Interstate 295 (Maryland–District of Columbia)

Interstate 295
Interstate 295
Anacostia Freeway
	I-295 highlighted in red
Route information
	Auxiliary route of I-95
Length	8.05 mi (12.96 km) 0.80 miles (1.29 km) in Maryland; 7.25 miles (11.67 km) in the District of Columbia
Existed	1964–present
Major junctions
South end	I-95 / I-495 / MD 210 in Oxon Hill, MD
North end	I-695 / DC 295 in Washington, DC
Location
States	Maryland, District of Columbia
Counties	MD: Prince George's; DC: City of Washington
Highway system
	Interstate Highway System; Main; Auxiliary; Suffixed; Business; Future;

Interstate 295 (I-295) in the U.S. state of Maryland and in Washington, D.C., also known as the Anacostia Freeway, is a 8.05-mile (12.96 km) spur route connecting I-95 / I-495 and Maryland Route 210 (Indian Head Highway) near the Potomac River (just outside the District's boundary with Maryland) to Interstate 695 and D.C. Route 295 in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Route description[]

Beginning of I-295 at I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway interchange in 2007

Although I-295 technically begins at the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495), a pair of mainline ramps connects the southern terminus of the route to the nearby MD 210. Continuing north from this interchange, I-295 enters the District of Columbia; the route is only 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long in Maryland.

Passing to the west and north of Oxon Cove Park, the route parallels the Potomac River, running through the Southeast quadrant of D.C. It passes close to and forms the eastern boundary of Bolling Air Force Base and the Anacostia Naval Station. Near the southern end of Anacostia Park the route turns east and begins to parallel the Anacostia River, interchanging with South Capitol Street near the latter's crossing of the river.

View north at the south end of I-295 at I-95/I-495 in Oxon Hill, Maryland

Within the park, I-295 encounters the junction with I-695 (which heads northwest across the 11th Street Bridges) and D.C. Route 295 at Exit 4. At this junction I-295 ends and the mainline freeway through the interchange assumes the identity of D.C. Route 295 and continues to Baltimore, though it changes identities several times: DC 295, MD 201, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (an unnumbered federally owned expressway operated by the National Park Service), and MD 295.

History[]

The Anacostia Freeway was first conceived by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission in 1950 as a connector route between the Baltimore–Washington Parkway at Kenilworth Avenue and the Capital Beltway near Oxon Hill. The route would provide access to the Anacostia waterfront, which included Bolling Air Force Base and the Anacostia Naval Station. In 1955, District officials approved the portion of the route between Suitland Parkway and E Capitol Street; the remainder of the route was approved in 1956. The southern portion of the route, from the Beltway to the 11th Street Bridges, was given a financial boost when it was included in the Interstate Highway System. The route was designated I-295 by AASHTO in 1958.

View north at the north end of I-295 at I-695/DC 295 in Washington, D.C.

Work began in 1957 on the East Capitol Street overpass over Kenilworth Avenue and 295 opened in pieces, the final section of the route, the 3 miles from the Naval Air Station to the Pennsylvania Ave interchange, opened on August 7, 1964. The final part of the project, the connecting ramps to the 11th Street Bridge opened the following year.^[2] In 1990, a 1.7 miles (2.7 km) section of connecting ramps was built to directly connect I-295 to MD 210, in order to remove the significant traffic flow between the two routes from the segment of the Beltway between both interchanges. These ramps are not considered part of the mainline of I-295.

East Leg[]

Under the 1971 D.C. freeway plans, I-295 would have turned east at the northern end of the 11th Street Bridges and followed the Southeast Freeway as far as East Capitol Street, where it would turn north and follow the East Leg of the Inner Loop freeway. The East Leg, six lanes wide, would have curved around the far eastern edge of the downtown area, passing beneath Mt. Olivet Road in a 1/2 mile tunnel, before terminating at I-66 and I-95 north of Union Station, providing access to the North Leg Freeway, the North Central Freeway, and the New York Avenue Industrial Freeway.

Reconstruction of the southern terminus[]

As part of the larger Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge reconstruction project, the southern terminus of I-295 has been significantly rebuilt. Several new connections have been constructed to link the Beltway, MD 210 and I-295 with the new 300-acre (1.2 km²) National Harbor site on the shore of the Potomac River in Prince George's County, Maryland. One feature of the interchange reconstruction is that accommodations were made for future ramps to proposed high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV) on the Beltway. This project was completed in stages starting in 2008 and ending in 2011.

Reconstruction of the northern terminus[]

The cancellation of both the remainder of the Southeast Freeway and then the Barney Circle Freeway left no through connections between the 11th Street Bridges and DC 295 north, leading to severe congestion and major traffic routing problems. These missing movements were included when the northern terminus was reconstructed, allowing direct freeway-grade access to and from DC 295 at the 11th Street bridges as well as providing a through grade-separated north–south route within D.C. Project construction began in 2011 and the ramps opened in 2012. I-295 now terminates at the interchange with the 11th Street Bridges. I-695 extends over the 11th Street Bridges and continues along the Southeast Freeway to the interchange with I-395.

Future[]

The District of Columbia is considering adding reversible HOV lanes to I-295.^[3]

Exit list[]

State/district	County	Location	mi^[4]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Maryland	Prince George's	Oxon Hill	0.00	0.00	–	To MD 210 – Indian Head	Continuation beyond I-495
Maryland	Prince George's	Oxon Hill	0.00	0.00	1	I-95 / I-495 – Baltimore, Richmond, Alexandria, National Harbor	Signed as exits 1A (north), 1B (National Harbor), and 1C (south); exit 2B on I-95 / I-495 (Capital Beltway)
			0.80 0.00	1.29 0.00	Maryland–District of Columbia line
District of Columbia	Washington		1.29	2.08	1	Laboratory Road – U.S. Naval Research Lab, DC Water, Blue Plains
			2.97	4.78	2	South Capitol Street south / Malcolm X Avenue – JB Anacostia–Bolling	South Capitol Street not signed northbound
			4.34	6.98	3A	Suitland Parkway – U.S. Naval Station, JB Anacostia–Bolling	No direct southbound entrance from northbound Suitland Parkway; signed as exit 4A southbound
			4.34	6.98	3B	South Capitol Street north – Nationals Park, Downtown	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			4.49	7.23	4B	Howard Road – Nationals Park	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			5.03	8.10	5A	I-695 to I-395 – Downtown	Rebuilt in 2014 as part of 11th Street Bridges reconstruction; future I-395 south; exit 1B on DC 295
					5C	11th Street SE / MLK Jr. Avenue	Opened in 2014 as part of 11th Street Bridges reconstruction; exit 1C on DC 295
					5B	DC 295 north to US 50 / I-95	Anacostia Freeway continues north as DC 295; exit 1A on DC 295
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Incomplete access

References[]

^ "Route Log - Auxiliary Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 2". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
^ Clopton, Williard (4 August 1964). "Freeway Opens Here on Friday". The Washington Post.
^ "Plans for HOT lanes on 14th Street Bridge and D.C. freeways still just warming up". The Washington Post. April 19, 2014.
^
Highway Information Services Division (December 31, 2013). Highway Location Reference. Maryland State Highway Administration. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- Prince George's County (PDF).

External links[]

Route map:

( • help)

[1] "Route Log - Auxiliary Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 2". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved 5 October 2014.

[2] Clopton, Williard (4 August 1964). "Freeway Opens Here on Friday". The Washington Post.

[3] "Plans for HOT lanes on 14th Street Bridge and D.C. freeways still just warming up". The Washington Post. April 19, 2014.

[Maryland_HLR-4] Highway Information Services Division (December 31, 2013). Highway Location Reference. Maryland State Highway Administration. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
Prince George's County (PDF).

[5] Prince George's County (PDF).

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v t Streets of Washington, D.C.
Numbered streets	7th Street 14th Street 16th Street NW 18th Street NW
Lettered streets	F Street H Street K Street M Street P Street U Street
State-named roadways	Connecticut Florida Georgia Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire New York Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia
Border avenues and streets	Capitol Streets North East South Border Avenues Western Eastern Southern National Mall Constitution Independence President's Park Jackson Madison East Executive West Executive
Other streets	Benning Road Black Lives Matter Plaza Columbia Road Embassy Row Klingle Road MacArthur Boulevard Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue
Circles	Anna J. Cooper Barney Banneker Chevy Chase Columbus Dupont Dave Thomas Grant Lincoln Memorial Logan Observatory Peace Pinehurst Scott Sheridan Sherman Tenley Thomas Ward Washington Westmoreland
Squares	Farragut Franklin Freedom Lafayette Lincoln McPherson Mount Vernon Seward Stanton Union
Parkways	Clara Barton George Washington Memorial Oxon Run Rock Creek and Potomac Suitland
Expressways	9th Street 12th Street Anacostia Center Leg E Street Kenilworth Avenue Potomac River Southeast Southwest