The remainder of the state highway north to Calvert and south to Elk Neck was completed in several sections in the 1930s.

MD 272 reached its current extent when it was extended south into Elk Neck State Park in 1979.

MD 272's roadway widens and parallels Arrants Road and Old Log Cabin Road; along the latter highway, the state highway passes between Sandy Cove Camp and the Black Hill unit of Elk Neck State Forest.

The route crosses Hance Point Creek and parallels Hance Point Road across Ford Run and by North East Little League Park to where the roads meet on the edge of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club at North East.

[1][3] Immediately before entering the town of North East, MD 272 splits into a one-way pair composed of two-lane Mauldin Avenue northbound and one-lane Main Street southbound.

The two directions of MD 272 come together heading northwest as Mauldin Avenue while Main Street splits north to a dead end, then the state highway crosses over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor railroad line and leaves the town limits.

MD 272 parallels two segments of Leslie Road on either side of the state highway's bridge over CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision railroad line at the hamlet of Leslie and passes east of a park and ride facility north of the railroad.

[1][3] North of I-95 in the hamlet of Bay View, MD 272 parallels Old Bayview Road, reduces to a two-lane undivided road, and passes through an intersection with the eastern terminus of MD 274 (Joseph Biggs Memorial Highway) at the entrance to Cecil College, which is located to the east.

Quaker Lane leads to the East Nottingham Friends Meetinghouse and the Elisha Kirk House.

[2][7] This northern section was extended north from Calvert to the Pennsylvania state line as a concrete road in 1932.

The highway was reconstructed from south of Calvert to the bridge across North East Creek at Gilpin's Falls in 1958 and 1959, resulting in a bypass of Zion.

[18] The last major project to modernize MD 272 over this period took place along the highway from Leslie to Gilpin's Falls from 1958 to 1961.

[19][20] Mauldin Avenue was extended in both directions, including construction of a new bridge over North East Creek, in 1968 and 1969 to form the northbound component of a one-way pair.