The Washington Outer Beltway was a proposed
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
that would have extended further out than 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 ...
and encircled
Washington, D.C.
)
, 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, ...
through the states of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. Most of the route was canceled in the 1980s. Parts of it have been built as the
Fairfax County Parkway
The Fairfax County Parkway, numbered State Route 286 (SR 286, formerly SR 7100), is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia, acting as an arterial route in Fairfax County with a mix of interchanges and signalized an ...
in Virginia, as well as
Interstate 370
Interstate 370 (I-370) is a Interstate Highway spur route off I-270 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to the western end of the Maryland Route 200 (MD 200, Intercounty Connector) toll road at an interchange that provides access to the p ...
and the
Intercounty Connector in Maryland.
History
Initial plans were developed in the 1950s for the proposed Washington Outer Beltway.
The
National Capital Park and Planning Commission issued a ''Comprehensive Plan for the Nation's Capital and Its Environs'' in 1950. The comprehensive plan included three different circular roads in and around 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, ...
. The original Outer Beltway had been planned to pass south of the corporate limits of the
City of Rockville, as shown on a map published in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' in 1951 with the caption "Ring Road suggested by
Bureau of Public Roads
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
". In 1953, the portion of the Outer Beltway between Montgomery County and Prince George's County was included in the ''Master Plan of Highways'' of the
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. It was later included in the Commission's ''General Plan'' in 1957, and the Commission's ''On Wedges and Corridors'' plan in 1964.
In the 1960s, an "outer circumferential highway" was proposed between outside the Capital Beltway.
In Virginia, by the time of a 1965 plan, it was to run through southern and western Fairfax County, crossing the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
at
Mason Neck and north of
Great Falls, and passing generally west of
State Route 123 (Ox Road) and east of
SR 645 (Clifton Road, Stringfellow Road, and Lees Corner Road). The straight part of the current Fairfax County Parkway between south of Franklin Farm Road and north of Baron Cameron Avenue is built where the beltway would have been. By contrast, a 1964 plan proposed by a consultant for
Prince William County
Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassas ...
showed a freeway passing by
Quantico,
Manassas,
Leesburg,
Poolesville, upper
Montgomery County,
Fort Meade
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the ...
, southeastern
Prince George's County
)
, 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. Alsobrook ...
, and
La Plata.
The original proposed routing in Maryland was south and east of the current Intercounty Connector alignment. The new route was motivated in part by a desire to move the routing of the proposed bridge over the Potomac River upstream from the area of River Bend to Watkins Island. Virginia residents and the
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...
objected to the proposed bridge over the Potomac River because they wanted to create state and federal parks along the river in order to protect sugar maple trees, vegetation, and bald eagles. Because of these concerns, the
Maryland State Roads Commission
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 G ...
moved the proposed Outer Beltway to a route north of Rockville and eliminated a new bridge crossing the Potomac River.
The Montgomery County Planning Board accepted the state's newly proposed route in 1970, but the
Montgomery County Council rejected it, and Prince George's County and Virginia dropped it from their plans.
During the 1970s, attention was focused on the
Metrorail
METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...
system, and
environmental concerns temporarily pushed the Outer Beltway onto the back burner. In the 1980s and 1990s, when the plan was revived as the
Western Transportation Corridor in Virginia, the route was shifted further west.
In 1975, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board of the
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is an independent, nonprofit association where area leaders address regional issues affecting the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. Metropolitan Washington Council ...
endorsed a request from the
State Highway Administration "for federal support of a $1.1 million planning and engineering study of the first segment of the road" (then called the Outer Beltway),
which was to "run from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway near
Beltsville westward to a point near
Interstate Rte 70S at
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...
." By 1976, Maryland's Secretary of Transportation no longer supported state financial support of the Outer Beltway, although Montgomery County still supported it in concept.
In 1980, the state of Maryland dropped the Washington Outer Beltway from its plans except for the
Intercounty Connector.
Techway proposal
The Techway is a proposal for a limited-access highway across the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
between
Fairfax County, Virginia, and
Montgomery County, Maryland. The project's name refers to connecting the high-tech firms in
Herndon and
Reston, Virginia, with the biotechnology companies in
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...
and
Rockville, Maryland. The Techway proposal would construct a limited-access highway and bridge linking
Virginia State Route 28
State Route 28 (SR 28) in the U.S. state of Virginia is a primary state highway that traverses the counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, and Fauquier in the U.S. state of Virginia. The route serves as a major artery in the Northern Virg ...
north of
Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fa ...
to the western terminus of
I-370 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. To avoid criticism that such a project would encourage
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
, the proponents advocated having very few interchanges on the route and emphasizing its use in making Dulles Airport and the associated office buildings in its vicinity more convenient to residents of northern Montgomery County that currently use the
American Legion Memorial Bridge.
In 2000, Congress authorized $2,000,000 to conduct a feasibility study of the Techway.
Congressman
Frank Wolf, one of the primary sponsors of the study, asked that the study be canceled the next year because homes in his Congressional district would have to be destroyed in order to build the Techway.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta
Norman Yoshio Mineta ( ja, 峯田 良雄, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the United States Cabinet for Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a ...
agreed to cancel the study, saying it would be a waste of money to continue studying a bridge that would never be built. Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore III asked Mineta to reconsider, but the study was cancelled.
In 2004, a Virginia Department of Transportation
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in downtown ...
traffic study of the American Legion Bridge showed that a significant portion of bridge users traveled between points west of that bridge, reviving the Techway concept.[ In addition, the Techway project was also discussed in connection with ]Maryland Route 200
Maryland Route 200 (MD 200), also known as the Intercounty Connector or ICC, is an , six-lane toll road in the U.S. state of Maryland. A controlled-access highway, it connects Gaithersburg in Montgomery County and Laurel in Prince George's Co ...
that will extend I-370 to the east to US 1. The combination of the Techway and this other extension would go a long way to form a Western Bypass of Washington, D.C. for north-south traffic on I-95. Also in 2004, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing any bridge, citing concerns about destruction of existing neighborhoods, damage to parkland along the Potomac River, the need to protect the county's Agricultural Reserve, and its conflicting with the master plan for Potomac.
As of 2011, the Techway project is not funded and not under active study.
See also
* Intercounty Connector
References
{{reflist, 30em
Beltways in the United States
Roads in Maryland
Roads in Virginia