Highways along the BosWash corridor

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As a group of closely-spaced metropolitan areas, the corridor between the American cities of Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., (an area sometimes known as BosWash) is home to many important and heavily traveled roads. Below is a list of highways a driver is likely to use when traveling along this corridor.

Contents

[edit] Highways that span the entire corridor

[edit] Other important highways

[edit] Washington to Baltimore

[edit] Baltimore to Philadelphia/Wilmington

[edit] Philadelphia/Wilmington to New York

[edit] New York to Boston

[edit] History of highways

[edit] Washington to Baltimore

The first major highway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland - the Baltimore-Washington Boulevard - is still designated U.S. Route 1. It was built mainly along existing roads, and was four-laned by the late 1930s.[1] At each end it connected to city streets - Rhode Island Avenue in Washington and Washington Boulevard in Baltimore.

The second highway was the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, a four-lane freeway built from 1947 to 1954. Connections were again to city streets - New York Avenue and Kenilworth Avenue in Washington and Russell Street in Baltimore.[1]

The newest Baltimore-Washington highway is Interstate 95, which connects the Capital Beltway to the Fort McHenry Tunnel. Except inside the Baltimore Beltway, it was completed in the early 1970s,[2] and carries eight lanes.

[edit] Through Baltimore

An early bypass through Baltimore, Maryland was provided for traffic on U.S. Route 1 along Monroe Street and North Avenue. However, traffic wishing to reach U.S. Route 40 had to pass through downtown.[3] By the mid-1940s, Baltimore had become a major bottleneck - "the worst city in the United States, as far as I know, on the matter of taking care of its through traffic" according to one federal official.[4]

The four-lane, dual tube Harbor Tunnel Thruway was built from 1955 to 1957 as a bypass of downtown to the southeast. It terminated with direct connections into US 1 (Baltimore-Washington Boulevard) to the south and US 40 (Pulaski Highway) to the east, with access to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway for high-speed access to Washington.[4] It was later extended northeast as the JFK Memorial Highway in 1963 and southwest about a mile to the new Interstate 95 in the early 1970s. Today, the Harbor Tunnel Thruway bears the I-895 designation and acts as an "express route", or a bypass, as all inbound interchanges are "entrance only" in both directions. Local traffic into Baltimore uses I-95 and the quad tube Fort McHenry Tunnel.

The eight-lane, quad tube Fort McHenry Tunnel relieved increasing congestion through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel when it opened in 1985 as the final section of I-95 in Maryland. To the southwest, it connected to the continuation of I-95 towards Washington, while the northeast end of the new construction was at a merge with the JFK Memorial Highway near its southwest end.[4]

The final route through Baltimore uses the I-695 Baltimore Beltway. Through traffic bearing hazardous materials (HazMat), is diverted onto the Northern side of the loop, as this is the only way around Baltimore that avoids bridges or tunnels. The southern portion of I-695 crosses the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and acts mainly as route to reach the southern suburbs of Baltimore. The section of I-695 through Dundalk was an undivided freeway until the late 1990s, when it was finally expanded to a fully divided freeway.

[edit] Washington to Wilmington

Currently, travel from Washington, D.C. to Wilmington, Delaware is possible by using U.S. 50 (New York Avenue), in which the freeway begins east of the New York Avenue/Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Maryland Route 295) interchange. East of the Capital Beltway (I-95 and I-495), U.S. 301 joins U.S. 50 and crosses the Chesapeake Bay, via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis, Maryland. The U.S. 50/301 freeway continues over Kent Island, before U.S. 50 splits off from U.S. 301 in Queen Anne's County. U.S. 301 continues north on a 55-mile long, four-lane limited access highway with a combination of full interchanges, traditional surface crossings and special limited access surface crossings with traffic requiring to make U-turns in special turn-arounds in the median before the road narrows into two lanes and enters Delaware near Warwick.

U.S. 301 then goes through Middletown, Delaware where passenger cars can access Delaware Route 1, via Delaware Route 299, while truck traffic continues north on U.S. 301 across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on the four-lane Summit Bridge. At U.S. 40, U.S. 301 designation ends and the four-lane road, now signed as Delaware Route 896 continues north until it meets with the Delaware Turnpike (I-95) near Newark, Delaware. On November 14, 2006, the Delaware Dept. of Transportation announced that U.S. 301 will be rebuilt into a four-lane toll highway and will connect the existing four-lane highway in Maryland with Del. Rt. 1 in St. Georges, Delaware. Like the current U.S. 301 configuration, the new U.S. 301 will terminate at a Delaware state highway, but Del. Rt. 1, already built a high-speed north-south corridor, will allow two different connections to Wilmington – either on the Delaware Turnpike and I-95, via Del. Rt. 1 or with the existing U.S. 13.

Travel between Washington D.C. and Wilmington, Delaware is also possible via I-95, traveling through Baltimore.

[edit] Baltimore to Philadelphia and Wilmington

Early automobile travelers had two choices to go between Baltimore, Maryland and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - the route via Wilmington, Delaware or the route bypassing Wilmington to the north. The former was followed by the Atlantic Highway, becoming parts of U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 13 in 1926, while the latter was the Baltimore Pike and became part of U.S. Route 1. Pennsylvania has widened its section of US 1 to four lanes, and about half is a freeway, but in Maryland much is still only two lanes (mainly due to the presence of the Conowingo Dam near Port Deposit[citation needed]).

US 40 between Baltimore and Wilmington was built as the four-lane Pulaski Highway - mostly on new alignment - around 1940.[2] Its east end connected to the Dupont Parkway - U.S. Route 13 - northeast to Wilmington. This, along with the opening of the Delaware Memorial Bridge in 1951, cemented the Wilmington route as the main route for through traffic.

The end-to-end four-lane JFK Memorial Highway and Delaware Turnpike both opened in 1963, joining the Harbor Tunnel Thruway to the Delaware Memorial Bridge at U.S. Route 13 near Wilmington.[5] Thus through traffic to New York City could continue uninterrupted onto the New Jersey Turnpike, while traffic to Philadelphia could use US 13.

[edit] Wilmington to Philadelphia

Prior to 1966, U.S. 13 would continue past the northern U.S. 13/40 split and go through the city of Wilmington, where the southern terminus of U.S. 202 (currently Delaware Route 202) would intersect U.S. 13 near the Brandywine Creek. U.S. 13 continues in a northeasterly direction until it enters Pennsylvania near Claymont. Upon entering Pennsylvania, U.S. 13 then passes through the oil refineries of Marcus Hook and Trainer before entering Chester. Prior to entering Chester, Pennsylvania Route 291 splits off from U.S. 13 and runs parallel to the Delaware River to Philadelphia International Airport. U.S. 13 then follows through Chester, Eddystone, Ridley Park, before entering Philadelphia, via Darby. In Philadelphia, U.S. 13 goes past the Philadelphia Zoo, before merging with U.S. 1 on the Roosevelt Boulevard before entering Bucks County, via Frankford.

In 1966, DelDOT opened I-95 north of the Delaware Turnpike and Delaware Memorial Bridge and services the downtown sections of Wilmington, via a three-mile viaduct that underwent a major rehabilitation project in the early 1980's, resulting in I-95 being rerouted to the Wilmington Bypass (opened in 1980 and later resigned as I-495 – itself also a bypass for U.S. 13) and the viaduct becoming the defunct I-895. North of the viaduct, I-95 passes through Brandywine Hundred and Claymont on a four-lane road (which underwent a complete rebuilding project in 2000) before enter Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, I-95 parallels U.S. 13 between the state line and the southern junction of I-476, which runs through the middle of Delaware County and connects with the Pennsylvania Turnpike and its Northeast Extension to New Jersey and the Pocono Mountains. Crossing U.S. 13 near Ridley Park, the highway then draws up to the Philadelphia International Airport and PA Route 291, before crossing the Schuylkill River on the double-decked Girard Point Bridge. Past the bridge, I-95 intersects with PA 611 (Broad Street) at the Philadelphia Stadium Complex and roughly follows the Delaware River between the Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76) and Bucks County. I-476, between I-95 and the PA Turnpike, serves as a western bypass to Philadelphia and upon the completion of the I-95/PA Turnpike Interchange Project in 2011, will become a part of a so-called "Philadelphia Beltway" similar in nature to the Interstate 287 beltway in New Jersey and New York.

[edit] Delaware to New York

Through traffic traveling between Washington and Boston rarely uses I-95 through Philadelphia as described above. I-95 acts mostly as a spur route into Philadelphia.

Traffic headed to either New York or Boston diverts south of Wilmington Delaware at the massive Exit 5 complex to I-295 across the twin span Delaware Memorial Bridge into New Jersey. Mainline traffic continues for a short while in New Jersey along I-295 until it meets the New Jersey Turnpike. I-295 continues on as a free highway parallel to the New Jersey Turnpike until Trenton, when it loops back to meet I-95.

The New Jersey Turnpike is a 122-mile toll road that falls several miles short of the two state borders it connects (Delaware and New York). It is a largely express route designed mostly for through traffic. Between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Trenton it is paralleled by I-295, in some sections by a few dozen yards. I-295 provides local access to communities along this route, with much more frequent exits than the turnpike. "Shunpikers," in saving a few dollars by avoiding the Turnpike, often use I-295 between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and I-195, rejoining the Turnpike at Exit-7A.

The turnpike beares no marked route number south of Exit-6 (The Pennsylvania Turnpike). North of Exit-6, the Turnpike is signed as I-95. Once the interchange between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike is completed, I-95 will be rerouted onto it, and the current I-95 between Trenton and the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be renumbered as an extension of I-195. Despite the numbering change, through traffic will still continue to use the New Jersey Turnpike, as it bypasses the often congested Philadelphia area, along with having a continuous 65 mph speed limit between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Exit-7A.

Between exit 8 and 8A, the Turnpike changes from a normal dual-divided expressway to a dual-dual configuration, with the center lanes reserved only for cars and outer lanes for cars, trucks, and buses. All exits and service areas can be accessed from both roadways however.

Access to New York City begins at Exit-10, where NJ 440 provides access to the Outerbridge Crossing to Staten Island -- the West Shore Expressway parallels the NJ Turnpike northwards to I-278, the Staten Island Expressway, which traverses the island from the Goethals Bridge to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Further north, Exit-13, where I-278 provides access to the Goethals and Verrazano Bridges to Staten Island. Exit-14 provides access to the Holland Tunnel to Manhattan via the I-78/Newark Bay Turnpike Extension. North of Exit-14, the roadway splits into eastern and western spurs. The eastern spur provides access to Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel at Extis-16E and 17 and the Secaucus Junction at Exit-15X. The Turnpike ends when both roadways merge at Exit-18.

From here, the roadway continues on as I-95 for 2 exits (68 and 70, which use Turnpike Signage rather than standard interstate highway signage, with the exit numbers themselves based on the cancelled Somerset Freeway project). I-95 merges the I-80 roadway here, though the I-80 designation ceases at the interchange, the roadway continues due east to meet the George Washington Bridge into New York.

[edit] Philadelphia to New York

U.S. 13 continues through Bucks County, going through the city of Bristol before terminating with U.S. 1 near Morrisville. U.S. 1 then continues into New Jersey, going through Trenton Princeton and New Brunswick before merging with U.S. 9, becoming the dual "US 1-9" configuration through Newark, New Jersey and finally into New York City, via the George Washington Bridge.

After departing Philadelphia, I-95 continues through Bucks County, paralleling the Delaware River and connecting Burlington, New Jersey, via PA 413 and the Burlington-Bristol Bridge, a two-lane vertical lift drawbridge. The I-95/PA 413 interchange was originally designed to serve as the junction for the defunct I-895 freeway that would have replaced the Burlington-Bristol Bridge and provide a more direct connection for I-295 in New Jersey. Past PA 413, the highway crosses over the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276) and intersects with US 1, itself a highway between the Turnpike and Trenton, before crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey on the Scudders Falls Bridge near Yardley. I-95 currently continues into an east-west direction before terminating at U.S. 1, where I-295 begins. Before 1982, the proposed Somerset Freeway would have allowed I-95 to continue in a northeasterly direction through Princeton and Somerset, before joining up with I-287 and then continuing north to New York City on the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit-14.

Since the cancellation of the Somerset Freeway, a new project, called the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project, which is anticipated for completion in 2009-2011, will reroute I-95 onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike north of the I-95/PA 413 interchange and will then cross over the Delaware River on the Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge, a four-lane high-level crossing that will be expanded with an identical parallel span, allowing for six lanes of traffic with emergency pull-off shoulders. I-95 will then continue to New York City, via the NJ Turnpike at Exit-6 in which the New Jersey Turnpike Authority will oversee a major expansion project that will turn the highway into a dual-dual configuration already in place between Exit-8A and Exit-15E. (See New Jersey Turnpike for more information on the widening)

[edit] New York to Boston

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I-95 connects New York and Boston. From the George Washington Bridge, it leads east through The Bronx and southeastern Westchester County, where it is also called the "New England Thruway." It then continues across southern Connecticut, passing through Stamford and New Haven. I-95 then continues into Rhode Island and turns north towards Massachusetts, passing through Providence. About ten miles south of Boston, it connects with Route 128 and loops west around the city. Near that intersection, however, it is possible to connect to I-93 by heading east on Route 128, and take it north to downtown Boston. This route is neither the fastest nor the most direct route from New York to Boston, due to the heavy traffic in the New York suburbs (which extend through southwestern Connecticut out to New Haven) and the amount of eastward travel required before turning north.

Faster and more direct routes from New York City involve traveling first to Hartford, CT. From there, one can take I-84 east towards Sturbridge, MA, where I-84 dead-ends into I-90 (the Masspike), which itself heads east to Boston.

There are several ways to get to Hartford to complete the first leg of the New York to Boston trip, and the ideal one depends on the exact location in the New York City area from which one is traveling. One can take I-95 east to New Haven, CT. There, one can connect to the I-91 and head north to Hartford. Just south of downtown Hartford, the Route 15 connector links I-91 and I-84, avoiding a trip through the city center. Similarly, one can take series of parkways that essentially parallels I-95: The Hutchinson River parkway to the Merritt parkway to the Wilbur Cross parkway, which connects with I-91 just north of New Haven. Alternatively, from Westchester County, NY, one could take I-684 northeast to I-84, which one would then take east. Further north in the Hudson valley, near Newburgh, NY, one can get on the I-84 itself, taking it east past Hartford into Massachusetts.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The Roads of Metro Washington-Baltimore - Baltimore-Washington Parkway (MD 295)
  2. ^ a b National Bridge Inventory
  3. ^ Locations for Baltimore trans-city connections and express highways, 1939
  4. ^ a b c Roads to the Future - Baltimore Harbor Crossings
  5. ^ The Roads of Metro Washington-Baltimore - John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway (I-95)