History
The interchange was originally built in the 1960s as a simple interchange between I-95 and the Capital Beltway. At the time, I-95 was expected to go through the District of Columbia. After community opposition prevented its construction through the city, I-95 was shifted to the eastern portion of the Beltway, between Springfield and College Park, Maryland. Because of this route change, all traffic continuing on I-95 through the Washington area was exiting at Springfield through an interchange not designed for that purpose. By early 1970, there were 150,000 vehicles per day traveling through the intersection. Thirty years later, that number had more than doubled, with the effect that vehicles "traveling along the East Coast's main north–south artery be funneled through the ordinary exit ramps at Springfield, routinely causing backups several miles long."
A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined the interchange to be the site of 179 crashes between 1993 and 1994—more than any other spot on I-95—and found that the number of ramp accidents was more than double that of any other Beltway interchange.
Read more about this topic: Springfield Interchange
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