The original route connecting Laurel and Fort Meade was MD 216. That highway was built between 1934 and 1939 along a course generally north of modern MD 198. Modern MD 198 was constructed as MD 602 as a military access project during World War II. The first segment of the new highway, from US 1 to MD 216 near Brock Bridge Road in what is now Maryland City, was started in 1943 and completed in 1944. This segment included a bridge across the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (now CSX) in Laurel and a bridge across the Patuxent River. The remainder of MD 602, from near Brock Bridge Road to the entrance to Fort Meade near the Little Patuxent River, was completed by 1946. When MD 602 was completed, MD 216 was truncated at US 1.