Interstate 70 in Baltimore, Maryland

Infobox road
state=MD
type=Interstate
route=70
maint=Baltimore Department of Public WorksMaryland State Highway Administration, PDFlink| [http://www.sha.state.md.us/KeepingCurrent/performTrafficStudies/dataAndStats/hwyLocationRef/2005_hlr_all/co24.pdf Highway Location Reference: Baltimore City] |2.00 MiB , data as of December 31, 2005]
length_mi=3.96
length_notes=extrapolated from cancellation info
established=1969
direction_a=West
starting_terminus=
junction=
direction_b=East
ending_terminus=
previous_type=MD
previous_route=69
next_type=MD
next_route=70

In Baltimore, Maryland, United States, Interstate 70 was planned to run through the western quadrant of the city, passing through Leakin Park and Gwynns Falls Park before terminating at Interstate 95 near the Patapsco River, southwest of the downtown area. One mile north of its terminus on Interstate 95, Interstate 70 would have served the central business district via Interstate 170. However, due to community opposition to the routing of the freeway through Leakin and Gwynns Falls Park, the route was truncated at the former, just east of Maryland Route 122, in 1982.

History

Planning

Several proposals were made during the 1940s and 1950s for an East-West Expressway through Baltimore. After nine different proposals were floated, in 1960 the city's Department of Planning published a proposal of its own. The route in the proposal would have begun in the western edge of the city, passing through Leakin Park and Gwynns Falls Park. It would have then curved south in the direction of Edmonson Avenue, then turned east and followed the Franklin St.-Mulberry St. corridor. It would have then curved south into the Pratt St. corridor and crossed the city to the north of the Inner Harbor on an elevated viaduct within the central business district.

The route would have met two other freeways, the Jones Falls Expressway and the Southwest Expressway at a four-way interchange in the southeast edge of the CBD; I-95 would have followed the Southwest Expressway, and met both I-70N and I-83 (on the Jones Falls Expressway) at this interchange. I-70N and I-83 would have terminated at the interchange, while I-95 would have turned east and followed the East-West Expressway out of the CBD.Kozel, Scott. [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt_Early_Expwy_Plan.html "Roads to the Future:" Baltimore Early Expressway Planning] URL accessed 17:55, 5 February 2007.] The above routings were eventually further refined and modified and eventually became part of the "Baltimore 10-D Interstate System", approved in 1962. The routing of I-70N in this plan was little different from the routings proposed in 1960, and was universally disliked.Kozel, Scott. [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt_Early_Expwy_Plan.html "Roads to the Future:" Baltimore Early Expressway Planning] URL accessed 17:55, 5 February 2007.]

By 1969, the Design Concept Team, a multi-discipline group assembled in 1966 by the city government to help design freeway routings that would not disrupt the city's fabric, the 10-D System had been replaced by the "Baltimore 3-A Interstate and Boulevard System". In the 3-A system, I-70N would have run through Leakin Park and Gwynns Falls Park as it was planned to do in 1962, but instead of following Franklin St. and Mulberry St., it continued to the southeast, crossing Edmonson Avenue and Wilkens Avenue within Gwynns Falls Park to terminate at I-95 near Alt US 1. Interstate 170 was also brought into existence under this plan; it was planned as a freeway spur from I-70 through the Franklin St.-Mulberry St. corridor to the west edge of the central business district, connecting to a new route named City Boulevard (now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). The 3-A System's result was that I-70N would act as a bypass of the central business district, with I-170 providing direct access.Kozel, Scott. [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt_Early_Expwy_Plan.html "Roads to the Future:" Baltimore Early Expressway Planning] URL accessed 17:55, 5 February 2007.]

Cancellation

Protest from environmental groups led to the purchase of the nearby Windsor Estate to act as replacement for the parkland that would have been used by the freeway alignment. After further protest from environmental groups, the segment of Interstate 70 between Security Boulevard (Exit 94) and I-170 (future Exit 96), 3.1 miles in length, was withdrawn from the Interstate Highway System on September 3, 1981, with the remaining unbuilt segments of I-70 and I-170 (by then, re-designated as Interstate 595) withdrawn on July 22, 1983.Federal Highway Administration. [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/covefort.cfm Ask the Rambler: Why Does I-70 End in Cove Fort, Utah?] URL accessed 12:15, 21 January 2007.] The federal funding that would have been used to construct I-70 within Baltimore was diverted to fund the construction of the Baltimore Metro Subway Owings Mills Extension along the alignment of Interstate 795.

One of the reasons behind the decision to route I-70 through Leakin Park was the desire to avoid wholesale neighborhood demolition in the vicinity of U.S. 40 Edmondson Avenue, south of the proposed alignment. Despite this, the relative lack of parkland contained within the city boundaries fueled the protests that led to the cancellation of this portion of the Interstate.

The intersection to I-95 and a portion of the spur route to downtown (I-170) had already been built before plans were canceled. The signs for I-170 are now replaced with signs for US 40, and I-70 terminates at the exit for Security Boulevard (MD 122) in the western Baltimore suburb of Woodlawn. The pavement of the interstate runs into a Park and Ride. The only remaining sign of the planned extension into downtown are exit ramps to nowhere on I-95. Coord|39.271094|N|76.648661|W|display=inline|region:US_type:landmark Coord|39.269565|N|76.658628|W|display=inline|region:US_type:landmark

Exit list

Had I-70 been completed, the segment east of I-695 would have run as follows:Kozel, Scott M. [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt-City-Interstate-Cancel.html "Roads to the Future": Baltimore City Interstates - Cancellations] URL accessed 09:15, 25 June 2007.] [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt-3A-I95-I70-I170.jpgScale drawing of I-70, I-170, I-95, I-395 interchanges in Baltimore City] ]

Mileposts in parentheses are deduced from the scale diagram of I-70 in Baltimore, produced by Urban Design Concept Associates for the Interstate Division of Baltimore City. [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt-3A-I95-I70-I170.jpgScale drawing of I-70, I-170, I-95, I-395 interchanges in Baltimore City] ]

ee also

*Interstate 170 (Maryland)
*Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland
*Jones Falls Expressway

References

External links

* [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Balt_City_Interstates.html Baltimore City Interstates] , Roads to the Future
* [http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/balto.html Good map of the existing and proposed aspects of Baltimore's highway systems]