The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (SHA) has completed its project planning study along .7 miles of MD 5 (Point Lookout Road from MD 471 (Indian Bridge Road) to MD 246 (Great Mills Road). The MD 5 Great Mills Project will be designed to improve traffic operations, vehicular safety and pedestrian connectivity. The $32.4 million project in the department’s Draft Fiscal Year 2026-2031 Consolidated Transportation Program for safety and accessibility improvements on MD 5 (Point Lookout Road) in St. Mary’s County has received federal funding as well.
Today, Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administrator, Will Pines stopped by St. Mary’s County to announce that the newly released draft 2026-2031 Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP) includes funding for construction of the MD 5 Great Mills Safety & Accessibility Project.
Officials stated that MD 5 sees more than 30,000 vehicles per day and is a major north-south route for residents, commuters and commercial traffic to major employment centers such as Patuxent River Naval Air Station, as well as local schools and other employers in St. Mary’s County. The improvement project will support current and anticipated growth in Great Mills and neighboring areas of Lexington Park and Leonardtown.
This long-anticipated project will:
- Widen and resurface MD 5 (Point Lookout Road) from a two-lane road to a four-lane undivided road closed section roadway
- Add outside travel lanes with five-foot bicycle lanes
- Add a five-foot wide sidewalk along both sides of MD 5, while providing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant ramps and installing pedestrian crossing signals
- Replace an existing bridge over the St. Mary’s River at the same grade
- Implement drainage improvements, new stormwater management facilities, erosion control, landscaping and stream restoration; and
Right turns onto MD 5 westbound from Old Great Mills Road would be prohibited.
With federal funding approved, the project is moving forward to bring safer, more connected travel options for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians in one of our county’s busiest corridors.
Updates
August – September 2025: Verizon pole relocations are underway.
June 2025: Utility relocations are underway.
January 2025: Utility phase funding restored in Final FY 2025-2030 Consolidated Transportation Program.
December 2024: Utility relocations are underway.
September 2024: Project designated to be on hold in the Draft FY 2025-2030 Consolidated Transportation Program due to fiscal constraints.
