The Northeast Freeway was a planned freeway in

Prince George's County, Maryland ) , demonym = Prince Georgian , ZIP codes = 20607–20774 , area codes = 240, 301 , founded date = April 23 , founded year = 1696 , named for = Prince George of Denmark , leader_title = Executive , leader_name = Angela D. Alsobroo ...

that would have run from the

North Central Freeway The North Central Freeway was a planned freeway in the District of Columbia that would have run from the Inner Loop in D.C. to the Capital Beltway (I-495) at Silver Spring. The entire route was canceled in 1977 amid vitriolic protest from Washi ...

in the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

northeast to the

College Park Interchange The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside t ...

on the Capital Beltway (I-495). The route would have carried

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

from the Capital Beltway into the

. The entire route was canceled in 1977 after the government of the District of Columbia canceled the

, cutting off the southern end of the Northeast Freeway from the D.C. freeway network. The cancellation of the route led to the truncation of

at the

and its subsequent rerouting onto the eastern half of the

Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside th ...

. The completed portion of I-95 that ran from downtown Washington to the

Springfield Interchange The Springfield Interchange, also known as the Mixing Bowl, is the interchange of Interstate 95, Interstate 395, and Interstate 495 in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. The interchange is located at exit 57 on the Capital Beltwa ...

in Virginia is now designated as

I-395 Interstate 395 may refer to: *Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), a spur from I-95 to Auburn, Massachusetts *Interstate 395 (Delaware), a proposed portion of I-95 in Delaware, when it was under construction *Interstate 395 (Florida), a spu ...

. The stub end of I-95 south of the College Park Interchange in Maryland was converted into a

Park & Ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

lot in 1986, and a new flyover ramp was constructed for the southbound direction to allow a seamless merge with eastbound I-495.

Route description

As proposed in the 1971 D.C. Interstate System program, the Northeast Freeway, eight lanes wide, would have separated from the

south of Takoma Park, Washington, D.C., running northeast out of the District in the vicinity of New Hampshire Avenue. Exiting the District, it would have merged with the

Pepco The Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) is an American utility company that supplies electric power to the city of Washington, D.C. and to surrounding communities in Maryland. It is owned by Exelon. The company's current trademarked slogan i ...

power line corridor and run straight northeast, crossing

Northwest Branch Park The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

in the outer suburban area. (A portion of the current I-95 route parallels the Pepco power line corridor from I-495 to the Old Gunpowder Road overpass, just past Exit 29.) The route would have merged with the

on the Capital Beltway, joining the segment of I-95 completed in 1971, continuing it northeast to

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

History

1963-64 North Central Freeway Study

In a series of proposals published in 1963 and 1964, the subsequent study of the

and Northeast Freeway indirectly ignored the earlier suggestions regarding the use of the B&O railroad corridor; instead, no less than 17 separate alignments were proposed, many of which did not make much use of the railroad alignment. One important aspect of the study was the consideration of a consolidated route, where the North Central Freeway and Northeast Freeway would join together into a single freeway that would then run south to the

Inner Loop Inner loop may refer to: *Inner loop in computer programs *Inner Loop (Phoenix), a section of Interstate 10 in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, United States *Inner Loop (Rochester), an expressway around downtown Rochester, New York, United States * Inne ...

. Many different alignments, including ones paralleling Georgia Avenue and Sherman Avenue through northern D.C., were considered as part of a consolidated routing of the North Central Freeway south of the Northeast Freeway.Willinger, Douglas
''A Trip Within the Beltway:'' 1963-64 North Central Freeway Study
URL accessed 13:33, 13 February 2007. This study stated that the Northeast Freeway should enter D.C. between Gallatin St. and Galloway St., in the vicinity of Michigan Park, where it would run west for 3/4 mile through Fort Drive Circle Park before intercepting the B&O corridor near Fort Totten, Washington, D.C. This plan,a major departure from the 1960 route, was adopted to ensure that the route followed the right-of-way of the circumferential Fort Drive Parkway, thus addressing the complaints of local residents, while conforming with the state of Maryland's plans to run the Northeast Freeway through

. The study elucidated three separate options that could be followed once the route reached Fort Totten: *a route extending west of the B&O railroad to meet a North Central Freeway routed via Georgia Avenue and Sherman Avenue *a route that would turn south along the railroad and parallel a separately-routed North Central Freeway *a route that would combine with a North Central Freeway routed via the railroad corridor The last option was the option recommended by the study.

1966 North Central Freeway Supplementary Study

The enormous opposition to the 1964 and 1965 alignments for the North Central Freeway led to a supplementary study being conducted in 1966 that affected the routing of the Northeast Freeway. As noted above, the Northeast Freeway (I-95) was to enter the District via the Fort Drive route. The 1966 plans included several changes to the junction with the North Central Freeway; one lane per carriageway from I-95 would connect with ramps to and from North Capitol Street, while the remaining three lanes per carriageway would join with the six-lane North Central Freeway. 'Round-the-corner' connections between I-95 south and I-70S north, and between I-70S south and I-95 north, were also removed from the junction in the 1966 study. Otherwise, few modifications were made to the routing of the Northeast Freeway.Willinger, Douglas
''A Trip Within the Beltway'': 1966 North Central Freeway Supplemental Study
URL accessed 15:15, 8 February 2007.

1971 De Leuw-Weese Study

In 1971, a study released by De Leuw-Weese defined a new route for the Northeast Freeway that had a significantly lower impact on surrounding neighborhoods. I-95 was planned as an eight-lane freeway within a right-of-way; it would have run entirely within the

power line corridor, and would have entered D.C. in the vicinity of New Hampshire Avenue, following it for in a depressed roadway configuration, before burrowing beneath it to join and parallel the B&O railroad corridor. The median of this route was planned as a transit right-of-way; the transit line was later built as the

WMATA The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...

.Willinger, Douglas
''A Trip Within the Beltway'': 1971 DeLeuw
URL accessed 15:28, 8 February 2007. The study described this routing as superior to previous routings, especially in terms of cost and complexity of construction. The study concluded that the route as proposed, between the Union Station interchange and the

(thus including the connecting segment of the

), would have been in length, cost only $176 million to construct, and would have displaced a maximum of 59 homes in the District and 110 in Maryland, with most of the displacements a result of expansive interchange design.Willinger, Douglas
''A Trip Within the Beltway'': 1971: PEPCO I-95 Conceptualization
URL accessed 14:37, 8 February 2007.

1973 Pepco Route

In 1973, this routing was adopted by the

Maryland State Highway Administration The Maryland State Highway Administration (abbreviated MDOT SHA or simply SHA) is the state transportation business unit responsible for maintaining Maryland's numbered highways outside Baltimore City. Formed originally under authority of the Ge ...

for official study. However, this routing was modified somewhat from the 1971 plan; the Northeast Freeway segment was narrowed to six lanes, in a 2-2-2 configuration with a center reversible roadway. It would have crossed

in a

cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

tunnel, and the burrowed crossing of New Hampshire Avenue in Maryland next to the southern end of the Pepco route linking the Northeast Freeway with the North Central Freeway was replaced with an elevated, sharply curved crossing with a design speed (the remainder of the route would be 70 mph), necessitated by the challenging topography of the area and the need to avoid rebuilding the Pepco substation. The segment along New Hampshire Avenue would have been depressed, with no apparent consideration for a cut and cover segment either in Maryland for new retail development, nor in Washington, D.C., such as for preserving the dignity of the Eastern Star Masonic Home property. This version of the Northeast Freeway would have had only three interchanges at Adelphi Road, University Boulevard ( MD 193) and East–West Highway ( MD 410). The routing as proposed by MDOT SHA would have been in length, avoided the wholesale destruction of portions of Northwest Branch Park, and displaced a significantly fewer number of homes — only 25 in D.C., and zero in Maryland, mainly due to less expansive interchange designs. However, the 2-2-2 configuration would have resulted in a minimum 25% capacity reduction compared to a 4-4 configuration, though been virtually as wide owing to the extra shoulders from the median carriageway.

References

External links

''Roads to the Future'': Washington D.C. Interstates and Freeways
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Interstate 95 Roads in Washington, D.C. Cancelled highway projects in the United States Freeways in the United States