The Original Interstate Plan

Originally, I-66 inside the Beltway was proposed as a Shirley Highway look-alike with 8-lanes from the Beltway to Spout Run Parkway. At Spout Run, I-266 with its 6-lanes was to extend towards the Potomac crossing the river at the Three Sisters Island Bridge and continuing east along the river to the Whitehurst Freeway. At the same time, I-66 was to continue with 6-lanes from Spout Run to Rosslyn along a parallel route crossing the Potomac at Theodore Roosevelt Bridge. The plan was to extend I-66 under K Street in a tunnel. It was to emerge and terminate in a junction with I-95 north of the U.S. Capitol Building.

In 1971, Mr. Bright Springman, an Arlington resident and cartographer with USGS who was also noted for his sketch of a 14 lane highway with the battleship Missouri sailing down the median, made a presentation before a group of local citizens on I-66. Excerpts from that presentation were included in the

June 16, 1971 testimony of Congressman John Dingell of Michigan where Mr. Dingell questioned the wisdom and foresight of highway engineers.