Interstate 695 (District of Columbia)

Infobox road
state=DC
route=695
type=I

---

alternate name=Barney Circle Freeway
maint=
length_mi=1.39
length_round=2
length_ref=
year_established=1958
direction_a=West
terminus_a=
junction=
direction_b=East
terminus_b=Pennsylvania Ave.
previous_type=Interstate
previous_route=395
next_type=US
next_route=1
commons=category

Interstate 695 (I-695) is the unsigned designation for the 1.39-mile (2.24 km)Federal Highway Administration - [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table2.htm Auxiliary Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways] ] Southeast Freeway in Washington, D.C. It runs from Interstate 395 south of the U.S. Capitol Building east past the north end of Interstate 295 (at the 11th Street Bridges) to Pennsylvania Avenue at Barney Circle, just northwest of the John Philip Sousa Bridge. Stub ramps at Pennsylvania Avenue, once meant to continue the freeway (as part of I-295) to Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 50 northeast of Union Station—with access to D.C. Route 295 via the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge (East Capitol Street)—now provide access to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.

The route is not marked, being instead signed for its destinations: Interstate 395, Interstate 295, and Pennsylvania Avenue.

History

Plans from 1955 (numbered in 1958) took Interstate 95 through Washington on what is now Interstate 395, turning east at U.S. Route 50 and leaving along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Interstate 295 was to run along its current route to south of the 11th Street Bridges, but then would have continued northeast along D.C. Route 295, ending at I-95 just outside the District. Interstate 695 was to run from I-295 over the 11th Street Bridges, turning west on what is now I-695 to end at I-95 (now I-395).

Soon—possibly by 1958, when numbers were assigned—I-95 between Baltimore and Washington was shifted to its present alignment, splitting from the U.S. 50 corridor northeast of Union Station. I-295 was shifted to cross the 11th Street Bridges, and then turn east in the median of present I-695 (where the ramps to RFK Stadium now lie), continuing north and northwest to end at I-95 and U.S. 50 at their split. I-695 would be the short section of freeway between I-95 and I-295, and ramps on both sides of the East Capitol Street Bridge would provide a freeway-to-freeway connection between I-695 and DC 295 (via I-295).

By 1971, an extension was added to the planned I-695. It would run concurrent with I-95 west to Maine Avenue, where it would split (the existing interchange provides for freeway-to-freeway ramps) and run northwest along Independence Avenue past the Lincoln Memorial to end at Interstate 66, at the east end of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge (that interchange also has the appropriate ramps).

The Southeast Freeway, including the section planned as I-295 to Pennsylvania Avenue, was built in the late 1960s. Plans for the remaining Interstates in Washington were canceled in 1977 after much opposition, and I-295 was later truncated to I-695, with the former I-295 stub to Pennsylvania Avenue renumbered as part of I-695.

In 1990s, the Barney Circle Freeway was planned to run from the east end of I-695 across the Anacostia River to D.C. Route 295. This would have filled a hole in Washington's freeway system, which currently has no connection between I-395 and DC 295. (This would have been provided by I-295 and the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge.) After the Barney Circle Freeway plan was canceled in 1996, a left-turn movement was added at the interchange between Pennsylvania Avenue and DC 295, allowing traffic coming from I-695 to cross the Anacostia on Pennsylvania Avenue and join DC 295 directly, albeit passing through two traffic signals. However, no ramp was provided from DC 295 south to Pennsylvania Avenue west, and so traffic from DC 295 to I-395 must cross the Anacostia on South Capitol Street. As of 2006, there are plans to build two ramps at the I-295/DC 295 interchange to make these movements possible.fact|date=May 2008

Exit list

All exits are unnumbered.The whole route is in Southeast Washington.

References

External links

* [http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/i695.html#695dc kurumi - I-695 Washington, D.C.]
* [http://www.roadstothefuture.com/DC_Interstate_Fwy.html Roads to the Future - Washington D.C. Interstates and Freeways]
* [http://www.dcroads.net/roads/southeast Steve Anderson's DCroads.net: Southeast Freeway (I-695) and unbuilt Barney Circle Freeway]