About Unbuilt Interstate 595 | Web Links | Sources
Interstate 595 was to have been a $30 million 0.772 mile interstate standard upgrade to US 1 between the Shirley Highway (then I-95, now I-395) and VA 233. VA 233 is one of the access roads to Reagan National Airport. Interstate 595 would have had six or eight total lanes. Full interchanges would have been built at 15th Street and at VA 233. Southbound access would be provided to 23rd Street and Eads Street. At the south end of the project a temporary tie-in was to be built back to US 1. Accommodations were to be made to continue the expressway south as the Potomac Freeway. The Potomac Freeway was recommended as a part of the 1969 Northern Virginia Major Thoroughfare Plan. Along the proposed Interstate 595 corridor, 1971 traffic volumes showed 30,000 vehicles per day. It was predicted that Interstate 595 would carry 40,160 to 79, 460 vehicles per day by 1992. Approximately 15 businesses, but no houses would be displaced by the construction of the project.
Plans for Interstate 595 were first considered in the late 1960's. By May 1973, four alternatives were considered during the studies of Interstate 595:
Alternative A, as depicted on the map below, from the May 1973 Interstate 595 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, was ultimately selected for construction.
After Interstate 595 was finally approved for construction in 1975 it ran into community opposition similar to many freeway proposals in the Washington, DC area. Neighborhood and business organizations viewed Interstate 595 as a project that would divide Crystal City and reduce the aesthetics of the area. Business owners feared that the road would cut them off from their customers. On August 24, 1976, a coalition of Arlington County community groups and motels filed suit in U.S. District Court in an effort to stop the construction of the road. The suit contended "From an aesthetic standpoint, I-595 would be a monstrous, monolithic structure resembling a roller coaster which would have a 'Great Wall of China' effect on the Crystal City area." The suit further claimed that state and federal officials did not hold proper hearings before approving the highway. The suit also said that the road would violate federal air and noise pollution standards and separate Crystal City businesses from residential sections of the other side of the proposed highway. On November 24, 1976, a U.S. District Judge in Alexandria, VA halted construction of Interstate 595. The judge noted that that this judgment would probably only delay construction of the road. If two public hearings were held, one for design and one for location, and a more extensive environmental impact statement was prepared, construction would be able to continue.
In May 1978, five proposals for Interstate 595 were presented to the public in two separate hearings as mandated by the November 1976 court judgment. The proposals were as follows:
By early 1979, state officials decided to scrap the original Interstate 595 plan and designation. A scaled down version with a price tag of $20 million would be built as a non-interstate upgrade to US 1. The upgraded road would continue to have the US 1 designation. The scaled down version is essentially what you see now along US 1 in Crystal City. There are interchanges at 15th Street and VA 233 as well as at-grade intersections at the other major streets. There is no access to US 1 at 12th Street due to its proximity to Shirley Highway. In the end, only a very short piece of Interstate 595 was built. The exit ramps to and from Shirley Highway and US 1 were only parts of the Interstate 595 plan that ever saw the light of day.
Please send any updates, comments and corrections to Michael Hale.
Last Update: 1/28/08