page_title: Capital Beltway
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: Capital Beltway / Route description
caption_attribution_description: English: Signs for Interstate 495 and the Capital Beltway along eastbound U.S. Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) just west of Virginia State Route 650 (Gallows Road) in Woodburn, Fairfax County, Virginia
context_page_description: The Capital Beltway is a 64-mile Interstate Highway that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside the Beltway", used when referring to issues dealing with U.S. government and politics. The highway is signed as Interstate 495 for its entire length, and its southern and eastern half runs concurrently with I-95.
  This circumferential roadway is located not only in the states of Virginia and Maryland, but also crosses briefly through the District of Columbia, near the western end of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River. The Beltway passes through Prince George's County and Montgomery County in Maryland, and Fairfax County and the independent city of Alexandria in Virginia.
  The Cabin John Parkway, a short connector between I-495 and the Clara Barton Parkway near the Potomac River along the Maryland–Virginia border, is considered an Interstate spur by the Maryland State Highway Administration.
context_section_description: Except for the westernmost part of Woodrow Wilson Bridge south of downtown Washington (the water below is considered part of the District of Columbia), the Capital Beltway encircles Washington, D.C., in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. The two directions of travel, clockwise and counterclockwise (looking at a map), have become known respectively as the "Inner Loop" and the "Outer Loop". The route descriptions below follow the direction of the Outer Loop, starting at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, south of Washington.
  Most Beltway interchanges provide access to Washington, with I-95 and I-295 from the south, I-66 from the west, and US 50 from both the west and the east among the most frequently used. More scenic routes from the Beltway into the District are offered by the George Washington Memorial Parkway along the Virginia side of the Potomac, the Clara Barton Parkway along the Maryland side of the river, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, approaching Washington from the northeast.
  Originally, the entire Beltway was simply I-495, and I-95 was planned to serve downtown Washington, D.C., from the south and north, intersecting the Beltway in Virginia and in Maryland.  However, environmental litigation stopped completion of this plan, and the built portion of I-95 inside the Beltway from the south northward into downtown Washington was redesignated I-395 in 1977.  The small built portion from the north was converted into a park-and-ride lot. I-95 was then rerouted (and so signed) along the eastern side of the Beltway, with the I-495 designation left only along the western side.  In 1989, the I-495 designation was returned to the eastern portion as well, with the highway co-signed as I-95 and I-495 along this route.
caption: I-495/Capital Beltway signage in Virginia
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