Interstate Highway
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...
, to the western end of the
Maryland Route 200
Maryland Route 200 (MD 200), also known as the Intercounty Connector or ICC, is an , six-lane toll road in the U.S. state of Maryland. A controlled-access highway, it connects Gaithersburg in Montgomery County and Laurel in Prince George's Cou ...
(MD 200, Intercounty Connector) toll road at an interchange that provides access to the
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ...
lot at the
Shady Grove station
Shady Grove is a Washington Metro station in Derwood in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on December 15, 1984 as part of a four-stop extension of the line from station out to Shady Grove. The station is operat ...
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview
. Despite the number, I-370 does not connect to
I-70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...
itself. The road continues to the west of I-270 as Sam Eig Highway, a surface road. Along the way, I-370 has interchanges with MD 355 and Shady Grove Road. The freeway was completed in the late 1980s to connect I-270 to the Shady Grove station. I-370 was always part of the planned Intercounty Connector but was the only segment to be built at the time. The opening of MD 200 east of I-370 resulted in the truncation of I-370 to the interchange with MD 200 and the redesignation of the road leading into the Shady Grove station as MD 200A.
Route description
I-370 begins a short distance to the west of the I-270 interchange in
Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...
,
Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to:
Australia
* The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania
United Kingdom
* The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery
United States
* Montgomery County, Alabama
* Mon ...
, heading northeast as a six-lane
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
. Southwest of this interchange, the road continues as Sam Eig Highway (named after Washington real estate developer
Sam Eig
Samuel Eig (c. 1899 – 1982) was a Russian-American real estate developer active in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.Jewish Washington: "Real Estate Boom" retrieved September 18. 2014 which interchanges with Washingtonian Boulevard before becoming a surface road. The highway passes woods to the northwest and a shopping center to the southeast as it reaches an interchange with I-270. From this point, I-370 turns east and runs between residential neighborhoods to the north and business parks to the south, with trees separating the road from these areas. The freeway curves northeast again and comes to the MD 355 interchange. Past this, the highway passes more commercial development before reaching a bridge over CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision railroad line. A short distance later, I-370 comes to a
trumpet interchange
In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usin ...
with MD 200A, a road that provides access to Shady Grove Road and the
Shady Grove station
Shady Grove is a Washington Metro station in Derwood in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on December 15, 1984 as part of a four-stop extension of the line from station out to Shady Grove. The station is operat ...
of
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview
's Red Line. At this point, I-370 ends and the freeway continues east as MD 200 (Intercounty Connector), a toll road.
History
What is now I-370 was originally proposed as part of the Intercounty Connector in the late 1970s. The I-370 freeway opened on December 17, 1988, connecting I-270 to the Shady Grove station. After three and a half years of construction, the freeway was four lanes wide and long. Its construction cost $169 million (equivalent to $ in ), with federal funds paying for 90 percent of the cost. The state of Maryland's portion of the cost was funded with a portion of the proceeds of a gas tax increase in 1987. Prior to its opening, driving from I-270 to the Shady Grove station involved exiting at Shady Grove Road and passing six traffic lights to arrive at the station. Upon its opening, the remainder of the Intercounty Connector was planned but not yet built. At the time, it was the third shortest Interstate, after I-878 in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and
I-395 Interstate 395 may refer to:
*Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), a spur from I-95 to Auburn, Massachusetts
*Interstate 395 (Delaware), a proposed portion of I-95 in Delaware, when it was under construction
*Interstate 395 (Florida), a spu ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.
In 2007, construction began on MD 200, which was to head east from I-370. At this time, the ramp from Shady Grove Road to westbound I-370 was shifted to a new alignment. In 2009, the lanes along I-370 were shifted to allow for construction of the MD 200 interchange. Construction on this segment of MD 200 was completed in February 2011, with the road opening to traffic on February 23. As a result of the completion of MD 200, the eastern terminus of I-370 was truncated to the west end of MD 200, with the freeway connection to the Shady Grove station becoming MD 200A.