Maryland

[Beltway]

Using NVTA and M-NCPC maps, I drew this which should be very accurate as to alignment and interchanges.

I drew the route and the interchanges of the proposed Outer Beltway on this copy of the 1980 MDOT SHA state road map. The dashed blue line is the Outer Beltway route, and the small circles signify the interchanges.

This proposed route had 37.1 miles in Virginia and 64.7 miles in Maryland, for a total of 101.8 miles. It had 13 interchanges in Virginia and 31 interchanges in Maryland, for a total of 44 interchanges. The proposed route had 6 lanes (3 lanes each way) throughout.



https://www.roadstothefuture.com/Outer_Beltway.html

[Rothman]

I suppose someone could just post the maps themselves.

[Beltway]

I suppose someone could just post the maps themselves.

I drew that 40 years ago when I had access to those maps. If anyone can find them I would be happy to see them.

[ElishaGOtis]

Is this where I-366 came from?       

/s /s /s

(jk I know the story regarding the 366 fiasco I just wanted to be silly)

[Mapmikey]

Here is the Virginia side, from the 1960 Fairfax County Planning Commission (scan courtesy Froggie):

[Rothman]

Here is the Virginia side, from the 1960 Fairfax County Planning Commission (scan courtesy Froggie):

Now we're talkin'.  Thanks!

[1995hoo]

Later in the 1960s, there was another proposed highway added, the Northern Virginia Freeway. It would have run west from US-1 in Hybla Valley (roughly where Costco is today), then curved north on an alignment roughly along current-day Rolling Road, Guinea Road/Olley Lane, and Pickett Road/Blake Lane over to Oakton, then up Hunter Mill Road to roughly the point where Baron Cameron Avenue now intersects with Route 7, and from there up to meet the Outer Beltway. That particular highway is the one I've often found the most interesting, primarily for personal reasons—when I was 10 years old, we moved to the general Mantua area, which is located just east of Fairfax City, so that road would have run right through a very short distance west of where we lived (had it been built, although on the other hand if it had been built there would have been a fair chance my parents would have moved somewhere else a little farther from a major highway).

This image is a photo I took of the relevant page of the Northern Virginia Major Thoroughfare Plan using my iPad; I then drew the colored lines to highlight where the specified roads would be. The dashed parts denoted where the plan showed two possible alignments—bear in mind this plan was dated several years after the map Beltway posted and there may well have been concern about the northern Outer Beltway crossing passing too close to Great Falls. The text I added at the top right identifies what the colors denote. Some of the lines aren't quite right because I'm not very good at drawing with a mouse. The reason some of the colors fade out in places is that when I uploaded it ten or more years ago, I was using Photobucket and they now watermark things (hence the "P" you can make out superimposed over Fairfax City).




I have another scan showing a close-up of where the Outer Beltway's southern Potomac River crossing would have been on the Virginia side, but I'm getting a Cloudflare error when I search for it (I probably ran too many searches too quickly). If I can find it later today, I'll either edit this post or add it later in the thread.

Edited to add: Here it is. As I noted on the map, north is DOWN. The Photobucket watermark makes it hard to read in spots, but here's a Google Maps link to the area it's showing (except the image below is upside-down). My notation about Route 1058 refers to the road that runs diagonally across from the top center towards the bottom left. That's Mount Vernon Boulevard, which you can correlate to the present-day map linked above; you can also correlate River Road in the same way.

[Beltway]

The Fairfax County Parkway and Franconia-Springfield Parkway complex is actually using parts of the original Outer Beltway and Northern Virginia Expressway alignments.
-- generally from Braddock Road to VA-7 for the Outer Beltway
-- and from Braddock Road to US-1 Fort Belvoir using parts of the Monticello Freeway and Northern Virginia Expressway

BTW, first time I ever saw I-66 being named the Shenandoah Freeway!

[1995hoo]

...

-- and from Braddock Road to US-1 Fort Belvoir using parts of the Monticello Freeway and Northern Virginia Expressway

....

The maps in the Thoroughfare Plan show that the Northern Virginia Expressway would have crossed I-95 at a stack interchange (the diagram looked similar to the I-70/I-695 interchange in Maryland) located a short distance south of where the Franconia–Springfield Parkway crosses I-95 now. I recall from the map that it looked like it would have been roughly where the car dealers are now on Loisdale Road.

....

BTW, first time I ever saw I-66 being named the Shenandoah Freeway!

Same here. I found that really interesting.

[MASTERNC]

There is a random work zone photo enforcement and "Road Work Ahead" signs on I-95 North at the northern junction of I-695.  It's been there for months, which means it is not associated with the nearby work on I-695 (since it predates that work).  No clue why they're there.

[Great Lakes Roads]

There is a random work zone photo enforcement and "Road Work Ahead" signs on I-95 North at the northern junction of I-695.  It's been there for months, which means it is not associated with the nearby work on I-695 (since it predates that work).  No clue why they're there.

New flyover ramps from I-695 to the NB I-95 ETL.

[MASTERNC]

There is a random work zone photo enforcement and "Road Work Ahead" signs on I-95 North at the northern junction of I-695.  It's been there for months, which means it is not associated with the nearby work on I-695 (since it predates that work).  No clue why they're there.

New flyover ramps from I-695 to the NB I-95 ETL.

Must be really early because there is no work going on, nor any other traffic control signage.

[Beltway]

MDTA Issues Notice to Proceed for Stage 2 of Key Bridge Rebuild

Total Cost Set at $1.8 Billion; Completion Target December 31, 2028

BALTIMORE -- April 1, 2026 -- The Maryland Transportation Authority today announced that it has issued the Notice to Proceed (NTP) for Stage 2 of the Francis Scott Key Bridge Rebuild program. The agency confirmed a total project cost of $1.8 billion and established a substantial completion date of December 31, 2028.

According to MDTA, the Stage 2 authorization allows the design‑build team to "move forward into full construction activities," including foundation work, tower fabrication, and main‑span assembly. Officials stated that the project remains "on schedule and within the updated cost parameters."

MDTA leadership praised the "unprecedented collaboration" that made the accelerated timeline possible.

More details are expected in the coming weeks as the agency prepares its next quarterly update.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oh, it's you. . .

[Buster Cannon]

Has anyone had the chance to look through the Go Prince George's Preliminary Plan? AFAIK it's still under review; the hearing was a couple of weeks ago.

https://www.pgplanning.org/resource_library/35078/

I like a lot of what's outlined; having 301 developed into a freeway isn't the worst idea, considering there's no real bypass for N/S traffic wanting to avoid DC. Then just run the original alignment parallel to the freeway as MD 3.



MD-210 could also use the upgrade; that road has been a death trap for decades, and grade-separated interchanges would dramatically reduce the number of accidents.

The portion through the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge would have been and is very problematic with me; that area needs to remain unmolested by any development and a four-lane freeway would have affected it significantly. However, the improvements to US 301 between Bowie and Brandywine would be a tremendous improvement to the traffic flows of the region and would significantly reduce pollution from the throngs of cars that are already there and aren't going away, ever. "Induced demand" advocates seem to think that artificially constraining the major road network in Southern Maryland will somehow convince people to take a bus or spontaneously start up new carpools or vanpools; I disagree with this belief, and feel that improving US 301 and allowing through traffic to flow steadily would be a substantial improvement to everyone's quality of life and provide more capacity for road-borne transit to even be attempted.

The main issue I have with this area, PG in particular, is the way development is done. We get tons of houses lined up along 301 and other major thoroughfares, but there's no planning done to ensure that those roads can even handle the increased traffic. You get more sprawl/congestion with no real alternatives, especially in the southern parts of the county. Waldorf had notoriously bad traffic when I was growing up in the 90s, but now? Yeesh

A freeway upgrade is a good idea; the area badly needs a bypass. In my fantasy scenario, you'd have a complimentary MARC line running in that direction servicing commuters, but one step at a time lol.