The state highway heads east and immediately intersects the access road for Jonas Green Park, which is unsigned MD 648AB.

[1][3] There are two county-maintained segments of Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard on the southbound and northbound sides, respectively, of MD 2 (Governor Ritchie Highway) through Arnold.

The state highway heads east, crossing Cattail Creek before intersecting Asbury Drive, which is unsigned MD 648AA.

MD 648 heads north as a three-lane road with center turn lane through residential subdivisions.

The state highway expands to a five-lane road with center turn lane as it curves to the west, crosses Marley Creek, and intersects MD 270 (Furnace Branch Road); the south leg of that intersection is unsigned MD 648G, which is also named Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard.

[1][8] The state highway enters the city of Baltimore and its name changes to Annapolis Road shortly before intersecting Patapsco Avenue.

The state highway intersects ramps to and from the southbound parkway as it passes to the east of Mount Auburn Cemetery.

MD 648 meets a pair of rail lines at-grade, intersects Monroe Street, and passes under I-95 before crossing over Gwynns Falls.

[9] The boulevard was constructed as a 16-foot (4.9 m) wide macadam road from the Severn River north to Arnold and from Severna Park to Pasadena in 1910 and 1911.

[11] Unrelated to the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard, the commission constructed a 14-to-18-foot (4.3 to 5.5 m) wide macadam road from Glen Burnie to Brooklyn, which was then in Anne Arundel County.

In Brooklyn, the new highway connected with the south end of the Light Street Bridge that crossed the Patapsco River into Baltimore.

[9] The first section of the highway between Glen Burnie and South Baltimore was an 18-foot (5.5 m) wide macadam road that had been started in 1909, prior to the 1910 act.

[9] This highway was completed in 1911 from the Western Maryland Railway crossing in Westport, then part of Anne Arundel County, south to the English Consul Estate, which is now the community of Baltimore Highlands.

The Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard was constructed as a 16-foot (4.9 m) wide concrete road from Glen Burnie to Pumphrey and from the Patapsco River to the English Consul Estate in 1914 and 1915.

[9] The final section of the Baltimore–Annapolis Boulevard was completed in 1916 as a 16-foot (4.9 m) wide concrete road from Pumphrey to the Patapsco River.

This segment included a 24-foot (7.3 m) wide, 14-foot (4.3 m) high underpass of the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway at Pumphrey completed the same year.

[11] In 1930, a concrete cut-off was built in Glen Burnie that allowed MD 2 traffic to bypass the community's central intersection to the northeast.

[17] The first portion of Governor Ritchie Highway was completed as a four-lane divided upgrade to existing MD 2 from the Baltimore city limit in Brooklyn Park to Furnace Branch in 1934 and 1935.

[18] Construction on the remainder of Governor Ritchie Highway began in 1936 and was completed south from Furnace Branch to the Severn River in 1938.

[20] This includes the portion of Robert Crain Highway from Glen Burnie to Furnace Branch that is now the northern part of MD 3 Business.

[27][28] MD 648 was then extended from Glen Burnie through Pumphrey to its crossing of the Baltimore–Washington Expressway just north of the Baltimore city limits.