Ghost Roads

I've always been fascinated by abandoned infrastructure. The abandoned subway stations in New York and London, for instance. What's even more interesting is infrastructure that never got used, especially roads. I think this is a manifestation of my slack-jawed looks from the back of my Dad's Buick as we drove to New York state -- a giant, towering exit ramp that ended in a straight line, looming over I95 in Baltimore. It looked post-Apocalyptic. I wanted to know the story behind it.

Fast forward a few years, and I'm driving to Ocean City (Maryland) to hang with some friends. On Maryland 90, just west of the bay, there was this full interchange that didn't go anywhere. A cloverleaf to nowhere, no road, just ramps that appeared to have never been used. I wanted to know the story behind it.

Not far from my house, there is a huge interchange where I-95 meets the DC Beltway. 95 was originally planned to go into and through Washington, and meet up with what is now I395 at New York Ave. NIMBYs killed it in the early 70s, but not before Maryland built the entire interchange, as seen here.



Today the SHA parks equipment on the completed roadbed, and, up close, you can just make out the faded lane markers.

Here is a shot of the old towering ramp I mentioned earlier. It's where I70 would have connected with I95 in Baltimore. The big ramp was demolished years ago, but some stubs still remain. In this shot, 95 runs horizontally across the frame.



Here's another shot of I70 in Baltimore, this is where it ends after covering 2,700 miles from Utah. It came up a couple miles short, here seen just east of the Baltimore Beltway.



Here's a chunk of I70 that was built, but never connected with the segment shown earlier. It's just west of downtown Baltimore, a strange-looking depressed freeway with a bunch of overpasses, that abruptly ends; in the photo, the lanes on the left have never seen traffic, and on the leftmost side, the right-of-way has been turned into a parking lot.



Getting away from DC-Baltimore for a second, here's an interchange that would have taken 95 into Boston, at the intersection of I-93.



And finally, our tour ends with the mysterious interchange near Ocean City. This one -- well, I still have no story for it. Perhaps some gracious roadgeek could help.