This highway, which included part of modern MD 174 west of Severn, was mostly constructed shortly after Camp Meade was established during World War I in the late 1910s.

MD 170 went through another round of upgrades in the early 1940s due to its strategic importance during World War II.

MD 170 continues north as a two-lane road with a center left-turn lane that crosses Severn Run.

MD 170 meets the eastern end of Stoney Run Road, which heads east and immediately loops back west and crosses over the state highway and the railroad on its way to the BWI Car Rental Facility.

MD 170 crosses Kitten Branch immediately before its partial cloverleaf interchange with the eastern terminus of I-195 (Metropolitan Boulevard).

Access to the rail line's BWI Business District station is via Elkridge Landing Road at the next intersection.

[1][2] MD 170 intersects the Baltimore Light RailLink again and begins to parallel it as a two-lane road with a center turn lane.

The light rail veers away to the east shortly before the highway's intersection with the northern terminus of MD 762 (Andover Road), where the center turn lane ends.

The highway reduces to a two-lane road again and passes the North Linthicum station just south of MD 648 (Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard) in the center of Pumphrey.

MD 170 continues northeast as Belle Grove Road, which veers away from the light rail line.

The highway parallels the Patapsco River and passes under I-895 Spur (Harbor Tunnel Thruway) before entering Brooklyn Park.

MD 2 heads south as Governor Ritchie Highway toward Glen Burnie and north into the city as Potee Street.

[7] A section of highway from the current MD 170–MD 174 intersection in Severn west to the Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor) was built as a 14-foot-wide (4.3 m) concrete road by 1915.

Belle Grove Road from Pumphrey to Brooklyn Park was also paved in concrete in this period of time.

[29][30][31] MD 170's grade separation with Stoney Run Road on the west side of the airport was built in 1982.