Interstate 595 (Maryland)

Interstate 595 (I-595) is an unsigned number for a section of the John Hanson Highway (U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 301) from Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) east of Washington, D.C. to Maryland Route 70 at Annapolis, Maryland.

US 50/I-595 has an HOV lane in each direction from west of the Beltway to east of US 301, a distance of 8 miles (13 km). Unlike other HOV lanes in the Washington metropolitan area, which are only restricted during rush hours, the HOV lanes on I-595 are restricted at all times.^[2]

I-595 is the longest unsigned stretch of Interstate Highway on the entire Interstate system, at 19.97 miles (32.14 km) long. It was left unsigned because motorists were already familiar with US 50.

Route description

The existing US 50 freeway east from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway upgrades silently into I-595 within the Capital Beltway interchange. East of the interchange, I-595 is 10 lanes wide; beyond the MD 704 interchange, it narrows to eight lanes, with the innermost two being HOV lanes.

The frequency of the interchanges decreases as the development backs away from the highway, and US 50 passes over or under several routes before interchanging with Maryland Route 197 near Bowie, using a partial cloverleaf interchange. The highway approaches a residential development as it soon after interchanges with the next major route: US 301 and Maryland Route 3. Within this interchange, US 301 joins the freeway, creating a three-route concurrency, and the highway exits development again, traveling through mostly woodland.

Up to and slightly beyond the US 301/Maryland Route 3 interchange, I-595's road surface is concrete; the roadway beyond there is asphalt. Within the US 301 interchange, the HOV lanes that began at the Capital Beltway come to an end.

It interchanges with Maryland Route 424 in the country after turning northwest once more, approaching Annapolis. Before this, however, US 50 interchanges with the southern end of Interstate 97. Interstate 97 utilizes a directional-T interchange, but then, the two carriageways straddle US 50 as collector and distributor roads, before passing over the highway with another partial interchange and traveling south into Annapolis as a direct freeway spur, now signed as Maryland Route 665.

After the C/D roads leave, the route passes through the Annapolis urban area, and interchanges with Maryland Route 450. MD 450 is an older alignment of US 50, which parallels the John Hanson Highway between Annapolis and Washington. Shortly after this, it interchanges with Medical Parkway and Solomons Island Road. Solomons Island Road adds one more route to the multiplex: Maryland Route 2. The four route concurrency of I-595, US 50, US 301, and MD 2 continue until the next interchange only about a mile later: Maryland Route 70. Here, the John Hanson Highway designation ends, as does Interstate 595. US 50, US 301, and MD 2 continue along the freeway routing, no longer a part of the Interstate system. However, the physical roadbed was fully upgraded to Interstate standards to the western edge of the Severn River Bridge.

History

The John Hanson Highway, US 50's route between Washington, D.C., and Annapolis, was constructed in 1957, and ran from New York Avenue just outside Washington, D.C., to Maryland Route 2, the Ritchie Highway, north of Annapolis, connecting to the western approach to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The highway was four lanes throughout, and connected to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, I-495 and US 301 with full-cloverleaf interchanges.

Due to the increasing use of the highway and the dangerous conditions at the interchanges with the Capital Beltway and US 301, the highway was reconstructed to Interstate standards during 1990 to 1995 between the Capital Beltway and Maryland Route 70 in Annapolis, using funding released from the cancellation of Interstate Highway segments within Baltimore. Originally, it was intended to designate the reconstructed highway as Interstate 68, but with the completion of the National Freeway in far western Maryland in 1991, the Maryland State Highway Administration chose instead to designate that route as Interstate 68, leaving the John Hanson Highway to be designated as I-595. In the 1980s, the John Hanson highway was planned to be designated as a part of Interstate 97 between the Capital Beltway and the current I-97 interchange and as Interstate 197 between I-97 and MD 70.^[3]

Former proposed I-595

In the early 1980s, the same route number was proposed for a connector in Baltimore from Interstate 95 to what was then called Interstate 170, which was left stranded from the rest of the Interstate Highway System by the cancellation of Interstate 70 within the city limits of Baltimore. That connector was never built, and Interstate 170 has been redesignated as part of U.S. Route 40.

Reasons for lack of signage

In January 2001, highway historian Scott Kozel contacted the Maryland State Highway Administration to ask why I-595 was not signed. They responded with: "We did not feel that either the posting in the field or the noting on a map would serve any useful purpose for the traveling public".^[2]

At times in 2011, the MD SHA has used the I-595 reference on the CHART website. This seems to be at the discretion of the operator at the time when referencing accidents and incidents on that highway. No official policy change has been mentioned regarding this.

Exit list

Because I-595 is an unsigned route that is completely concurrent with US 50, the latter's exit numbers are used.

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• Maryland portal

References

External links

• I-595 @ MDRoads.com
• Scott M. Kozel's Roads to the Future article on I-595
• U.S. 50 HOV Project from Md. State Highway Administration
• Map showing existing and proposed Baltimore interstates; I-595 would have combined I-170 with the unbuilt portion of I-70 south to I-95