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Interstate 66
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Interstate 66 (I-66) is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. As indicated by its even route number, it runs in an east-west direction. Its western terminus is at Middletown, Virginia, at an intersection with Interstate 81; its eastern terminus is in Washington, D.C., at an intersection with U.S. Route 29. Interstate 66 has no physical or historical connection to U.S. Route 66.
VA
|75
|121
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|DC
|2
|3
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|Total
|77
|124
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use I-66 is the only major highway running west from Washington, D.C., into Northern Virginia, traffic on the road is often extremely heavy.
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Encyclopedia
Interstate 66 (I-66) is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. As indicated by its even route number, it runs in an east-west direction. Its western terminus is at Middletown, Virginia, at an intersection with Interstate 81; its eastern terminus is in Washington, D.C., at an intersection with U.S. Route 29. Interstate 66 has no physical or historical connection to U.S. Route 66.
Route description
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|VA
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|DC
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|77
|124
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Major cities
Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs |
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Virginia
Because I-66 is the only major highway running west from Washington, D.C., into Northern Virginia, traffic on the road is often extremely heavy. For decades, there has been talk of widening I-66 from 2 to 3 lanes each way inside the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) through Arlington, Virginia, although many Arlington residents are adamantly opposed to this plan. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is studying the prospect of implementing this one-lane-plus-shoulder extension on westbound I-66 within the Beltway (in an attempt to reduce congestion for people commuting away from D.C.).
Due to heavy commuter traffic, I-66 features high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in varying degrees. Between the Prince William Parkway (State Route 234) in Gainesville, Virginia and the Beltway, the left lane on eastbound I-66 is reserved for HOV-2 during the morning rush (5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.), and the left lane on westbound I-66 is reserved for HOV-2 during the evening rush (3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.). During the morning rush, the eastbound shoulder lane (far right lane) is open to all traffic from 5:30 am until 11 a.m. In the evening rush, the westbound shoulder lane (far right lane) opens to all traffic at 2 p.m. and remains open until 8 p.m. Between the Beltway and the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, the entire eastbound (inbound) roadway is reserved for HOV-2 and Washington Dulles International Airport traffic during the morning rush (6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.), and the entire westbound (outbound) roadway is reserved for HOV-2 and Dulles Airport traffic during the evening rush (4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.). This is not readily and easily enforced, because single-passenger vehicles are allowed to come onto the highway within the Beltway in the direction of rush-hour traffic when they are intending to use the Dulles Access Road at exit 67.
Between Vienna and western Arlington County, the Orange Line of the Washington Metro runs along the median of the interstate. Four stations (Vienna/Fairfax-GMU, Dunn Loring-Merrifield, West Falls Church, and East Falls Church) are located along this section.
I-66 east has two exits, one from each side of the carriageway, to the Inner Loop of I-495. One is a right exit, while one is a left exit; the latter is retained to make it easier for traffic to join the Inner Loop without having to weave across the entire carriageway. Also, there is no access from the Outer Loop of I-495 to I-66 east; traffic wishing to make this movement must use State Route 267 east.
I-66 is named the "Custis Memorial Parkway" east of the Capital Beltway in Virginia. The name commemorates the Custis family, several of whose members (including Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, George Washington Parke Custis, Eleanor (Nellie) Parke Custis Lewis and Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee) played prominent roles in Northern Virginia's history.
District of Columbia
In Washington D.C., I-66 follows the West Leg of the Inner Loop freeway. After crossing the Potomac River on the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge concurrent with US 50, the route quickly turns north, separating from US 50. The Interstate interchanges with E Street before passing beneath Virginia Avenue in a short tunnel. It then interchanges with the Rock Creek Parkway (via 27th Street NW and Virginia Avenue NW) and Pennsylvania Avenue. It has an interchange at US 29 and 27th Street. It then continues onto the Whitehurst Freeway, and ends at M Street NW.
This is the only 2 digit Interstate to enter the District of Columbia (other than the 100 yards (100 m) or so that I-95 passes through DC on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge).
History
Virginia
As with many urban Interstate Highway projects, I-66 has encountered opposition from local citizen groups.
Most notably for I-66 was the construction through Arlington, Virginia, proposed in 1956. After the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) (then known as the Virginia Department of Highways) acquired two sections of the former route of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad to provide a right-of-way through Arlington for the new highway, the Arlington Coalition on Transportation (ACT) filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in 1971 opposing the Arlington portion of the project. The group objected to that urban segment due to concerns over air quality, noise and community cohesion changes. In 1972 the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of ACT, technically blocking any construction. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling in favor of ACT later in 1972.
The impasse was eventually broken when the parties agreed on experts to conduct air quality and noise studies for VDOT; the firm of ESL Inc., the expert hired originally by ACT, was agreed upon to be hired by VDOT. Then, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Coleman personally intervened in 1976 with negotiations to reach a compromise of a reduced highway width including a transit element.
Less controversial was the portion of the highway's route immediately west of Arlington. There, VDOT decided to curve the highway to bypass the City of Falls Church, increasing the interstate's length while sparing the city from the road's immediate environmental impacts.
District of Columbia
In Washington D.C., I-66 was planned to extend east of its current terminus along the North Leg of the Inner Loop freeway. I-66 would have also met the eastern terminus of Interstate 266 at US 29, and the western terminus of the South Leg Freeway (I-695) at US 50; I-266 would have been a parallel route to I-66, providing more direct access to the North Leg from points west, while I-695 would have been an inner-city connector between I-66 and I-95.
The final plans for the North Leg Freeway, as published in 1971, outlined a six-lane tunnel beneath K Street, between I-266/US 29 and New York Avenue, where the North Leg would emerge from the tunnel and join with the Center Leg Freeway (formerly I-95, now I-395); the two routes would run concurrently for 3/4 of a mile before reaching the Union Station interchange, where I-66 was planned to terminate.
Despite the plan to route the North Leg in a tunnel beneath K Street, the vitriolic opposition to previous, scrapped alignments for the D.C. freeway network, which included previous alignments for the North Leg Freeway, led to the mass cancellation of all unbuilt D.C. freeways in 1977, resulting in the truncation of I-66 at US 29.
No auxiliary routes were constructed. Interstate 266 was planned in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. It was cancelled in 1972 due to community opposition and environmental concerns.
Exit list
| County | Location | Mile | # | Destinations | Notes |
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| Frederick | Middletown | | 1 | | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | | Warren | Front Royal | | 6 | | | | | | 13 | | | | Fauquier | | | 18 | | | | | | 23 | | West end of US 17/SR 55 overlap | | Marshall | | 27 | | East end of SR 55 overlap | | | 28 | | East end of US 17 overlap | | The Plains | | 31 | | | | Prince William | Haymarket | | 40 | | | | | | 43 | | | | | | 44 | | West end of SR 234 overlap | | | | 47 | | East end of SR 234 overlap | | Fairfax | | | 52 | | | | | | 53 | | | | | | 55 | | | | | | 57 | | | | Fairfax | | 60 | | | | Vienna | | 62 | | | | | | 64 | Baltimore | Left and right exit eastbound (left from HOV lane); no westbound exit to I-495 north | | | | 66 | | | | | | 67 | | Westbound exit only | | Arlington | | | 68 | Westmoreland Street | Eastbound exit only | | | | 69 | | | | | | 71 | | Eastbound exit only | | | | 72 | | Eastbound exit only | | | | 73 | | | | | | 75 | | Eastbound exit only | | | | | | West end of US 50 overlap; westbound exit and eastbound entrance | | State line |
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| Washington | | | Independence Avenue | | | | | | East end of US 50 overlap; eastbound exit and westbound entrance | | | | E Street Expressway | | | | | Rock Creek Parkway | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | | | | Pennsylvania Avenue / L Street NW | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | | | | | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | | | | M street NW | At-grade intersection |
Auxiliary routes
External links
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