| Baltimore-washington Parkway |
Website Links For Parkway |
Information AboutBaltimore-washington Parkway |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON PARKWAY | |
| state highways in maryland | |
| 295 | |
| united states federal parkways | |
| transportation in washington, d.c. | |
| roads in maryland | |
| registered historic places in maryland | |
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Construction on the highway was begun in 1947 and it was opened to traffic in 1952 (the Federally-controlled section was opened two years later), making it the first limited-access highway in Maryland. The route specifically prohibits commercial trucks (except on the short part along US 50 at its south end), and provides a significant commuter route within the Baltimore-Washington region. Two major users of the B-W Parkway are the National Security Agency and NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center , both of which have their own exits off of the parkway specifically for their respective employees only. TRIVIA The route bisects Greenbelt Park , whose land was obtained through the same acquisition as that of the parkway. As on other federally maintained roads, signs are brown rather than the standard green and use Serifs on their text, except at the I-95 / I-495 ( Capital Beltway ) interchange. In 1989 , an Overpass being built at Maryland State Highway 198 over the B-W Parkway just east of Laurel, Maryland , collapsed during rush hour, injuring 14 motorists and construction workers. The incident was blamed on faulty scaffolding used to support the uncompleted span. Maryland State Highway 295 , the Parkway's extension to Baltimore, is also called the Baltimore-Washington Parkway on signs. The federal B-W Parkway is also designated MD 295 by the Maryland State Highway Administration for administative purposes (because the federally-owned parkway proper has no numeric designation). When the NSA was moved to Fort George G. Meade in the 1950's (to protect against a Nuclear detonation in downtown Washington DC) existing roads were inadequate to handle the traffic from a then Washington based workforce. The BW-Parkway was built primarilty to service the agency which is why the Federal Government, and not the State of Maryland , built the parkway to a point just beyond the NSA Exit. INTERCHANGES
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