Maryland Route 32 runs nearly 52 miles southeast-northwest from an interchange with Interstate 97 and Maryland Route 3 between Crownsville and Millersville in Anne Arundel County, to just south of Westminster in Carroll County, via Odenton-Fort Meade, the southern villages of Columbia in Howard County, and Eldersburg. It has interchanges with the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and interstates 95 and 70. Between I-97 and I-70, it has gradually been upgraded over the years from a simple two-lane road with full access to the Patuxent Freeway.