Interstate 295 (Maryland–District of Columbia)

Interstate 295
Interstate 295
Anacostia Freeway
	I-295 highlighted in red
Route information
	Auxiliary route of I-95
	Maintained by MDSHA and DDOT
Length	6.0 mi (9.7 km)
Existed	1964–present
NHS	Entire route
Major junctions
South end	I-95 / I-495 / MD 210 in Oxon Hill, MD
North end	I-695 / DC 295 in Washington, DC
Location
Country	United States
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) also known as the Anacostia Freeway, is a six-mile (9.7 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of Maryland and in Washington, D.C.. It connects I-95/I-495 and Maryland Route 210 (MD 210; Indian Head Highway) near the Potomac River (just outside DC's boundary with Maryland) to I-695 and District of Columbia Route 295 (DC 295) in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Route description

Lengths
	mi^[1]	km
MD	0.8	1.3
DC	5.2	8.4
Total	6.0	9.7

Maryland

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.

District of Columbia

Passing to the west and north of Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm, the route parallels the Potomac River, running through the Southeast quadrant of DC. It passes close to Shepard Parkway and forms the eastern boundary of Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. 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.

Within the park, I-295 encounters the junction with I-695 (which heads northwest across the 11th Street Bridges) and DC 295 at exit 4. At this junction, I-295 ends, and the mainline freeway through the interchange assumes the identity of DC 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 Maryland-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 (Bolling AFB) and Naval Support Facility Anacostia (NSF Anacostia). In 1955, DC officials approved the portion of the route between Suitland Parkway and East Capitol Street; the remainder of the route was approved in 1956.

In 1958, the southern portion of the route, from the beltway to the 11th Street Bridges, became a part of the Interstate Highway System and the route was designated I-295 by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO).

I-295 opened in pieces. The first section was from the Beltway to S. Capitol Street, and the final section of the route, the three miles (4.8 km) from S. Capitol Street to the Pennsylvania Avenue interchange, opened on August 7, 1964. The final part of the project, the connecting ramps to the 11th Street Bridges, opened the following year.^[2] In 1990, a 1.7-mile (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.

Under the 1971 DC 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 half-mile (0.80 km) tunnel, before terminating at I-66 and I-95 north of Washington Union Station, providing access to the North Leg Freeway, the North Central Freeway, and the New York Avenue Industrial Freeway.

As part of the larger Woodrow Wilson 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 (120 ha) 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.

The cancelation 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 DC. 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 / Malcolm X Avenue / Dorthea Dix Avenue – JBAB, DHS	Signed as exits 2A (South Capitol) and 2B (Malcolm X/Doretha Dix) southbound
			4.34	6.98	4	Suitland Parkway / South Capitol Street – Nationals Park, JBAB, DHS USCG HQ	Formerly signed as exits 4A (Suitland) and 4B (South Capitol)
			4.49	7.23	4B	Howard Road – Nationals Park	Former southbound exit and northbound entrance; closed as part of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge project
			5.0	8.0	5A	I-695 west to I-395 – Downtown	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; future I-395 south
			5.0	8.0	5C	11th Street SE / MLK Jr. Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			5.03	8.10	5B	DC 295 north (Anacostia Freeway) to I-95 / US 50	Continuation north
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Closed/former Incomplete access

References

^ ^a ^b Starks, Edward (January 27, 2022). "Table 2: Auxiliary Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways". FHWA Route Log and Finder List. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
^ Clopton, Williard (August 4, 1964). "Freeway Opens Here on Friday". The Washington Post.
^ Thomson, Robert (April 19, 2014). "Plans for HOT lanes on 14th Street Bridge and D.C. freeways still just warming up". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
^
Highway Information Services Division (December 31, 2013). Highway Location Reference. Maryland State Highway Administration. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
- Prince George's County (PDF).

External links

KML file (edit • help)

Template:Attached KML/Interstate 295 (Maryland–District of Columbia)

KML is from Wikidata

[fhwa-1] Starks, Edward (January 27, 2022). "Table 2: Auxiliary Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways". FHWA Route Log and Finder List. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

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

[3] Thomson, Robert (April 19, 2014). "Plans for HOT lanes on 14th Street Bridge and D.C. freeways still just warming up". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

[Maryland_HLR-4] Highway Information Services Division (December 31, 2013). Highway Location Reference. Maryland State Highway Administration. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
Prince George's County (PDF).

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

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v t e Streets and highways 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 Missouri New Hampshire New York Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin
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 Banneker Barney Chevy Chase Columbus Dave Thomas Dupont Grant Logan Observatory Peace Scott Sheridan Sherman Tenley Thomas Truxton Ward Washington
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

v t e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 95
Florida 195 295 395 595 795² Georgia Business North Carolina 295 495¹ 795 Business Virginia 195 295 395 495 595¹ 895¹ District of Columbia 195² 295 395 495 695 Maryland 195 295 395 495 595⁴ 695 795 895 Delaware 295 495 895¹ Pennsylvania 295 395¹ 495¹ 695³ 895³ New Jersey 195 295 495¹ 695³ 895³ New York 295 495 695 895¹ Connecticut 395 Rhode Island 195 295 895³ Massachusetts 195 295 395 495 Business¹ 695³ 895³ Maine 195 295 395 495⁴
¹Former ²Future ³Unbuilt ⁴Unsigned