Baltimore Washington Parkway designation.
Rush Wickes
Washington Parkway was designated as I-95. There wasn't any 'temporary'
marking above the route shields on the map. Was the Parkway considered a
'full' interstate route at the time prior to the opening of the adjacent
existing roadway in 1968?
--
Rush Wickes -- remove the '-' to reply via e-mail
http://www.southside.org/~rush/
Scott M. Kozel
>
> I noticed on a Rand McNally map from approximately 1965 that the Baltimore
> Washington Parkway was designated as I-95. There wasn't any 'temporary'
> marking above the route shields on the map. Was the Parkway considered a
> 'full' interstate route at the time prior to the opening of the adjacent
> existing roadway in 1968?
I first drove it in 1969, and I don't believe that it ever was I-95, nor
did it ever carry commercial trucking (although it does carry some local
trucks to military bases).
--
Scott M. Kozel Highway and Transportation History Websites
Virginia/Maryland/Washington D.C. http://www.richmond.infi.net/~kozelsm
Philadelphia and Delaware Valley
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/5961/pennways.html
Paul S. Wolf
>
> I noticed on a Rand McNally map from approximately 1965 that the
> Baltimore Washington Parkway was designated as I-95. There wasn't
> any 'temporary' marking above the route shields on the map. Was the
> Parkway considered a 'full' interstate route at the time prior to the
> opening of the adjacent existing roadway in 1968?
I lived and worked in the DC area from '69 to '78 and the B-W was NEVER
signed as or considered I-95 at any time while I was there. Sounds like
R-McN was just providing a route for interstate travelers until I-95 was
built between the Baltimore and Washington beltways. I-95 between the
beltways did NOT open in '68, as I remember driving on it the day it
opened, with my wife, who didn't join me in DC until '70. It opened
sometime between '70 and '74.
--
Paul S. Wolf, PE mailto:paul...@cuyctyengineers.org
Traffic Engineer, Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office, Cleveland, Ohio
C. P. Zilliacus
"Paul S. Wolf" <paul....@alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
> Rush Wickes wrote:
> >
> > I noticed on a Rand McNally map from approximately 1965 that the
> > Baltimore Washington Parkway was designated as I-95. There wasn't
> > any 'temporary' marking above the route shields on the map. Was
the
> > Parkway considered a 'full' interstate route at the time prior to
the
> > opening of the adjacent existing roadway in 1968?
>
> I lived and worked in the DC area from '69 to '78 and the B-W was
NEVER
> signed as or considered I-95 at any time while I was there. Sounds
like
> R-McN was just providing a route for interstate travelers until I-95
was
> built between the Baltimore and Washington beltways. I-95 between the
> beltways did NOT open in '68, as I remember driving on it the day it
> opened, with my wife, who didn't join me in DC until '70. It opened
> sometime between '70 and '74.
Nor did the federal section (south of Md. 175 at Odenton)
of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway _ever_ allow commercial
trucks to use it (military trucks and trucks with federal
government registration tags have always been allowed to
use it), along with essentially all kinds of private and
school buses.
BUT - I do recall that the B-W Parkway _did_ have trailblazer
sign assemblies (which appeared to have been fabricated and
installed by MDOT/SHA (or SRC, as it was then known), not the
National Park Service) reading "_TO_ NORTH I-95" and "_TO_
SOUTH I-95" (emphasis added) at several points along the
Parkway between the Md. 175 and I-495 interchanges. I also
recall some signing along I-495 and the Baltimore Harbor
Tunnel Thruway (now commonly known and signed as I-895)
directing I-95 traffic onto the Parkway. All of these signs
have long since been removed.
I-95 between I-495 in Prince George's County and I-695 in
Catonsville, Baltimore County opened in the early 1970's.
It was under construction in the late 1960's.
As an aside, many members of the anti-auto vanguard torched
the SRC staff (back then) for designing and building an eight
lane freeway (based on 20-year traffic forecasts). Turned out
the forecasts were correct, and the vanguard was wrong.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Steve Anderson
On this section of I-95 in Maryland, the dates on the concrete overpass
abutments date from 1968 to 1971.
-- Steve Anderson
http://www.nycroads.com