I-170, I-70 & More: Baltimore, MD

This video shows some cancelled freeway remnants from I-170 & I-70 in the Baltimore area and more.

[@rwboa22]

They should give I-70 a sort-of "proper" ending by piggybacking it onto I-695 from the I-70/I-695 exit near that Park & Ride to the western I-95/I-695 exit near the BWI Airport. That way a gap in the Interstate Highway System, especially involving a long-distance route, can be closed up.

[@faizakhalid4796]

Richard Bowley d

[@IndyCarFan265]

The story of I-170 has always been interesting for me to study.

[@ashtonnesmith]

I enjoy the view driving into Baltimore. When I arrived to the USA I landed in DC and was thoroughly underwhelmed by the city due to its 10 floor building limit. About a month later my hosts drove us into Baltimore and approaching the city from 395 I thought ,now this is a city !

[@jamesanthonygreen8233]

That was another very enjoyable video from you.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@bobbym.2130]

PHENOMENAL video! I think Larry Hogan is doing a great job as Governor so far, but cancelling the Red Line will always remain the one blemish on his record while in office as far as I'm concerned. It would've raised this city's profile on so many levels!

[@kevinhoward9593]

your videos are just so calm and relaxing.

[@Freewayjim]

I'm glad you enjioy them and thank you for watching!

[@benlonghighway]

3:10 Geez, I hope they can fix this problem soon. . . :'( 5:30 amd 5:44 If they ever fix this, maybe this ramp will open. Nice arrows, by the way! Geez, I hate these cancelled freeways. If they fix this, that could help ease up on the traffic flow. On the other hand, great video, Jim! :)

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you, it is an odd way for such a major Interstate to end.

[@EphemeralProductions]

indeed it is. been a long time since I've watched this, and watching it again, I thought "Baltimore is out of the ordinary for a lot of reasons and this is one of em. " :)

[@Freewayjim]

@@EphemeralProductions Excellent point!

[@MikeyLew47]

Another great vid. I live up in Lancaster, PA and sometimes after I drop my wife off at BWI for her business trips, I take quick excursions around Baltimore. I wondered about those ghost ramps on 95. It kind of reminds me of an interchange up here between US-30 and PA-23 where they had the right-of-ways completed but abandoned the building of the highway. It's called "The Goatpath" locally as the right-of-way was sodded over and Amish use it to pasture goats.

[@stans4me]

Wow! Thank you very much for this video. I lived in B'more years ago and this brought back some great memories. Great vid as always and wonderful music selection; looking forward to seeing more.

[@cjs121675]

Very interesting to see the incompleted parts of the interstate system. In Ohio, there were sections of US 30 that were initially supposed to be freeways connecting to each other but from what I heard farmers were hesitant to sell their lands so the project wasn't completed until the last decade. I can remember seeing the freeway termination in Bucyrus, Crestline and Upper Sandusky... always interesting seeing unfinished highways! Great ride! Hope to see more of the unfinished highways!

[@NerdDandy]

I miss I-395, approaching city from I-95 is why I moved to Charm City! Hope to be back one day! Enjoyed the video! Enjoy your driving!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you very much!

[@InkaBall]

Be Careful!

[@bigburnize]

We visited Inner Harbor when we where in Baltimore back in July. Got caught in the 395 south to 95 north traffic after an Orioles game. The top of that overpass at 7:05 gives a nice view of town at 3 MPH.

[@rayfridley6649]

Great video! I am from Maryland. I, for one, would like to see the extension of I-70 as a concurrency with I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) to I-97 south, onto its new eastern terminus at Annapolis. I-97 highway renumbered as I-70.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you and I agree!

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, I recall the partially completed flyover too, wish I had thought to take pics of it way back then.

[@expresswayjess]

Thanks for the video. Unbuilt freeways have always been my favorite area of study when it comes to roads.

[@techedtchr]

Always interesting to see the highways I drive every day from a different perspective - great job!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you! I agree on the local roads, a shame indeed! I had a lot of fun making this video, I love the whole "what could have been" aspect of these cancelled freeways.

[@ChrisK529]

Superbly done as usual Freeway Jim - as are all your videos. Most of them remind me of events in my life; this one is no different. Baltimore holds a bittersweet place in my heart; nothing against the town, it's just that I flew from Houston to BWI (Baltimore-Washington) in 1997 so I could drive to Frederick to meet someone from Indiana I met online; she eventually became the love of my life. From then until March 2011 when she unexpectedly passed away after a brief illness we were inseparable.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you.....sorry for your loss, thanks for sharing that story.

[@FreewayBrent]

I watched this a few days ago, but I don't recall leaving a comment. This was one of the more interesting videos you've done; I would totally recommend this video as a reference to any case study, studying the modern history of urban development in Baltimore. It does seem like that now there isn't any remote possibility of I-170 ever being extended, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to remove it altogether for redevelopment. On a side note, the music kinda reminded me of playing Sim City, LOL.

[@louky264]

The reason I 70 ends in such a undignified and humble way for such a major interstate at the Baltimore City line is due to the fierce opposition over the route through Leakin/Gwynns Falls Park that exists beyond the park and ride. The 170/US 40 freeway on the westside was the originally planned mainline of I 70 before the freeway system was redesigned in the late 1960s due to public outcry. Still it would be cool to see the last several miles of I 70 built

[@MrJamesgrate]

Wow, at 1:48 that was a little scary to see someone walking along the skirt of the highway, I hope they made it to their destination. It seems like Baltimore is a little behind in their upgrade to the highway system. What a disappointment, since this video was shot back in 2012, maybe they made some improvements since then!! Very good educational video Jim!!!

[@user-yy1rs3df3q]

The interchange photo. This video actually explains a lot about the unused sections of road I see along I-95. Great video!

[@socarboy]

Great job! You sure know how convey your thoughts with your pictures and music

[@dave11686]

Excellent video!

[@InterstateKyle]

Excellent video Jim.

[@EdgeXXI]

The East Coast is full of motorway anomalies. I especially like the one where the 95 fwy abruptly ends in Trenton and reappears on the Turnpike. As always, thank you for being my tour guide.

[@Freewayjim]

Indeed, thank you for watching.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, I find them fascinating too!

[@RoadsofEuropeverreme]

Pretty interesting stuff, I've always been kinda fascinated about never-built infrastructure. Thanks for sharing!

[@louky264]

They should try to tunnel I 70 under the park similar to the way I 64 tunnels under part of Cherokee Park in my hometown of Louisville KY. But this is the more ecoconscious 2010s so that section of I 70 is sadly very dead and the 170 freeway is an orphan. Unlike 170, I 70s route didnt seem to take too many homes or businesses. They should proceed with building the Red Line and decking over the 170 freeway with parks and housing

[@TheSolarcatcher]

Nice work Jim!

[@KristiBranstetter]

Thanks for yet another great video, Jim! Interesting that the eastern terminus of I-70 is a park and ride. :) I live south of I-70 at mile marker 20 here in MO and work south of I-70 at mile marker 21 here in MO. I have been on I-70 as far as Green River UT to the west and Indianapolis IN to the east.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, glad you liked it!

[@PfctvsPontivsPilatvs]

Construction actually started in 1970 or 71 -- I was there as a little kid with my family and we drove Rte. 40 into town from Michigan. Franklin and Mulberry Streets were all torn up; the blocks between the two streets were cleared of all houses and were being dug up and I remember a newly built pier for a planned viaduct at the end of all the the construction.

[@connercurtis3920]

that is so interesting how the interstate ends so abruptly like that! and it’s it’s cool to see where the on and off ramps would have connected to I-95. it’s a shame it was never finished but it adds some character to that area i guess

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you very much!

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, glad you liked it.

[@kenny1329]

Very cool. Subscribed!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, and I agree!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you Kyle.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks! The sign you are talking about is just west of the I-695 Stack on I-70 Westbound, I've seen and photographed it but not on this trip.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, hopefully I'll get a chance to film I-70 out west this summer.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you, I had to extend it a bit to make it work.

[@QuizzicalOne]

It's kinda sucks how I-70 abruptly ends at a park and ride right inside the beltway. Props for showing evidence of where the 95/70 interchange was supposed to be. Great video overall! Out of curiosity, did you ever come across the famed distance signage near the beginning of I-70 westbound in your travels...the one which mentions distances to Columbus, St. Louis, Denver, and Cove Fort?

[@OOOooooooooo622]

Yeah what a great video again :D

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks!

[@Freewayjim]

Me as well, thanks for watching!

[@StukInBuf]

The area where I-170 would've been... that middle part for a possible train line gives the road a Chicago-type feel(they have rail lines right in the middle of the 290, and in the middle of the 90/94 freeway).

[@Freewayjim]

Oriole Park opened in 1989 so that postcard is most likely from 1989-1990, I purchased it at Harbor Place on one of my trips around that time. The interchange opened in 1984 so that's probably what I was focused on.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks! That's all I've got for unfinished highways with the exception of pointing out a stub for I-83 in the next video (Friday).

[@iamed1977]

Those mounds and ramp stubs are very similar to the ones in Minneapolis where the cancelled I-335 would have met up with I-35W.

[@PfctvsPontivsPilatvs]

Oh, yeah, I forgot... 395 was originally supposed to be a part of I-170. If the City actually built it that way* the resulting loop freeway would have been called I-470 or something similar. *(Maryland is peculiar... the City is responsible for all roads within its limits from back alleys all the way to interstates).

[@ashtonnesmith]

You mention that I-70 features some of the most scenic stretches of highway in America. I'd love to see that ! Please do a few rockies and desert please ? Is there any channel that features Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho etc ? I'd love to see those. Thanks for B'more and the history lessons too.

[@juni674]

The Amstutz Fwy is another WTF fwy. It is Illinois 137. It is nicknamed the fwy to nowhere. It has been used in a couple of movies that I know of. Groundhog Day and Contagion. I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval base back in '84 and took it one time to visit a girl who lived in Milwaukee. That was a short fwy to say the least. LOL Also in Milwaukee there was a fwy that ended like the Embarcadero Fwy in San Francisco. It was a elevated fwy and it just dropped off near Lake Michigan. I have heard that they demolished it only to rebuild it again and have the fwy finished and head south along lake Michigan.

[@Freewayjim]

I agree!

[@Freewayjim]

LOL, thanks, glad you liked it! I kind of agree with the Sim City reference too :)

[@extremebilly124doesrobloxa3]

Freewayjim don't you know theres a game called city skylines

[@InkaBall]

Jim 2012: I’m Mentioning I-70s Scenic Stretches Jim 2013: I’m Driving on I-70s Scenic Stretches

[@Freewayjim]

Look closely at the inset photo at 5:22, at the upper left you can see the elevated ramp stub that was taken down at the mound I point out near the end of the video.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks Scott, I try :)

[@Freewayjim]

Which one? The title page with the interchange is a mid 1980's postcard and the photo of I-170 is probably early 1980's.

[@MrShortWhiteGuy]

I got on I-70 west from I-690 and there is a sign saying how many miles it is to Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Denver, & Fort Cove UT.

[@Jackson-mi3dr]

5:25. Damn. The easter egg, the tell tale sign of the i70 urban planning nightmare.

[@Freewayjim]

Mid 1980's, it is a scan of a postcard I have, I used it because it fit what I wanted to do....not outdated, I'd rather say vintage :)

[@kesschristopher]

The ending of I-70 in its current terminus was probably one of the best things ever to happen in Baltimore. It's unfortunate that it didn't end soon enough to stop that gash from being cut through the Franklin-Mulberry area. That neighborhood was destroyed and still hasn't recovered. MTA has indeed had ideas to run the Red Line LR through the ditch/Highway to Nowhere, but even that's taken alot longer to come to fruition as originally conceived. Had the more easterly section been built, Fells Point, Canton, and nearby areas probably wouldn't exist as we know them now. I-70 would have been an elevated freeway through there. Some of the new development in the area that's going on even now might not have ever taken place. We may have been hoping by this point to tear it down like San Franciscans did the Embarcadero after the Loma Prieta earthquake. To say nothing of what would have happened had they finished 70 and let 83 cut through Fells Point as a bridge instead of as a tunnel.

[@RedNekLvr22]

or maybe it had been built like it should have, maybe traffic wouldn't have been the nightmare it is now. Baltimore is too big of a city to get by with what you all have now.

[@kesschristopher]

+RedNekLvr22 Baltimore traffic is the way it is now because of decades of transportation policy pandering to the private auto, specifically those driven by suburban commuters.

[@RedNekLvr22]

+Chris K Maybe, but then blame those who couldn't get any mass transit built once they fought the building of I-70 tooth and nail. At a minimum there is no excuse to not finishing I-83 to I-95. That should have been automatic.

[@kesschristopher]

+RedNekLvr22 You must not be from and/or not know much about Baltimore if you think the answer is as simplistic as to blame those who "couldn't" get any mass transit built. Anyone who followed the Red Line saga knows that. Had they put 83 into a tunnel from President Street to Caton Ave, that would have been fine. Had they buried 70, that would have been fine, too. Robert Moses's plan destroyed communities and Baltimore has never recovered.

[@kosycat1]

My dad grew up in fells point in the 60"s and they got kicked out

[@user-yy1rs3df3q]

How old is the photo at the beginning of the video?

[@centuryrox]

Gotta be at least 1992, since Oriole Park at Camden Yards is clearly visible, and it didn't open until 1992. And yes, vintage is a good word to use. :)

[@centuryrox]

Trust me Jim, I've lived in Baltimore my entire life. Oriole Park didn't open until 1992.

[@Poler777]

1:48 There is a crazy guy strolling on (the most dangerous part of) the highway. At first I thought his car broke down, but he doesn't have a gas can or tool kit or anything. No,..he has his backpack and he's just going for a Sunday hike.

[@charlestonchewy]

from 2:00 through 2:08 the houses in the vincinity reminds me of HBO's 'THE WIRE.'

[@jamescupp9579]

I see that the 1970s-era U.S. 1 overhead signs have been taken down over the abandoned ramp from I-170 to Mulberry St. eastbound. Check out the photos from Google Earth.

[@Daconthocon78]

they should have extend ed interstate 70

[@Freewayjim]

It's an instrumental loop called "Chelsea Loft", it's not a real song.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, I doubt they'll ever be finished due to money and politics.

[@PGHammer21A]

Politics - not money. The money was there; however, so was local opposition.

[@TheSolarcatcher]

Got a second look tonight by happenstance. Nice work with adding to the postcard. And I took a hard look at the map of the planned roads. It's truly a shame as I-70 was truly killed over petty politics. The I-170 route was practically done and would've been an awesome feeder into downtown compared to the Key Hwy. And it looks like I-70 wouldn't have much of an impact if it was truly realized, But oh well. It was a great retrospective from you on this one.

[@MariahIsSkinnyFuckBlueLives]

not wanting neighborhoods destroyed isn't "petty politics"

[@toddthevloggingguy4720]

wow in DC you can the City of I70 east get back to GA or I75 south

[@donsylestine8870]

What does I-695 the western side look like?

[@Freewayjim]

Aside from the 4 level interchange with I-70, nothing special, you can see it bit by bit on Google Maps Street View.

[@mariamendez2148]

Watching this made me think of the 1980s & of Robert Downey Jr. Plus it made me feel like I was looking at Philadelphia Pennsylvania not Baltimore Maryland!

[@toddthevloggingguy4720]

in downtown baltimore look at traffic light is yellow

[@Freewayjim]

It really does! lol

[@donavanjohnson409]

Never been to Baltimore MD

[@Daconthocon78]

They should had extend interstate 70 instead of leaving that area blank.

[@ATP2555ify]

It's a shame they took down those high mast lights on that part of 95

[@interstate2048]

Never been to Baltimore, but seeing the terminus of 70 is kind of a head-scratcher! At least end it at 95?!

[@nas2170]

In System 3-A, Interstate 70 was going to end at Interstate 95, but the route going from the Park and Ride to the Interstate 170 interchange was cancelled in 1981. Part of that route was going to be Interstate 595 (possibly), but got cancelled in 1983 due to escalating costs.

[@interstate4528]

No bad or smart-alecky intentions with this, but I-70 is only 2,153 miles, not 2,513. But definitely should be 2,157 instead. That abrupt terminus is just atrocious for a highway of such great distance...

[@Freewayjim]

Yep and yep, I'm prone to an inverted number now and then and I'd starve as a proof-reader :)

[@kosycat1]

I drove the entire span of 70 through Utah I live in Baltimore and drove to Humboldt California and what kind of weird is that just beyond the park and ride is leakin park and is a mass gravesite of murder victims

[@PGHammer21A]

And both the Social Security and Healthcare Finance Administrations (Woodlawn Business Park) - SSA and HCFA, respectively. On the other side of MD 144 from both is the University of Maryland at Baltimore County's IT subcampus - I took my CompTIA Network+ certification exam there in 2000.

[@PlanesForLife940]

Isn’t it stupid how i70 ends at a park and ride

[@Freewayjim]

Yes, it should have been built to I-95 as planned.

[@centuryrox]

Another great video, Jim! The opening aerial shot is rather outdated though. It was before the construction of M&T Bank Stadium, just south of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Looks as though the picture was taken sometime around the middle 1990s.

[@toddthevloggingguy4720]

some cancelled freeway in I70 east

[@Freewayjim]

My initial general google search said 1989, Wikipedia says 1992, fail on Google, you were correct...everyone happy now?

[@ashtonnesmith]

3rd. Found I-70 Colorado

[@stlbluesfan1992]

Why couldn't have Maryland's Transportation Department just "tunneled" I. 70 under the parks until it came to I. 95?

[@noahklempner3333]

3:33 This is the DEAD END road?

[@Freewayjim]

KZbin user ScrewdUPClickV2 has some excellent videos if I-70 in the Colorado Rockies and Utah as well.

[@Freewayjim]

????

[@CarmeloPatterson]

team interstate 95

[@corbmanralph]

The late city councilman Norman Reeves is honored with a plaque and a trail named in his honor in Leakin Park for his unfailing opposition to the freeway (I-70) which would have cut through and effectively destroyed Leakin and Gwynns Falls Parks in West Baltimore, in addition to thousands of homes of poor and African-American residents of the city.

[@honeybunfrancisco4515]

H