a state official with a large hat who wished to discuss my rate of travel along this road a few months back) means I don't really care WHO uses it-it's in MD and nobody else is going to make it safer. Many of those who drive along it, especially between Memorial Day and Labor Day, are the type who left their brains on the other side of the WPL Mem Bridge, and who never learned how to pass safely, or the meaning of striped vs solid lane markings.
The Denton Bypass was the first 4 lane section, constructed in the early 1980's, and was extended a few miles eastward across Watts Creek and past the MD 16 intersection within the past 5 years. Currently a project is underway to widen the intersection with MD 309 and across Tuckahoe Creek (scheduled for completion in summer of 2017); this is listed as Project 1B. Just east of this, Phase 1A dualized about a mile around the MD 480 intersection-completed in 2012. (A few years ago, turn lanes were added at the MD 313 intersection-this appeared to be an SHA maintenance project, because I never saw anything other than SHA equipment working here. This stretch is NOT part of the new initiative.) Otherwise, this road is basically the same as when it was first built in the 50's, and for many drivers it is their only experience at driving on an extremely congested 2 lane road.
Based on how far most of the utility poles are from the current roadbed, my guess is the SHA already owns a substantial portion of the RoW.
SHA website has long listed this project, cut into phases. Phases 2A and 2B are in the design phase; these involve no signalized intersections or significant waterways, but sediment control and runoff issues nonetheless. The map I just found (linked from
http://apps.roads.maryland.gov/WebProjectLifeCycle/ProjectPhotos.aspx?projectno=AW896215) indicates that Phase 2B includes a section just west of MD 309, but work here is underway with the bridge project, so I don't completely trust the map. On Monday, I did see some surveyors working just west of the 309 project, so perhaps that is truly Phase 2B. Some of the wording on the website mentions a Phase 5, but it's not on the map.
In addition to needing more funds to address problems with the state's highways, SHA also needs a webmaster. The number of links for this ongoing project that lead to "no information available at this time" or similar is not terribly helpful. A few months ago, the SHA contact on the website did send me a nice PDF showing the work at the bridge, but this document doesn't come up when you click on the "maps" link for this project, so I feel pretty special to have a copy.
SHA website also includes plans to 6-lane US 50 from US 301 southward, but nobody seems to be pushing it. It's unfortunate that they will widen 404, but not be able to grade separate the 50/404 intersection. But I guess since there will be a nice bottleneck wherever the 4 lane portion ends, there's no point in enabling more traffic to get ON this stretch of road to begin with.
Construction to start Spring 2017.