Original Interstate Plan for DC Questions

[bluecountry]

1.  Why was 70/270 supposed to go into DC but co-signed with the beltway EB from the current 270 junction for a few miles as opposed to going more direct - similar to I-83 with 695 in Baltimore (and for that matter, why does I-83 not go straight but use the Baltimore beltway?).

2.  Was there ever any thought to having I-66 not terminate in DC but just use the current US 50 alignment to the Bay Bridge?  They would have lined up to make this an easy choice - more logical than 270 going on 495.

[froggie]

1.  Why was 70/270 supposed to go into DC but co-signed with the beltway EB from the current 270 junction for a few miles as opposed to going more direct - similar to I-83 with 695 in Baltimore (and for that matter, why does I-83 not go straight but use the Baltimore beltway?).

The original late 1950s plans were for a "Northwest Freeway" snaking through Northwest DC.  Local residents (being far more affluent than in other areas of the city) were successful in stopping it early, so the plan then shifted to having 70S (as it was then numbered) follow the Met Branch corridor.

2.  Was there ever any thought to having I-66 not terminate in DC but just use the current US 50 alignment to the Bay Bridge?  They would have lined up to make this an easy choice - more logical than 270 going on 495.

Considering 66 was never built past Rock Creek, this is a moot point.  50 as a hidden Interstate east of the Beltway didn't come around until ~2 decades after the rest of 66 was cancelled.

(MODS:  this thread really belongs in Mid-Atlantic.)

[Henry]

Considering that New York Avenue was going to have a freeway companion, I really find it hard to believe that US 50 inside the Beltway was not going to get an Interstate designation of any kind. However, I agree that all the different freeway segments would've lined up to allow a continuous I-66 to Annapolis, although I-595 was sort of a consolation prize for this missed opportunity.

As for I-83 not proceeding straight past I-695, there were plans to follow MD 25 for a couple more miles, and then arc it to the northeast to join the current alignment south of Cockeysville, but local opposition ended those plans, bringing forth the shared I-695 segment and an altered version of the Harrisburg Expressway onto the drawing board. Similarly, another alignment would follow the Light Rail tracks through a heavily wooded area to the city limits (a la I-70 through Leakin and Gwynns Falls Parks), but nothing came of that either. In any scenario, I-83 would change names at I-695: Jones Falls south of there, and Harrisburg north of it.

[froggie]

Considering that New York Avenue was going to have a freeway companion, I really find it hard to believe that US 50 inside the Beltway was not going to get an Interstate designation of any kind.

Because 50 from South Dakota Ave to the Beltway was and still is below Interstate standard.  And there was no plan to change that when DC's Interstate system was still being proposed in the early '70s.

[bluecountry]

OK, so the original plan was for '70s' not to co-sign with the beltway.

As for 66, were 50 built as the NY Avenue Freeway it definitely should have been 66 to Annapolis.