The freeway passes through Odenton and Fort Meade, the site of Fort George G. Meade and the National Security Agency (NSA), in western Anne Arundel County and along the southern part of Columbia in Howard County.

Future plans call for MD 32 to be upgraded to a freeway from West Friendship to Eldersburg.

[citation needed] MD 32 is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) for its entire length except for the section between Samford Road and Canine Road in Fort Meade, which is maintained by the U.S. government.

[1][4] MD 32 heads west from Odenton along the southern edge of Fort George G. Meade.

The freeway has a dumbbell interchange with MD 198 (Laurel Fort Meade Road) just north of Tipton Airport.

The state highway crosses over CSX's Capital Subdivision railroad line into Howard County and immediately has a partial cloverleaf interchange with Dorsey Run Road.

Dorsey Run Road, which is unsigned MD 732R, provides access to the Savage station on MARC's Camden Line (which runs along the CSX line) and several industrial parks in Annapolis Junction.

MD 32 continues northwest into Savage, where the highway has a cloverleaf interchange with US 1 (Washington Boulevard) that includes collector-distributor lanes in both directions.

The freeway passes south and north of the villages of King's Contrivance and Owen Brown, respectively, where the highway has a partial cloverleaf interchange with Broken Land Parkway that provides access to two park and ride lots serving MTA Maryland commuter buses and a four-loop interchange with Eden Brook Drive and Shaker Drive.

The state highway has a diamond interchange with I-70/US 40 (Baltimore National Pike) before reducing to a four-lane undivided highway that passes east of a park and ride lot continues north to MD 32's intersection with MD 99 (Old Frederick Road).

MD 32 veers northeast and crosses the Patapsco River and CSX's Old Main Line Subdivision railroad line into Carroll County; immediately to the east of MD 32's crossing is the highway's old aluminum bridge.

The state highway passes to the east of Liberty High School and reduces to two lanes north of Bennett Road.

[1][4] MD 32 heads into a forested area and crosses the Morgan Run arm of Liberty Reservoir.

MD 32 continues north as Washington Road through a suburban area; the highway parallels MD 97 and passes to the west of the Carroll County Career and Technology Center and Westminster Senior High School east of the historic Friendship Valley Farm and Carroll County Almshouse and Farm, which is now the Carroll County Farm Museum.

Just north of Bennett Avenue, MD 32 reaches its northern terminus at the southern city limit of Westminster.

[6][7] In 1911, the whole highway from West Friendship to Eldersburg was completed after the addition of 14-foot (4.3 m) wide macadam sections on either side of the existing paved road through Sykesville.

[7][9] The next portion of what was to become MD 32 to be constructed was an extension of the Taneytown road northwest through Emmitsburg, which was planned by 1915.

[9] The remaining 2 miles (3.2 km) to Emmitsburg were underway by 1920 and built as a 15-foot (4.6 m) wide concrete road by 1921.

That same year, a concrete road was added south from West Friendship to the Middle Patuxent River.

[11] The concrete road from Clarksville was extended to the Middle Patuxent River opposite Simpsonville in 1925.

[20] MD 32 was relocated between Eldersburg and Louisville and a new bridge was constructed over Morgan Run in 1952 to replace the old road that would have been submerged by the filling of Liberty Reservoir.

These bridges, which were designed by Fairchild Engine and Airplane Company, were constructed of aluminum due to that metal's light weight but similar strength compared to steel.

Many experimental aluminum bridges were built due to a severe shortage of steel in the early 1960s.

[33] The inventory also found premature deterioration of its supports due to galvanic corrosion involving the steel bearing pads and aluminum girder structure.

[33] In 1956, MD 32 was extended east on Guilford Road from US 1 to the Howard – Anne Arundel county line at Annapolis Junction.

[23] The state highway was relocated to its present alignment from Glenelg to Clarksville between 1961 and 1964, bypassing Ten Oaks Road.

[40] The freeway was extended across the Middle Patuxent River to tie into the existing two-lane road near Cedar Lane by 1987.

[47] The Patuxent Freeway through Fort Meade was finished when MD 32's interchange with Canine Road was completed in 2005.

[49] The next project involved the construction of a diamond interchange at Linden Church Road, which, before the dumbbell interchange was completed in the fall of 2013, met MD 32 at a pair of signalized, three-way directional crossover intersections between Glenelg and Clarksville.

At the MDSHA's Dayton Shop south of Glenelg, a signalized "Maryland-T" intersection was constructed.