Subject: Re: Capital Beltway Semantics

From: [email-masked]
Date: 31 Aug 1995 15:19:59 -0400

In article <[email-masked]>,
Russell Lyons <[email-masked]> wrote:
}In article <[email-masked]>,
}Stephen Huettner <[email-masked]> wrote:
}>
}>I-95 is not continuous from Maine to the Keys.  There's a stretch between 
}>Philly and NYC where the two parts of I-95 don't meet.
}
} Since when? and where for that matter?? Last I heard the New jersey 
}Turnpike was still intact.

I-95 used to have a break in it in Phila, but it's been completed for
many years (about 10, I think).

-- 
Matthew T. Russotto      [email-masked]     [email-masked]
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
of justice is no virtue."

---

From: [email-masked] (David Wiecking)
Date: 20 Aug 1995 16:03:50 -0400

M. Hale ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>,
:    [email-masked] (David Wiecking) wrote:

: >Completed in 1964. The part between Wisconsin Ave and Conn Ave actually
: >dates to the late 50's, but with far fewer lanes.
: >
: I read somewhere that this original strech of the Beltway between Wisconsin 
: and Connecticut Avenues was not up to Interstate standards and was torn up and 
: replaced by the state of Maryland shortly after it was built.  Is there are 
: truth or additional information about this?

It was originally Park Road, I think. Actually, that was just the road they
tore up to put the Beltway there. No other choice. PArk Road is older
than the 1956 Defense Highway Act (or whatever it was called), and also
older than the DC area's plans for the Inner Beltway.
.
-- 
-=dave wiecking, bethesda, md           
  [email-masked] is used the most
  [email-masked] and [email-masked] also work

---

From: [email-masked] (M. Hale)
Date: 20 Aug 1995 18:07:22 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
   [email-masked] (David Wiecking) wrote:

>Completed in 1964. The part between Wisconsin Ave and Conn Ave actually
>dates to the late 50's, but with far fewer lanes.
>
I read somewhere that this original strech of the Beltway between Wisconsin 
and Connecticut Avenues was not up to Interstate standards and was torn up and 
replaced by the state of Maryland shortly after it was built.  Is there are 
truth or additional information about this?

Also, is there a written history of the Beltway avaliable anywhere?  I'd like 
to read about Washington's famous (or infamous or various other experlatives) 
road.

-Mike

---

From: [email-masked] (David Wiecking)
Date: 19 Aug 1995 16:43:56 -0400

Richard Looney ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Nobody does it better (beard@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE) wrote:

: > 1) Briefly explain the "Beltway" concept. When were the roads built? Was there
: > a need for it? What was there before the beltway? Dis/Advantages?
:  
: Picture that belt around your waist. Now replace your stomache with DC,
: and start wearing that belt around 1964.
Completed in 1964. The part between Wisconsin Ave and Conn Ave actually
dates to the late 50's, but with far fewer lanes.

: >> -Differentiate between the East and West sections of the Beltway.
:  
: No. Directions of East and West only have sporadic meaning when you're
: traveling in a circle. That signage is just there to confuse people.

Western half is I-495 only. Eastern half is I-95/495.

: >> 4) If I'm correct, doesn't the beltway cut through two states?
: >>      Can you name the exits where the borders are?
:  
Numbering in MD starts at exit 2, I-295 in PG county. Once you hit the
Beltsville intersection, where 95 heads north, the numbering continues in
both directions, both north towards Baltimore, and east towards Montgomery
County. Different road numbers, so it's not confusing. Western bridge is the
"American Legion Memorial Bridge" (often called the Cabin John Bridge so as
to confuse those of us who know the Cabin John Aqueduct bridge by that
name). Clara Baron PKWY is just on the MD side, Geo Wash PKWY is just on the
DC side.  Eastern bridge is the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which has the
afore-mentioned I-295 on one side, and US 1 on the VA side.

:  
: >> 5) If possible, please name the counties and their respective states, that
: >> surround the beltway

: Alexandria & Fairfax, VA; and Prince Georges & Montgomery, MD. :
(Little-known fact: the southernmost wedge of DC cuts across one of the :
bridges.) The Beltway is the boundary between the City of Alexandria and
Fairfax County.  All the VA part is in Fairfax County (unless for some silly
reason the Inner Loop is considered to be in Alexandria during this 4 mile
stretch, but it's all maintained (?) by the state, so that doesn't really
come up).
-- 
-=dave wiecking, bethesda, md           
  [email-masked] is used the most
  [email-masked] and [email-masked] also work

---

From: [email-masked] (Richard Looney)
Date: 18 Aug 1995 15:52:13 -0400

Nobody does it better (beard@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE) wrote:

>>This past weekend, I was traveled back home to Philly from NC.  Going through 
>>Washington (or around it), I immediately wanted to get some questions answered
>>explicitly about the Capital Beltway.  So if there are any savvy interstate 
>>motorists, I would like to ask you some questions. 

> 1) Briefly explain the "Beltway" concept. When were the roads built? Was there
> a need for it? What was there before the beltway? Dis/Advantages?
 
Picture that belt around your waist. Now replace your stomache with DC,
and start wearing that belt around 1964.

>>2) Beltway Semantics: Candidly, Explain the signs, "Outer Loop," "Inner Loop" 
 
I always wanted them to use clockwise (CW) and Counter-Clockwise (CCW) to
tell them apart, but the sign-makers have different ideas. In this country, 
drivers going clockwise around a circular freeway will be on the Inner Loop.
 
>> -Differentiate between the East and West sections of the Beltway.
 
No. Directions of East and West only have sporadic meaning when you're
traveling in a circle. That signage is just there to confuse people.

>> 4) If I'm correct, doesn't the beltway cut through two states?
>>      Can you name the exits where the borders are?
 
The states' border is the Potomac River. You'll find bridges there, 
in addition to exits on either side.

>> 5) If possible, please name the counties and their respective states, that
>> surround the beltway

Alexandria & Fairfax, VA; and Prince Georges & Montgomery, MD.
(Little-known fact: the southernmost wedge of DC cuts across one of the
bridges.)

---

From: beard@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (Nobody does it better)
Date: 18 Aug 1995 14:14:26 GMT

2) Beltway Semantics: Candidly, Explain the signs, "Outer Loop," "Inner Loop" 
-Differentiate between the East and West sections of the Beltway.
Specifically what are the exits named on each side. (eg. Are the exits 
consecutive? Are they inclusive of East and West sides?)

3) Is easy to get lost, for example when East turns to West and conversely.
Outer loop and Inner Loop, are they found on both beltways around DC and
Baltimore? Are the delineations 

Thank you
-tb

Ps. By the way, if you feel that there is another newsgroup that would
be more apropos for my request, please let me know!  Although I prefer email
responses, if you post here, please cc: to my email address
--
_____________________________________________________________________________
http://www.netaxs.com/~beard
REPRESENTIN' NICETOWN, PHILLY <-> ERIE AVE
ONCE AGAIN IT'S ON & IT'S YAWS!!

---

From: [email-masked] (Pam Jadwick)
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 13:18:13 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (David

>stretch, but it's all maintained (?) by the state, so that doesn't really

I'm new to the area, so bear that in mind.   When asking for directions to a 
place in Falls Church, I told someone that I would be coming from Maryland
south 
on I-95 and then taking the West side of the beltway.  They asked me 
if it was the "inner loop" or the "outer loop."   I said, "There's more than
one?"

I finally figured out what the inner and outer loops were.  I moved here
from Houston
where the "inner loop" was I-610 (both directions) and the "outer loop" was 
the Sam Houston Parkway (again both directions) several miles from I-610.  If it
weren't for my arsenal of ADC maps, I'd be lost all the time!

-- 
Pam J.
Opinions are my own...

---

From: [email-masked] (Gopal S Kailad)
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 95 22:04:43 GMT

>drivers going clockwise around a circular freeway will be on the Inner Loop.

And here I was wondering if the Beltway is the Inner loop or Outer loop,
and where exactly *is* the other "loop" around D.C. ?!!

Come to think of it, it does make good sense ... And I still have
trouble explaining to people from out of town if they have to take
I-495 E/W/N/S ...  

Wouldnt it be better, if in addition to (or instead of) signs to I-495 
E/W/N/S, there are signs to Inner Loop and Outer Loop,
at least where I-95 joins the beltway ? Opinions ?

Cheers,

Gopal.

**********************************************************************
[email-masked]                                     Cogito Ergo Sum
**********************************************************************

---

From: [email-masked] (Gregory Resch)
Date: 23 Aug 1995 23:39:20 -0400

> at least where I-95 joins the beltway ? Opinions ?

It's been tried--and found wanting, in the worst way.  

The Beltway is almost unique among North American highways, so it taxes
the regular kinds of terms used for direction.  Out-of-towners can easily
follow E/W/N/S directions on a highway, so that's how they should be
guided.  And (we) locals know enough to give directions like, "Follow I-95
North, then take I-495 West", say, to get to Bethesda from Richmond.  The
poor visitors shouldn't be confused by unusual terms such as "inner" and
"outer". 

In fact, those words were actually arrived at by Washington's
long-suffering traffic reporters about ten years ago, after struggling for
many more years with "clockwise," etc.  Then, some bureaucrat tried to get
them (the words, not the reporters) legalized, and those unreadable
"inner/outer loop" signs went up on all the Beltway approaches, so that
I-95 could be officially "completed" from Springfield to College Park
(hence, Maine to the Keys).  But "I-495"  was abolished in that same
stretch!  ("Harummph.  Can't have two Interstate numbers on the same
road.  The very idea....")  It was a miserable failure--lasted about six 
months. 

Finally, sanity broke out and we arrived at the workable method you now
see on Beltway signs.  Except for the vestigial, irrelevant, and still
unreadable "loop"  signs left here and there along the Beltway, "inner" and
"outer" are used only in traffic reports and newspaper articles.  It works
fine. 

--

---

From: [email-masked] (Stephen Huettner)
Date: 29 Aug 1995 12:35:07 GMT

>months. 

I-95 is not continuous from Maine to the Keys.  There's a stretch between 
Philly and NYC where the two parts of I-95 don't meet.