I travel on the outerloop of capital beltway each morning from route 50 to I-270 North. That is, I enter the outer loop at route 50 in Maryland and take I-270 North exit. This stretch of highway commute is probably worst on the capital beltway and probably worst in the Washington metropolitan region. The outerloop comes to a standstill just after the route 1 interchange everyday. I think the main reason for this traffic is the inflow of traffic from the I-95 South that merges into the outerloop after the route 1 interchange. The outerloop has four lanes before the I-95 merge and I-95 comes in with 2 lanes of its own. So, 6 lanes of traffic tries to squeeze into 4 lanes after the New Hampshire avenue. If you are a daily commuter on this highway, you will notice that there is a bridge after the New Hampshire Avenue and just before the University Blvd on the outerloop. Just before this bridge all 6 lanes must merge into 4 lanes because the bridge is not wide enough to accommodate 4+ lanes of traffic.
Here's are the interchanges and traffic patterns on the outerloop every morning:
- Route 50
- Annapolis Road (MD-450, Exit 20)
- Baltimore-Washington Parkway (MD-295, Exit 22)
- Kenilworth Avenue (MD-201, Exit 23)
- Baltimore Avenue (Route 1, Exit 25)
- I-95 interchange New Hampshire Avenue (MD-650, Exit 28)
- University Blvd (MD-193, Exit 29)
- Colesville Rd (MD-29, Exit 30)
- Georgia Avenue (MD-97, Exit 31)
- Connecticut Avenue (MD-185, Exit 33)
- Wisconsin Avenue (MD-355, Exit 34)
- I-270 North (Exit 35)
The backup starts at route 1 interchange (exit 25) and goes all the way to the Georgia Avenue (exit 31). This is about 6-7 miles of stop and go traffic every morning. It takes about 30-40 minutes to go through this 7 mile stretch in the morning. I have yet to figure out a reason why the traffic starts moving at posted speed limit after Georgia Avenue interchange. Does anyone have an idea?