 MD 704 follows the abandoned right of way of the defunct WB & A Railway , an interurban railroad that included a north – south line between Washington and Baltimore and a branch to Annapolis from Naval Academy Junction in Odenton . Construction on the electric railway began in 1902 and service began between the three cities in 1908 . The WB & A went into receivership in 1931 and shut down in 1935 . The Maryland State Roads Commission converted the abandoned railroad right of way into a two @-@ lane highway from the District of Columbia line to US 50 ( now MD 450 ) near Lanham between 1942 and 1944 . The WB & A had a pair of timber bridges across its right of way . The Chapel Road bridge in Seat Pleasant , which carried what was then MD 389 and is now Addison Road across the railroad , was removed ; the junction was regraded as an intersection with the new highway . In 1944 , the War Production Board authorized the replacement of MD 202 's bridge across the abandoned railroad as one of the few non – war @-@ effort highway projects federally funded during World War II . Construction on the new steel @-@ and @-@ concrete bridge began in late 1944 and was completed by 1946 . Access between the grade @-@ separated highways at the MD 202 – MD 704 junction was via a pair of two @-@ way ramps . 
