Inner Loop (Washington, D.C.)

Infobox road
marker_

state=DC
highway_name=Inner Loop
alternate_name=
maint=


length_mi=
length_round=
length_ref=
length_notes=
established=1971
decommissioned=1977
direction_a=West
terminus_a=14th Street Bridge at the Pentagon
direction_b=East
terminus_b=North Central Freeway/New York Avenue Industrial Freeway near Union Station:"This article is about the partly-built freeway in downtown Washington, D.C. The clockwise direction of the Capital Beltway is also called the inner loop."The Inner Loop was a planned freeway loop around downtown Washington, D.C., serving as an inner-city equivalent to the Capital Beltway. Although referred to as a loop, it would in fact have been a double loop with a center leg, similar in shape to an oval. Interstate 95 would have made use of portions the Inner Loop to traverse downtown Washington, and would have met Interstate 66, Interstate 295, Interstate 695, and US 50 while traversing the Inner Loop.

Route description

The majority of the Inner 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 Inner Loop made heavy use of cut-and-cover tunnels in order to minimize impacts to the city; one notable example that was actually built is the Mall Tunnel used by the Center Leg Freeway (now referred to as Interstate 395).

The Inner Loop would not have had a single continuous designation, but four separate designations:

*Interstate 66 would have followed the West Leg Freeway, the North Leg Freeway (meeting I-95), and ended at the North Central Freeway, East Leg Freeway, and New York Avenue Industrial Freeway
*Interstate 95 would have followed the Southwest Freeway, the Center Leg Freeway, the North Leg Freeway (concurrent with I-66), meeting the East Leg and New York Avenue Industrial Freeway at the southern end of the North Central Freeway
*Interstate 295 would have joined the East Leg Freeway at the 11th Street Bridges, terminating at I-95 at the North Leg, the North Central Freeway, and New York Avenue Industrial Freeway
*Interstate 695 would have followed the South Leg Freeway, the Southwest Freeway (technically multiplexing with I-95), and the Southeast Freeway, terminating at Interstate 295 at the 11th Street Bridges

History

The Inner Loop network suffered greatly from vitriolic opposition from D.C. residents, who were angered over earlier alignments proposed by D.C. officials that would have demolished large numbers of houses and greatly affected city neighborhoods. As a result, all portions of the network that were not yet started were completely cancelled in 1977; this resulted in some portions of the Inner Loop being left incomplete, and others completely unbuilt.

Portions built

*Southwest Freeway (Interstate 395, originally Interstate 95), from the 14th Street Bridge to the Center Leg and Southeast Freeway
*Southeast Freeway (Interstate 695), from the Center Leg and Southwest Freeway past the 11th Street Bridges to Pennsylvania Avenue
*Center Leg (Interstate 395, originally Interstate 95), from the Southwest and Southeast Freeways to New York Avenue (and the unbuilt North Leg)
*West Leg (Interstate 66), from the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge (and the unbuilt South Leg) to the Whitehurst Freeway (and the unbuilt North Leg)

Unbuilt portions

*East Leg (Interstate 295), from the 11th Street Bridges and Southeast Freeway to the North Leg and North Central Freeway
*North Leg (Interstate 66 and Interstate 95), from the West Leg and Whitehurst Freeway past the Center Leg to the East Leg and North Central Freeway
*South Leg (Interstate 695), from the West Leg and Theodore Roosevelt Bridge to the Southwest Freeway near the 14th Street Bridge

Other routes

Several major links to the Inner Loop were not built:
*North Central Freeway (Interstate 70S and Interstate 95), a major link from the North Leg, the East Leg, and New York Avenue Industrial Freeway to the northern D.C. suburbs and the Capital Beltway
*New York Avenue Industrial Freeway, a freeway upgrade of US 50 east from the North Leg, the East Leg, and the North Central Freeway to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and the John Hanson Highway
*Interstate 266, a northern parallel route to I-66, between its parent at Spout Run Parkway and the western end of the North Leg and the northern end of the West Leg

ee also

*Capital Beltway, the "outer loop"
*Washington Outer Beltway, a planned loop outside the Beltway

References

* [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/DC_Interstate_Fwy.html "Roads to the Future": Washington D.C. Interstates and Freeways]
* [http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2006/11/1955-62-plans.html "A Trip Within the Beltway": 1955-62 Plans]
* [http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2006/11/1971-plans.html "A Trip Within the Beltway": 1971 plans]