Known as Dorsey Road, the highway runs 5.68 miles (9.14 km) from the end of state maintenance in Hanover east to MD 648 in Glen Burnie.

MD 176 was constructed in the late 1920s between Glen Burnie and Dorsey at the Anne Arundel–Howard county line.

The state highway was extended west to U.S. Route 1 (US 1) near Elkridge in the late 1930s concurrent with the construction of railroad grade separations at Dorsey and Harmans.

Dorsey Road continues north as a county highway through an industrial park.

MD 176 heads east as a two-lane undivided road that crosses Piney Run.

MD 176 continues east as a four-lane undivided highway between a residential area to the south and industrial parks to the north.

The highway passes between the airport property to the north and a residential area on the south.

The route becomes a divided highway and reaches the eastern end of its portion of Airport Loop at its junction with MD 162 (Aviation Boulevard) at the southern edge of Ferndale.

The state highway becomes undivided just before reaching its eastern terminus at MD 648 (Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard) in Glen Burnie.

[10] By 1951, MD 176 had an underpass of the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad immediately to the west of US 301 that has since been removed.