Unbuilt Interstate 266:

1964 Plan III

Plan III from the September 1964 Interstate 266 study had the highway diverging from Interstate 66 at its interchange with Lee Highway (US 29). From there, Interstate 266 would go north, passing under Lorcom Lane, 24th Street North and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Interstate 266 would then cross over the Potomac River and join the Potomac Freeway at a semi-directional interchange near Georgetown Reservoir. Both upstreaming and downstream connections would be provided to the Potomac Freeway. On the Virginia side, Interstate 266 traffic heading towards Interstate 66 could exit at Lorcom Lane or Lee Highway (US 29).

This map details Plan III:

The 1964 Plan also included artists renderings of the proposals.

Left: Plan III in the Spout Run area looking north towards Washington, DC. Interstate 266 begins in the middle of the picture and goes towards the top of the picture. Interstate 66 is the freeway that starts in the lower left corner of the picture and curves to the right center of the picture. The first overpass on Interstate 266 is Lorcom Lane. The second overpass is 24th Street North. The third overpass is the GW Parkway. In the center of the picture is a shopping center. That is the current location of a Giant Food Store among other merchants.

Above: Interstate 266 as it crosses the Potomac River and interchanges with the Potomac Freeway. The Potomac Freeway runs left to right at the top of the picture. The road going left to right at the bottom of the picture is the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Georgetown Reservoir is in the upper left hand corner of the picture.

The summary of estimated costs for Plan III was as follows:

Item	Cost
Approach - Virginia Side	$12,281,000
Approach - DC Side	12,534,000
Potomac River Bridge	4,114,000
Right of Way - Virginia Side	11,396,000
Right of Way - District Side	8,257,000
Contingencies at 10%	4,858,000
	================
Grand Total	57,679,000

Source:

Connecting I-66 in Virginia with the Potomac River Freeway in the District of Columbia via an Additional Potomac River Bridge (Location Studies : Interstate Route 266). Howard, Needles, Tammen and Bergendoff Consulting Engineers. September 1964.

Please send any updates, comments and corrections to Michael Hale.

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Last Update: 1/28/08