DC Beltway turns 50

[The Davy Crockett]

Inside the Beltway: Power, influence, wheeling and dealing :excl:

Outside the Beltway: Did someone hear squealing?

I-495

The way the locals drive

The Inner Loop, the Outer Loop,

Will make an out-of-towner poop

When they take I-95!



Here's the scoop about Washington's most infamous road turning 50 from (What other source?) Washingtonian Magazine:

The Beltway Turns 50: Stuff You Didn’t Know About Washington’s Infamous Road
On the 50th anniversary of its opening, here are some surprising facts and figures about the road Washingtonians love to hate.

From the article:

Honors and awards for non-particpants, the ribbon cutting ceremony:

Fifty years ago, on August 17, 1964, the final piece of the Capital Beltway was opened to traffic, forever changing the Washington region in ways that went far beyond just transportation. Portions of the highway had been opening since 1957, but in completing the ring, the moment ushered in an era that would see the suburbs blossom and the once-disparate region finally unite.

“In my view, the greatest legacy of the Beltway has been its unification of metropolitan Washington as a distinct region,” says Jeremy Korr, a dean at Brandman University in California who wrote his dissertation on the Beltway while at the University of Maryland. “There wasn’t that much that made the area a cohesive unit, largely because it was so time-consuming and mentally draining to get from Maryland to the District to Virginia and back.”

But the highway also decentralized the region, hastening a hollowing-out of downtown DC that is only now starting to reverse. It also would become the bane of many commuters’ existence, as more and more traffic poured into the road in ways the engineers hadn’t expected or designed for.

Here, in facts and figures about its opening and early years, is a hidden history of the Capital Beltway.

Curious? Check out the link above.

Like most long time residents I have my own "hidden history" of The Beltway, but that is another story. :giggle:

 

[Ryan]

Ugh. Can you imagine the area if this had come to pass?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Ugh. Can you imagine the area if this had come to pass?

Kind of looks like a dart board!

 

[John Bredin]

Looks like a bulls-eye on the Capital for Soviet ICBMs. :blink: Thankfully it didn't come to pass: the lords of the rings failed :giggle: and the Soviets and their ICBMs are no more.

 

[railiner]

Remember when the NEC had a station named for that road? Prior to New Carrollton?

Here's a link... http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=117634

 

[Ryan]

I'm not old enough for that.

 

[Ispolkom]

Looks like a bulls-eye on the Capital for Soviet ICBMs. :blink: Thankfully it didn't come to pass: the lords of the rings failed :giggle: and the Soviets and their ICBMs are no more.

Sadly, that's not true WRT to the ICBMs. Having lived in the DC area for almost ten years, I'd be happy if I never have to drive the Beltway again.

 

[afigg]

Looks like a bulls-eye on the Capital for Soviet ICBMs. :blink: Thankfully it didn't come to pass: the lords of the rings failed :giggle: and the Soviets and their ICBMs are no more.

I'm thinking the multiple Beltway loops would serve as a bulls-eye for the alien invaders. Get into low Earth orbit and take out the US capital by aiming at the center of the bulls-eye. However, if they go by the number of circular Beltways to select their target, Houston may get hit first.

 

[CHamilton]

Is that 1959 Buick that's been driving in circles for 50 years on the outer loop still there?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Remember when the NEC had a station named for that road? Prior to New Carrollton?

Here's a link... http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=117634

I use to catch trains to NYP with my Dad there.

Speaking of which, it happened a few years later, but Cap. Beltway Sta. - Another architectural jewel of a station along the NEC destroyed by 'vandals' :excl: :wacko:

 

[fairviewroad]

However, if they go by the number of circular Beltways to select their target, Houston may get hit first.

Yeah, that map made me think of Houston, too.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Houston,+TX&hl=en&sll=44.145447,-120.583402&sspn=5.534341,11.634521&oq=houston&hnear=Houston,+Harris+County,+Texas&t=m&z=10

 

[railiner]

Remember when the NEC had a station named for that road? Prior to New Carrollton?

Here's a link... http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=117634

I use to catch trains to NYP with my Dad there.

Speaking of which, it happened a few years later, but Cap. Beltway Sta. - Another architectural jewel of a station along the NEC destroyed by 'vandals' :excl: :wacko:

Here's a link with a pretty good map and photo collection of that "jewel"......

http://www.railfanguides.us/md/capitolbeltway/#Pictures_of_the_Capitol_Beltway_Station_from_other_sources_

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Here's a link with a pretty good map and photo collection of that "jewel"......

http://www.railfanguides.us/md/capitolbeltway/#Pictures_of_the_Capitol_Beltway_Station_from_other_sources_

Sweet! Great maps & photos. Thanks for the trip down memory lane platform. :hi: