The original MD 158 was Belcamp Road from the Bush River at modern US 40 north to Creswell Road near Riverside in Harford County. This state highway was constructed by 1915 and removed from the state highway system in 1956. Bethlehem Boulevard was built as a four-lane divided highway between 1957 and 1959. The highway's original western terminus was at Dundalk Avenue, which crossed Bear Creek on a drawbridge from Dundalk. Both the Dundalk Avenue bridge and the 1960-built Peninsula Expressway drawbridge were toll bridges through 1977; the Dundalk Avenue bridge was removed around 1985.