Quote Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto View Post
The Outer Beltway was put on planning maps by your folks [[the highway engineers) in the 1950s. Maryland's InterCounty Connector [[ICC) is a segment of that proposed road. The $3 billion ICC tied-up Maryland's federal highway money for the next twenty years or so. The bonds were supposed to be repaid with tolls. Toll collections are less than expected, and the promised congestion relief has yet to materialize. Sound familiar?

Most of the sprawling development ringing the Beltway--Springfield, Greenbelt, Tysons Corner--was constructed before the Metro system reached those areas in the 1980s. Still, you can't fault Metro for short-sighted zoning in Virginia and Maryland. It *is* worth nothing, however, that Montgomery County, Maryland is tearing down the White Flint Mall [[near the White Flint Metro station) and replacing it with a more densely constructed, mixed-use, walkable environment. If someone proposed such density in Detroit, there'd be six more buildings bulldozed for surface parking lots.
I used to drive from Petersburg, VA [[Ft Lee) to Aberdeen, MD [[Aberdeen Proving Ground) and back a lot in the 1973-1985 timeframe. To stay oput of the Washington mess, I would take US 301 and cross the Potomac River Bridge and go up through MD. Hitting the DC beltway at the wrong time of day was a disaster.

Then in 1985, I moved up to the DC area [[amazing what we will do for money) and had the long slog up Shirley Highway everyday from Backlick Road to King Street [[including the infamous Springfield-Franconia "mixing bowl".