I-95/495 Capital Beltway Washington, D.C. (Exits 166 to 4)

This video follows I-95 from Fairfax County Parkway in Springfield, VA (Exit 166) to just before MD 414 (Exit 4) in Oxon Hill, MD. Along the way, you'll see the new Springfield Interchange and Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

[@james71]

nice ride there love to see more hopefully

[@Freewayjim]

Excellent work, I love that stretch of road, especially when you can breeze through it like you did. Thumbs up!

[@redman6657]

I love the reversible HOV lanes on this stretch of I-95. It's pretty easy to go 80+ MPH without traffic hindering you. Great video, the song's very catchy. Greetings from New Jersey, -Alex

[@CptSchmidt]

I love how there are signs telling citizens to be terrified of one another. Instead of a sign saying merry Christmas or something, we have a 'report somebody suspicious hotline' sign.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@Freewayjim Thank you! While a lot of people don't like 95 through Northern Virginia due to the congestion, it's definitely one of my favorite roads to drive when, as you said, traffic cooperates. When the Springfield and Woodrow construction was still going on, I'd take 301 above RIchmond into Maryland and hit the Beltway near Andrews Air Force Base when I was going back up north. That little road always saved so much time.

[@FreewayBrent]

Great video, and damn, I can't believe you already found a video to use for that song...I still have plenty of songs, 2 years later, that I still haven't been able to use for videos. I never realized that Prince George County was the wealthiest county w/an African-American majority. That was definitely an interesting fact. I'm surprised you filmed this in relatively light traffic conditions; even on the weekends, these freeways are usually much busier.

[@97a4]

Great music, great vid

[@georgiaroadgeek]

Great video! I was up there in 2006 and saw a good bit of the work being done on the Springfield interchange. Next time I'm in the DC area, I'd like to "clinch" the entire beltway plus drive the rest of I-66 within the Beltway to "clinch" it if possible.

[@taffarelvl]

Nice videos. Congratulations from your Brazilian friend, Marcos

[@CosmoPhotography]

@Bryant5493 Thanks, Bryant! This was the most pleasurable and stress free time I've driven the Beltway. I can't wait till the HOT lanes open up.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@gameboy9 Now that you point that out, I honestly don't know. I was under the impression that all lanes of traffic had to obey the 65 mph speed limit. The 55 mph limit is only on the ramps of the Springfield Interchange. And, I believe the Capital Beltway has a variable speed limit depending on traffic and weather conditions. Maybe someone who is more familiar with the area could provide some insight on this. No problem! I'm glad you enjoyed and thank you for being a loyal viewer.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@FreewayBrent Thanks! The story with that song...my friends and I were planning to leave at 5AM so, since I was driving, I went to bed at 9pm the night before. Before long distance trips, I usually get excited (haha weird, I know) and can't sleep, so I awoke at 12am and couldn't get back to sleep. I started browsing FB and saw your link to that song. I began listening to it a lot before I left and decided to use it after watching the footage I got. I thought it just fit the mood, you know?

[@1995hoo]

@CosmoPhotography I live off Van Dorn. The 65-mph limit applies only in the express lanes; the local lanes are 55. The 65-mph signs have a small diamond at the top with the words "Restricted Lanes" and are typically posted on the left side of the express lanes to reduce the chances that drivers in the local lanes will think that limit applies to them. The Beltway is posted at 55 mph all the way around, sometimes less in work zones. The variable speed limit was dropped in late 2009 or early 2010.

[@PGHammer21A]

The road construction to the right is finishing work on the Wilson Bridge project (Virginia side) between US 1 and Van Dorn Street (ramp reconstruction for Van Dorn Street and the Eisenhower Connector).

[@CosmoPhotography]

@aswchris Thank you, Chris! :-) I would have, but I have one bad wiper blade that I need to replace and if I tried to clean my windshield it would only result in 3-4 curved streaks of a dried salt/windshield washer fluid mixture that would ruin the video unless I pulled over to clean it by hand. I decided to just leave it as is and hope for the best in terms of quality. The video didn't turn out *too* bad, but I had to boost the contrast levels to get rid of the gray tint my windshield had.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@FreewayBrent (part II) I am, too. This was filmed at around 11:00 AM this past Saturday. From past experiences, Christmas travel traffic usually doesn't kick in till right around today and the main purpose of this part of the Beltway is to get traffic to Baltimore and beyond. The part near Tysons Corner was jammed with shopping traffic and people getting back to that side of Maryland. I did a video 395 video into DC and it was very congested as well.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@aswchris Also, if I chose to clean it by hand before filming then it would have gotten dirty again while filming. Sorry for all of the excessive clarifications haha

[@CosmoPhotography]

@georgiaroadgeek Thanks, Steve! I only have the northern part of the Beltway left to drive between I-95 and I-270. 66 is a cool little road inside the Beltway but it's heavily congested and has horrible pavement.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@ScrewdUPClickV2 Thanks, pal! I would def. love to re-record this in a couple of years, but I'll have to see what the future holds in regards to college and whether I'll have time to keep doing this kind of stuff.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@VaFreeways Thanks! Unfortunately, I was only up in DC for a limited amount time showing off the basics to some friends of mine who had never been before. The only other roads I filmed were 395 into DC (tunnels included) and a night tour from Georgetown to the Capital. Though I did drive the Beltway from GW Parkway to Leesburg Pike to get to Tysons. The HOT progress is looking good, but it was really nerve-wracking trying to find the exit ramps with all of the orange barrels. haha

[@VaFreeways]

@CosmoPhotography There are no plans for beltway rail lines at this time. The only one in the works right now is the Silver line through Tysons to Dulles via VA-267 and there's been some talk about extending the Orange Line down I-66 further west - though the former has been just talk and no concrete plans. I'm not sure if that extra-wide shoulder is there for the HOT unless an access ramp will be built there or something. The HOT lanes start at the Spingfield interchange and end at Tysons.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@FreewayTitan Thanks! It's too bad you won't be filming as I think you'd really like the freeway network up here.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@Nexis4Jersey I think VDOT and Maryland DOT have decided not to place a rail line on the beltway. I believe the extra space will function as HOT lanes when Maryland decides to build theirs (whenever that will be). Maybe VAFreeways or one of the other filmers could help me out on this one?

[@CosmoPhotography]

@james71 I've got a couple of more from the DC area coming up. Stay tuned!

[@redman6657]

By the HOV lanes, I meant the restricted lanes on the small portion of I-95 you were on before you entered the Capital Beltway. Just thought I'd say that to prevent any confusion. I remember all the times when my family and I would take those lanes on our way from New Jersey to Myrtle Beach, SC. Stay safe, -Alex

[@EuropeanRoads]

amazing freeway and very good editing. I'm surprised you didn't need to spray, here in the Netherlands they salt so much you have to spray every 2 - 3 miles to retain some visibility...

[@VaFreeways]

Nice job on this one. Did you get a chance to film I-495 between Springfield and Tysons where the HOT lane construction is going on? I've been wanting to do a I-495 Construction Update video but haven't had the time and the weather hasn't been cooperating.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@GigaElectricBird I'll probably get that section on film this December, if all goes well.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@ScrewdUPClickV2 Nah, I kept it simple while I was up there. I shot a tour of 395 into DC that includes the tunnels under the city, Pentagon Road Network, and a different view of the Springfield Interchange.

[@gameboy9]

I just have one VERY small issue with this video: I thought only the restricted lanes had a 65 mph speed limit, and the main line had a 55 mph limit on I-95 before the Beltway... did this change? Other than that, nice video! Thanks for all you do. I love watching these videos. :)

[@Freewayjim]

@CosmoPhotography I agree, the road sux if traffic is a mess, but iy looks like you had a good day on your video.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@ScrewdUPClickV2 No prob! It's an awesome song and I wouldn't know about it if it wasn't for Brent.

[@Freewayjim]

@FreewayBrent Dekalb County, GA (Metro Atlanta) is the 2nd Wealthiest African-American majority county in the US.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@bourdondanslespace Thanks!

[@VaFreeways]

@aswchris VDOT really lays down the salt... what happened was a few years back we had an ice storm and they recieved bad weather information that it was going to change to rain (it didn't) so they neglected to salt a lot of the interchanges and as a result the Springfield interchange was glazed in ice... there were all sorts of accidents and people stuck up on the ramps for as much as 8 hours. So ever since then they've almost bleached the roads white with salt.

[@chukwuemekaezejiofor2765]

i like the capital beltway it goes around washington DC

[@Nexis4Jersey]

@CosmoPhotography no the Rail option is still on the table....its on hold due to other projects....

[@Percy-GT]

I 495 95 is the most long beltway ever

[@CosmoPhotography]

@Bryant5493 Really? They've already started construction on them? Wow, I didn't know that.

[@VaFreeways]

@eluko79 Agreed

[@roodawgy1]

What's the name of the song you used?

[@CosmoPhotography]

@eluko79 Haha Some friends of mine who were along for the trip pointed those out and mentioned something similar about them. I decided to put that in there as there were really commonplace throughout the DC area and I try to make my videos as "real" as possible. Lol...

[@CosmoPhotography]

@CptSchmidt Welcome to America! But, in all seriousness, while I agree that something friendlier could be displayed at times this is the capital of the US and terrorist attacks are more likely to happen here and in other major cities since 9/11. DC probably has to worry about car bombs which is why these messages have to be displayed. It is an unfortunate necessity of life nowadays. This is also the main road between major US cities like NY, Boston, Philly, B-more, and Miami (i.e. city attacks).

[@redman6657]

There are laws in some states that say that you should use the left lane only for passing or for slower vehicles use the right lane, but those laws are never enforced here. Therefore, many people in North America sadly are left-lane hogs.

[@CosmoPhotography]

@hkfreak haha ahh okay, it's all good

[@CosmoPhotography]

@hkfreak I try to give viewers information about an area that they may not have already known. It is a simple fact that this video went on freeways that go through some wealthy (I don't like the word "rich"...FYI) parts of the US. My videos also have to set themselves a part from the rest of the KZbin road filmer's ones so that they do not look like a cheap rip-off. I have to put facts in my videos that are different from theirs. I apologize if you thought this video was entirely about money.

[@Nexis4Jersey]

Ah the never ending construction project in NOVA and it will have to be ripped up again when the Rail line is put in ....

[@TellyVictory]

summer

[@pawelo81]

In us you musn't stick to right lane?

[@sovieticfox5]

What name music?

[@manitas1818]

Lol exit 28 woop woop

[@UnrelatedArchives]

"The richest..." "The richest..." Alright, remind me not to look at your factoids bar ever again.

[@hamlinfanVA]

Normally the worst stretch of highway in the country. I hate driving this route with a passion.

[@indyfan22k]

F%$K HOT Lanes. What a money scam.

[@UnrelatedArchives]

No need. You just mistook antielitism and generalizing with jealousy and zeal.