30 highways such as Georgia and New Hampshire avenues were extensions of the Washington, DC city streets. The roads had been extended beyond the City’s boundary, and commercial and residential development occurred along these roads in the county where land was less expensive. 47 During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, nine private turnpikes were chartered between Baltimore and Frederick, Reisterstown, York, Pennsylvania, Bel Air (and Philadelphia), Havre de Grace, and Washington, DC (Bladensburg and Georgetown). Turnpike towns like Pikesville, Towson, Lutherville, and Parkville ringed the city, but were not connected to one another, or were inefficiently connected. Getting from one town to another required travel through the City and back out on another road. Following the SRC’s creation in 1908, the agency gradually took over the roads, converting them to state highways. By the late 1940s, as the first wave of suburban development occurred north of Baltimore, travel between the towns became increasingly difficult. Baltimore County planners developed the route of the new beltway and Governor McKeldin inaugurated construction by turning the first shovel of dirt in 1954. Initially, Baltimore County planned the road as a connection to the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway from Towson and Pikesville. The SRC, however, took over the project and concluded that linking seven communities together by one highway was a practical solution to the nineteenth century radial road problem, so the road was extended both east and west in the late 1950s. 48 The road was completed in July 1962 as a four lane, divided highway with interchanges at the radial roads. As with other highways from this period, the Baltimore Beltway construction used many of the standardized elements that the SRC used on other highways – most of the bridges were metal girder or stringer/multi-beam or girder examples. 49 The SRC engineers quickly learned that their traffic estimates were low. During the late 1940s, the engineers believed that traffic grew at a rate of five percent a year; however, once the Baltimore Beltway was completed, its traffic actually increased at a rate of ten percent a year. 50 47 Planners in both cities envisioned a ring of beltways within the city near the Central Business District, a middle ring road and an outer ring road. None of the in-town beltways were built, while both I-495 and I-695 are the middle distance beltways, and the Intercounty Connector will have an alignment that is near to the proposed outer beltway. 48 Neal A. Brooks and Eric R. Rockel, A History of Baltimore County, Towson, MD: Friends of Towson Library, Inc. (1979) p. 373; <strong>State</strong> Roads Commission of <strong>Maryland</strong>, Forging Ahead, an Interim Report 1960-1962, n.p. 49 The connection across the mouth of the Patapsco River, Key Bridge, a large through truss bridge, was completed in 1977. 50 SRC, 12-Year Program, p. 4.
31 Figure 10: I-695 at Dulaney Valley Road looking west circa 1964. 51 Historic photographs of the Beltway’s construction show established residential development in Baltimore County by the 1960s (Figure 10). Although Brooks and Rockel state that I-695’s construction required few relocations, the highway bisected neighborhoods, thereby dividing communities. 52 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway Figure 11: Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Entrance, 1958 51 Source: SHA Photo Archive 52 Bruce M. Grey, Personal communications with Anne E. Bruder, SHA, Baltimore, MD October 7, 2009. Traffic continued to grow and in 1969, the SRC began widening portions of the Beltway.