Known as Massachusetts Avenue, the highway runs 2.23 miles (3.59 km) from MD 614 southeast to Westmoreland Circle near the District of Columbia boundary in Bethesda.

The highway reaches its eastern terminus at its entrance to Westmoreland Circle, which straddles the District of Columbia boundary and whose Maryland half is unsigned MD 396A.

[1][2] MD 396 was constructed as a concrete road along a new alignment from Westmoreland Circle to just west of the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Little Falls between 1931 and 1933.

MD 396A is the designation for the 0.10-mile (0.16 km) portion of Westmoreland Circle on the Maryland side of the District of Columbia boundary.

The three-lane, one-way highway begins on the east side of the circle at Western Avenue.