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Today in Interstate History

Ribbon cutting on I-495. Photo courtesy of FHWA.

August 17, 1964

The final section of I-495, that loop in the Interstate System circling Washington, D.C., was opened to traffic. Among those attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony for that final section were Federal Highway Administrator Rex Whitton, Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes, and Chairman John B. Funk of the Maryland Roads Commission. That Interstate route, popularly known as "The Capital Beltway," covers approximately 64 miles altogether in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. One of its more prominent landmarks is the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (see April 20).