DC: I-295 exit number clarification

 
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froggie



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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 7:54 pm    Post subject: DC: I-295 exit number clarification Reply with quote

So I took a trip up and down I-295 (and some of DC 295 too) this afternoon...something I've done quite a bit while here, but I paid particular and close attention to the exit numbers. Hopefully this clears up any confusion about I-295's exit numbers.

At I-95/495, southbound I-295 has Exits 1A, 1B, and 1C, 1A to the inner beltway, 1B to National Harbor, and 1C to the outer beltway. No exit number for the ramp that will lead to MD 210.

The DC side has its own Exit 1...it's effectively a split interchange, with the south ramps at the NRL entrance and the north ramps at Chesapeake St. Tim has already noted this with his "1" and "1A" points.

Exit 2 is signed for Bolling AFB and Malcom X Ave (and also South Capitol going southbound). This one is a strange mix, to say the least...words don't do it justice. That said, there's 2 northbound on-ramps, with one from Malcom X Ave and another from northbound S. Capitol before it crosses to the west side of I-295. Though the I-295 list is okay as it is, if I were creating it I'd have made the Malcolm X Ave point "2" and saved "2A' for the South Capitol on-ramp.

As Oscar noted in the I-395 thread, the interchange at Suitland Pkwy (with in-direct ramp connectons via Firth Stirling Ave and Howard Rd) is signed as Exits 3A and 3B. No change need be made here.

Also, as Oscar noted, Exit 4 is now used for the split between the 11th St Bridges (I-295, though not signed as such) and the Anacosta Freeway (DC 295). No gore sign...Exit 4 is indicated by exit tabs.

There are no exit numbers along "unsigned I-295" between the Anacosta Fwy (DC 295) and the Southeast Fwy (unsigned I-695).

There are no exit numbers along the Southeast Fwy, east of I-395.

Tim noted that Google Maps shows an "Exit 5" along DC 295 at Pennsylvania Ave. However, there are no exit numbers signed in the field anywhere along DC 295.

Hope that clears things up.
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oscar_voss



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One other thing: the "NStSE" exit just added for I-295 should be "MStSE". The exit sign on I-295 northbound refers only to M Street SE, not N Street SE. Moreover, N St., within the Washington Navy Yard complex. appears to be restricted access (it was closed by locked gates and barricades when I drove by this weekend afternoon). For the general public, the turnoff before reaching M Street SE goes only to Water Street SE, or the ramp back onto I-295 southbound.
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froggie



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

N St is indeed restricted access....I know it's open outbound in the afternoon/evening (out from the Navy Yard onto 11th St and the SB 295 ramp. I presume it's open inbound into the Navy Yard in the morning. Can't imagine it'd be open on weekends, as you saw.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If I were making the I-295 file from scratch, I'd switch 2 and 2A, too. But since it's already live, I'm going to leave it.

I'll change N St. to M St.

Thanks for checking out this route and I-395, too, in person.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

With gas prices more down to earth now, I drove down to DC to check out some highways I hadn't yet clinched.

At Exit 4 of I-295, there are signs very clearly indicating that I-295 ends (NB) and begins (SB) there. Not across the river at the interchange with I-695. Little green signs on an overpass are visible in each direction, one says END [I-295 shield], the other BEGIN [I-295 shield]. Google maps and this project have it ending at I-695 across the river instead.

Did I-295 really end on the west side of the river? Or has that changed? Or are the ramps going across the river just unsigned I-295, a bit like "not"-I-70 inside the Baltimore beltway which MD SHA calls I-70 anyway?
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froggie



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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The 11th Street Bridges, and the spur of the SE Freeway going over to Pennsylvania Ave, are still officially I-295, albeit unsigned as you noted. Those BEGIN/END I-295 signs are DC-installed signs, and we all know how well DC signs through routes... Rolling Eyes

As for the project (and I should've checked this a long time ago), the little section between 11th St and Pennsylvania Ave, which you have listed as I-695 on the project, should be I-295 instead.
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oscar_voss



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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="froggie"]The 11th Street Bridges, and the spur of the SE Freeway going over to Pennsylvania Ave, are still officially I-295, albeit unsigned as you noted. Those BEGIN/END I-295 signs are DC-installed signs, and we all know how well DC signs through routes... Rolling Eyes[/quote]

I always figured that the BEGIN/END I-295 signs were there not to mark the northern end of I-295, but to mark where the Anacostia Freeway changes from I-295 to DC 295 and vice versa.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In light of
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/dc.cfm
it and the exit numbering are probably just looking toward the future. It's been proposed that I-295 no longer use the 11th St. bridges, and I-295 isn't signed on in most places it could be signed for the bridges, so they just jump the gun and sign the Interstate as ending there. The proposed numbering makes sense to me - one freeway called 295 is better than two. And would it be so awful if I-695 were signed with its designation?

I didn't know I had a piece of I-295 called I-695. Either the Interstate Guide's pages aren't clear or I simply misunderstood them. Some "research" from the web today showed me that it was planned to be part of a longer I-295 and the link above mentions it as I-295.
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froggie



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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alex's Interstate Guide pages are a bit misleading (and in one case completely contradictory) on the subject. What I posted previously (and verified by that FHWA page) is the correct situation.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Found a map that agrees!

http://ddot.dc.gov/ddot/lib/ddot/information/maps/NHS_E_P.pdf

I fixed up I-295 and I-695 tonight.
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oscar_voss



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PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The ramp from the northbound 11th St. Bridge to the eastbound Southeast Freeway is normally closed, open (if ever) only for access to the RFK Stadium parking lots when soccer games or other events are held at the stadium. IIRC, ditto the ramp from the eastbound Southeast Freeway to the southbound 11th St. Bridge. So if the eastern part of the Southeast Freeway is part of I-295, there nowadays is normally no connection between that segment and the rest of I-295. That's a strange situation, and certainly complicates things for anybody trying to clinch I-295.
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oscar_voss



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PostPosted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote]The ramp from the northbound 11th St. Bridge to the eastbound Southeast Freeway is normally closed, open (if ever) only for access to the RFK Stadium parking lots when soccer games or other events are held at the stadium. IIRC, ditto the ramp from the eastbound Southeast Freeway to the southbound 11th St. Bridge. So if the eastern part of the Southeast Freeway is part of I-295, there nowadays is normally no connection between that segment and the rest of I-295. That's a strange situation, and certainly complicates things for anybody trying to clinch I-295.[/quote]

To follow up: The ramp connecting northbound 11th St. Bridge to the eastbound Southeast Freeway has an overhead sign, "Road closed except for stadium games." Well, there was a game today at RFK Stadium (the just-concluded EagleBank Bowl), so I used that as my excuse to check it out this morning. I had no hassles or other problems, but the remnants of an orange barrel in the middle of the ramp (which were there other times I've passed by) suggest that the ramp was not "officially" opened for the EagleBank Bowl. Also, there was enough small debris on the ramp, to suggest that traffic (or DDOT streetsweeping) on the ramp is rare.

The connecting ramp in the other direction, between the westbound Southeast Freeway and the southbound 11th St. Bridge, was blocked by two intact orange barrels, so I treated it as closed, even though there was no "road closed" sign.

The bottom line is that, if I-295 includes both the 11th St. Bridge and the eastern leg of the Southeast Freeway, I-295 is normally (and perhaps is supposed to be always) discontinuous. Unless you venture illegally (at least on non-game days) onto the connecting ramps, you have to leave I-295, onto unsigned I-695 and/or a surface street, before returning to complete the rest of the route.

Fortunately, DDOT plans to eventually eliminate this anomaly, by deleting from the Interstate system the part of I-295 on the Southeast Freeway, and turning that segment into a boulevard, once it adds ramps to the 11th Street Bridge to connect it to the DC 295 part of the Anacostia Freeway.
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