This article is about the partly built freeway in downtown Washington, D.C. The clockwise-traveling lanes of Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) are also called the "inner loop".
Inner Loop
Proposed Inner Beltway corridor highlighted in red, proposed Middle Beltway corridor in blue
In 1956, federal and regional transportation planners proposed an Inner Loop Expressway composed of three circumferential beltways for the District of Columbia.[1] The majority of the innermost loop would have been a minimum of six lanes, with the portions used by I-95 having a minimum of eight lanes. The final design for the innermost loop made heavy use of cut-and-cover tunnels in order to minimize impacts to the city; one notable example that was built is the tunnel under the National Mall, between C Street SW and D Street NW, used by Interstate 395.
The innermost beltway would have formed a flattened oval centered on the Kennedy Center/Watergate complex in the west, running southeast along what is currently Ohio Drive SW until it linked with the Southwest Freeway portion of I-395, north along I-395 to L Street NW, and then west along a tunnel beneath K Street NW to join near the western nexus with the Whitehurst Freeway and Interstate 66—completing the loop.[1]
The middle beltway would have formed an arc along the northern portion of the city, running from the proposed Barney Circle Freeway (whose terminus would have been near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium) through Anacostia Park, cut northeast through the Trinidad neighborhood along Mt. Olivet Road NE, followed the Amtrak rail line north to Missouri Avenue NW, along Missouri Avenue NW to Military Road NW, along Military Road NW across Rock Creek Park to Nebraska Avenue NW, down Nebraska Avenue NW to New Mexico Avenue NW, down New Mexico Avenue NW and across Glover-Archbold Park until it terminated near 37th Street NW at the north end of Georgetown.[1]
D.C. residents strongly opposed both inner loops, upset that the freeways would have required the demolition of large numbers of houses and greatly affected city neighborhoods.[1] As a result, all portions of the network that were not yet started were completely canceled in 1977. This left some portions of the innermost loop incomplete, and the northern arc completely unbuilt.[1] Funding for the Inner Loop was partially reallocated toward construction of the Washington Metro.[2]
An interchange at the junction of the 11th Street Bridges and I-295/Anacostia Freeway to permit southbound and northbound traffic to directly access the interstate[3]
An extension of I-695 (the so-called "Barney Circle Freeway") from its current terminus through Anacostia Park, to cross Burnham Barrier and connect with the Anacostia Freeway[4][5]
An upgrade of New York Avenue from the proposed junction with I-395 to the junction of New York Avenue/U.S. Route 50 with I-295, known as the New York Industrial Freeway
^ abcdefLevey, Bob and Levey, Jane Freundel. "End of The Roads." The Washington Post. November 26, 2000; Schrag, Zachary M. "The Freeway Fight in Washington, D.C.: The Three Sisters Bridge in Three Administrations." Journal of Urban History. 30:5 (July 2004); Mohl, Raymond A. "The Interstates and the Cities: The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Freeway Revolt, 1966-1973." Journal of Policy History. 20:2 (2008); Schrag, Zachary M. The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. ISBN0-8018-8246-X; Rose, Mark H. Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1939-1989. Rev. ed. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1990. ISBN0-87049-671-9; Eisen, Jack. "Md. Vetoes I-95 Extension Into District." The Washington Post. July 13, 1973; Feaver, Douglas B. "Three Sisters Highway Project Is Killed - Again." The Washington Post. May 13, 1977.
^Schrag, Zachary (2006). The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN0-8018-8246-X.
^Traffic southbound on the 11th Street Bridges must exit into the local streets of Anacostia, then drive several blocks before accessing ramps which will enable vehicles to travel north on I-295. Traffic headed north on the 11th Street Bridges must exit onto the local streets around the Navy Yard before accessing ramps which will enable vehicles to travel east on I-695. See: District of Columbia Department of Transportation. 11th Street Bridge Design Workshop.Archived 2009-11-08 at the Wayback Machine May 25, 2005.
^Lippman, Thomas W. "D.C. Is Planning $850 Million For Maintenance, New Projects." Washington Post. January 5, 1981;
