To most area travelers, the Capital Beltway is an obstacle to be avoided at all costs.

Unreliable travel times on I-495 and other major highways in the Washington D.C. area are what help give the region its dubious honor as #1 in congestion.

A new Texas Transportation Institute and INRIX report* ranking the nation's most reliably unreliable corridors bestowed upon us yet another unwanted distinction.
Based on data collected in 2010, three area corridors are among the very worst in the nation:

• Interstate 70 westbound between Md. Route 144 and U.S. Route 15 in Frederick (11th most unreliable)In the next 30 years, this area is projected to add 1,500,000 people and 1,300,000 jobs.
• Onterstate 95 southbound between I-395 and Russell Road (15th most unreliable)
• The Inner Loop of the Beltway (I-95/495) between Springfield and New Hampshire Avenue (27th most unreliable corridor)  

It didn't have to be this way. Planners in the 1960s accurately predicted the region's immense increases in population and jobs and recommended construction of two additional beltways and several new Potomac River bridges.

A 1998-1990 Maryland-Virginia study estimated an Eastern Bypass would have relieved I-95/I-395 congestion. The construction of a Western Corridor would have meant 15,000 fewer vehicle trips per day on I-495, including 3,500 trucks on the Beltway between Springfield and the American Legion Bridge in 2010, as well as relieved pressure on U.S. 15 and I-70. 

The Arlington County Board's "success" in killing the I-395 HOT Lanes assures that segment will become increasingly unreliable.

Failure to heed the recommendations of transportation professionals has produced a heavily congested, unreliable regional network.

*The rankings were compiled by combining traffic volume data from federal reports with speed data from private users, i.e. cell phones equipped with INRIX software, GPS devices from fleet vehicles (taxis, municipal vehicles, etc.) as well as state operated traffic operation systems.

To view the corridor rankings, click here.

For more information on the report, click here.