Washington Outer Beltway

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The Washington Outer Beltway was a proposed freeway that would have extended further out than the Capital Beltway and encircled Washington, D.C. through the states of Maryland and Virginia. Most of the route was canceled in the 1980s. Parts of it have been built as the Fairfax County Parkway in Virginia,{{cite news |title = The End Of The Road |work = The Burke Connection |date = September 16, 2010 |first = Julia |last = O'Donoghue |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=1324CFEC1CE6D1A8&p_docnum=17&p_queryname=2 }} as well as Interstate 370 and the Intercounty Connector in Maryland.{{cite news |title = Maryland's Highway To Nowhere? |work = City Paper |location = Baltimore, Maryland |date = March 26, 2009 |first = Michael |last = Byrne |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=12745195A2A32C18&p_docnum=23&p_queryname=2 }}

History

Initial plans were developed in the 1950s for the proposed {{convert|122|mi|km|adj=on}} Washington Outer Beltway.{{cite journal |last = Spiers |first = John |date = Summer 2011 |title = The Long and Winding Road: A History of the Intercounty Connector, 1950–2006 |journal = The Montgomery County Story |volume = 54 |number = 1 }} The National Capital Park and Planning Commission issued a Comprehensive Plan for the Nation's Capital and Its Environs in 1950. The comprehensive plan included three different circular roads in and around the District of Columbia. The original Outer Beltway had been planned to pass south of the corporate limits of the City of Rockville, as shown on a map published in The Washington Post in 1951 with the caption "Ring Road suggested by Bureau of Public Roads".{{cite news |last = Roberts |first = Chalmers |date = June 14, 1951 |title = Need of Belt Highway Shown, With D.C. Hub |page = B4 |newspaper = The Washington Post }} In 1953, the portion of the Outer Beltway between Montgomery County and Prince George's County was included in the Master Plan of Highways of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. It was later included in the Commission's General Plan in 1957, and the Commission's On Wedges and Corridors plan in 1964.

In the 1960s, an "outer circumferential highway" was proposed between {{convert|5|and|10|mi|km}} outside the Capital Beltway. In Virginia, by the time of a 1965 plan,{{cite web |title = Review of Transportation Guidance in Previous Comprehensive Plans |url = http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/006562.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231508/http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/006562.pdf |archive-date = September 26, 2007 |access-date = April 5, 2012 |page = 14 }} shows an earlier plan in Prince William County to the south it was to run through southern and western Fairfax County, crossing the Potomac River at Mason Neck and north of Great Falls, and passing generally west of State Route 123 (Ox Road) and east of SR 645 (Clifton Road, Stringfellow Road, and Lees Corner Road). The straight part of the current Fairfax County Parkway between south of Franklin Farm Road and north of Baron Cameron Avenue is built where the beltway would have been.{{cite web |year = 1965 |title = Northern Virginia Regional Plan |url = http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/006562.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231508/http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/006562.pdf |archive-date = September 26, 2007 |access-date = April 5, 2012 |publisher = Virginia Department of Highways |page = 15 }}{{cite book |year = 1969 |title = Northern Virginia Major Thoroughfare Plan |publisher = Virginia Department of Highways }} By contrast, a 1964 plan proposed by a consultant for Prince William County showed a {{convert|162|mi|km|adj=on}} freeway passing by Quantico, Manassas, Leesburg, Poolesville, upper Montgomery County, Fort Meade, southeastern Prince George's County, and La Plata.{{cite news|last=Eisen|first=Jack|date=April 22, 1964|title=Third Belt Freeway Envisioned for D.C.: Originator of Plan|page=B10|newspaper=The Washington Post|id={{ProQuest|142270114}}}}{{cite news|last=Kopper|first=Philip|date=June 18, 1964|title=3d Beltway Endorsed by Plans Group|page=B1|newspaper=The Washington Post|id={{ProQuest|142232793}}}}

The original proposed routing in Maryland was south and east of the current Intercounty Connector alignment.{{Cite news |date = August 7, 1965 |title = New Routes Proposed for Beltway in County |page = B3 |newspaper = The Washington Post }} The new route was motivated in part by a desire to move the routing of the proposed bridge over the Potomac River upstream from the area of River Bend to Watkins Island.{{Cite news |date = May 17, 1969 |title = Watkins Span Backed for Outer Belt |page = C3 |newspaper = The Washington Post }} Virginia residents and the United States Department of the Interior objected to the proposed bridge over the Potomac River because they wanted to create state and federal parks along the river in order to protect sugar maple trees, vegetation, and bald eagles. Because of these concerns, the Maryland State Roads Commission moved the proposed Outer Beltway to a route north of Rockville and eliminated a new bridge crossing the Potomac River.

The Montgomery County Planning Board accepted the state's newly proposed route in 1970, but the Montgomery County Council rejected it, and Prince George's County and Virginia dropped it from their plans. During the 1970s, attention was focused on the Metrorail system, and environmental concerns temporarily pushed the Outer Beltway onto the back burner. In the 1980s and 1990s, when the plan was revived as the Western Transportation Corridor in Virginia, the route was shifted further west.{{cite web |title = Western Transportation Corridor Study Purpose and Need Statement |url = http://virginiadot.org/projects/study-wtc-mis-purpose5.asp |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040822185053/http://virginiadot.org/projects/study-wtc-mis-purpose5.asp |archive-date = August 22, 2004 |access-date = April 5, 2012 |publisher = Virginia Department of Transportation }}

In 1975, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments endorsed a request from the State Highway Administration "for federal support of a $1.1 million planning and engineering study of the first {{convert|8|mi|km|adj=on|disp=sqbr}} segment of the road" (then called the Outer Beltway), which was to "run from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway near Beltsville westward to a point near Interstate Rte 70S at Gaithersburg."{{cite news |last = Eisen |first = Jack |date = February 24, 1975 |title = Segment of Outer Beltway is Endorsed by COG Board |page = C6 |newspaper = The Washington Post }} By 1976, Maryland's Secretary of Transportation no longer supported state financial support of the Outer Beltway, although Montgomery County still supported it in concept. In 1980, the state of Maryland dropped the Washington Outer Beltway from its plans except for the Intercounty Connector.{{cite book |chapter-url = http://www.mc-mncppc.org/community/plan_areas/georgia_avenue/master_plans/aspen_hill/transport_aspen.pdf |title = Aspen Hill Master Plan |date = April 1994 |publisher = Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission |page = 84 |chapter = Transportation |access-date = June 15, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070710004740/http://www.mc-mncppc.org/community/plan_areas/georgia_avenue/master_plans/aspen_hill/transport_aspen.pdf |archive-date = July 10, 2007 }}

Techway proposal

The Techway is a proposal for a limited-access highway across the Potomac River between Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland.{{cite news |title = Dems Unite after Contentious Primary - Republican challengers emphasize fiscal responsibility and traffic projects |work = The Potomac Almanac |date = October 24, 2006 |first = Mary |last = Vause |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=11C606302CBA64C8&p_docnum=25&p_queryname=5 }} The project's name refers to connecting the high-tech firms in Herndon and Reston, Virginia, with the biotechnology companies in Gaithersburg and Rockville, Maryland.{{cite news |title = 'Techway' bridge plan misunderstood, federal agency says |work = The Washington Times |date = May 16, 2001 |first = Daniel F. |last = Drummond |page = C1 |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EC0B71313CAB044&p_docnum=256&p_queryname=1 }} The Techway proposal would construct a limited-access highway and bridge linking Virginia State Route 28 north of Washington Dulles International Airport to the western terminus of I-370 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. To avoid criticism that such a project would encourage urban sprawl, the proponents advocated having very few interchanges on the route and emphasizing its use in making Dulles Airport and the associated office buildings in its vicinity more convenient to residents of northern Montgomery County that currently use the American Legion Memorial Bridge.

In 2000, Congress authorized $2,000,000 to conduct a feasibility study of the Techway.{{cite news |title = 2003 Year in Review: The Techway |work = The Potomac Almanac |date = January 8, 2004 |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=11C605DC407DC350&p_docnum=62&p_queryname=5 }} Congressman Frank Wolf, one of the primary sponsors of the study, asked that the study be canceled the next year because homes in his Congressional district would have to be destroyed in order to build the Techway.{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15751-2004May10.html |title = Traffic Study Renews 'Techway' Debate |date = May 11, 2004 |page = B01 |first = Steven |last = Ginsberg |newspaper = The Washington Post |access-date = August 1, 2010 }}{{cite web |url = http://fleetowner.com/news/fleet_cancelled_techway_bridge/ |title = Cancelled Techway Bridge study sparks battle |date = September 12, 2001 |work = Fleet Owner |access-date = August 1, 2010 }} U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta agreed to cancel the study, saying it would be a waste of money to continue studying a bridge that would never be built.{{cite news |title = Potomac Bridge Study Will Not Be Revived |page = B3 |agency = Associated Press |work = Richmond Times-Dispatch |date = June 8, 2001 |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0ECC8CD7111C822F&p_docnum=238&p_queryname=1 }} Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore III asked Mineta to reconsider, but the study was cancelled.{{cite news |title = Gilmore urges Techway review - Asks Mineta to revive study |work = The Washington Times |date = June 1, 2001 |first = Daniel F. |last = Drummond |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EC608D83AEB0221&p_docnum=245&p_queryname=1 }}

In 2004, a Virginia Department of Transportation traffic study of the American Legion Bridge showed that a significant portion of bridge users traveled between points west of that bridge, reviving the Techway concept. In addition, the Techway project was also discussed in connection with Maryland Route 200 that will extend I-370 to the east to US 1. The combination of the Techway and this other extension would go a long way to form a Western Bypass of Washington, D.C. for north-south traffic on I-95. Also in 2004, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing any bridge, citing concerns about destruction of existing neighborhoods, damage to parkland along the Potomac River, the need to protect the county's {{convert|90000|acre|km2|adj=on}} Agricultural Reserve,{{cite news |title = Three Men and a Bridge - Each of the major candidates for governor express support for controversial Techway bridge |work = The Burke Connection |date = September 28, 2005 |first = Ari |last = Cetron |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=11C33482B43FFA00&p_docnum=38&p_queryname=5 }} and its conflicting with the master plan for Potomac.{{cite news |title = Council Restates Opposition to 'Techway' Bridge |work = The Potomac Almanac |date = June 30, 2004 |first = Alex |last = Scofield |url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=11C605E9B9F19E40&p_docnum=57&p_queryname=5 }}

As of 2011, the Techway project is not funded and not under active study.

See also

{{Portal|U.S. Roads|Virginia|Maryland}}

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References