State Route 27 (Virginia)
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State Route 27 (SR 27) is a
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 ...
in
Arlington County Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
, Virginia, in the United States, known as Washington Boulevard. It was built during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
to connect the
Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
with
U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...
(US 50) and northern Arlington to the west and
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, to the east. Its route parallels the southern boundaries of Arlington National Cemetery. At its southernmost point, Route 27 passes through a complex interchange with Interstate 395 (I-395,
Shirley Highway The Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway, often shortened to Shirley Highway, consists of a portion of Interstates 95 and 395 in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Shirley Highway was the first limited-access freeway in Virginia. Begun in 1941, t ...
). called the " Mixing Bowl," although local motorists more recently use that term also to refer to the
Springfield Interchange The Springfield Interchange, also known as the Mixing Bowl, is the interchange of Interstate 95, Interstate 395, and Interstate 495 in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. The interchange is located at exit 57 on the Capital Belt ...
on the
Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway, designated as Interstate 495 (I-495) for its entire length, is an List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area. The Ring road, beltway encircles Washington, D.C., ...
in Springfield. It is an important commuter route as well as providing access to a number of military installations, the cemetery and national memorials. Because Route 27 is the closest road to the site of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon, the route has been designated the "9/11 Heroes Memorial Highway."


Route description

Route 27 begins at an interchange with US 50. It then has an interchange with 2nd Street South, which serves as an entrance to
Fort Myer Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army Military base, post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and ...
. The next interchange with Route 244 offers a very short merge area because of the proximity to the exit ramps to I-395 and Arlington Ridge Road. The Mixing Bowl is the first interchange in
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...
with a three level bridge—ramp from I-395 to westbound Route 27 on the lowest level, eastbound Route 27 to Mixing Bowl in the middle; and southbound I-395 on top. In 1970 this was followed by a second three level stack—Joyce Street South on the lowest level, eastbound Route 27 on the middle bridge and I-395 on the top level. At this point, Route 27 becomes a part of the collector lanes and ramps of the Mixing Bowl until its second interchange with Route 244. Also, coincident with the second Route 244 interchange, Route 27 is the northern terminus of the reversible high occupancy vehicle lanes of I-395. The westbound entrance to these lanes have a series of manually closed barriers to prevent an accidental oncoming collision during the hours each day when traffic flows to the east on the HOV lanes. The final interchange in Virginia accesses Route 110, the Pentagon North Parking Lot and Boundary Channel Drive. Although the ramp from eastbound Route 27 to northbound Route 110 is open to the public, it is on the Pentagon Reservation and is patrolled by the Pentagon Police. The route ends at the
Boundary Channel Boundary Channel is a Channel (geography), channel off the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The channel begins at the northwestern tip of Columbia Island (District of Columbia), Columbia Island extends southward between Columbia Island and the V ...
, which is the border with the
District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
. Route 27 is closed for large events held at the Pentagon including the annual Marine Corps Marathon and the Army Ten-Miler. A number of points of interest are visible from the highway, including (from west to east)
Fort Myer Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army Military base, post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and ...
(which was the site of the first military test flight),
Henderson Hall Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname * Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina * Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia * Henderson, Western Australia Canada ...
, the headquarters of the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
, the
United States Air Force Memorial The United States Air Force Memorial honors the service of the personnel of the United States Air Force and its heritage organizations. The Memorial is located in Arlington County, Virginia, on the former grounds of the Navy Annex near The Pent ...
, the
Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
, the Navy Annex, the
Pentagon Memorial The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, or simply the Pentagon Memorial, located just southwest of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is a permanent outdoor memorial to the 184 people who d ...
, the Pentagon City Mall, and
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...
.


History

The road was constructed as a part of the Pentagon Road Network during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
to provide access to the newly constructed War Department headquarters buildings. The system included three
cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange (road), interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passe ...
s which were "among the earliest such structures constructed in the United States." Those roads were transferred to the Virginia Department of Highways on December 17, 1964, and assigned the number Route 27. However, at that time, the Mixing Bowl included a ramp from the westbound Shirley Highway to the eastbound Route 27. When the
high-occupancy vehicle lanes A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, i ...
were added to I-395 in the 1970s, the Mixing Bowl was reconfigured so that the Route 27 lanes were separated as collector lanes from the through lanes of I-395. Because the collector lanes were built on the site of the ramp from westbound Shirley Highway to the eastbound Route 27, the ramp was replaced with a ramp from the eastbound Route 27 into the Pentagon South Parking Lot. The Mixing Bowl is the first interchange in Northern Virginia with a three level bridge—ramp from I-395 to westbound Route 27 on the lowest level, eastbound Route 27 to Mixing Bowl in the middle; and southbound I-395 on top. In 1970 this was followed by a second three-level stack—Joyce Street South on the lowest level, eastbound Route 27 on the middle bridge and I-395 on the top level. Route 27 is near the site of the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
on the Pentagon. Many commuters and drivers on the road witnessed the hijacked
American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. The Boeing 757-200 aircraft serving the flig ...
fly directly over Route 27 and crash into the Pentagon. Witnesses included Daryl Donley and Steve Riskus, both of whom took some of the first photographs after the plane crashed. As the plane passed over Route 27, it clipped several light poles; one light pole landed on the windshield of a
taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...
driven by Lloyd England. The section northeast of I-395 was closed for several weeks following the attack as a security measure. When it reopened, "No stopping" signs were placed along the section of Route 27 near the Pentagon. To increase security, the cloverleaf interchange between Route 27 and Columbia Pike was reconfigured, by eliminating the separate loop ramp from eastbound Route 27 to westbound Columbia Pike. The ramp from westbound Columbia Pike to eastbound Route 27 was relocated parallel to Route 27 and the resulting freed area was used to construct a security checkpoint leading to a new Pentagon loading dock. A driveway from the checkpoint runs parallel to Route 27 separated by a high metal fence. However, the
Pentagon Memorial The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, or simply the Pentagon Memorial, located just southwest of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is a permanent outdoor memorial to the 184 people who d ...
still remains visible behind this fence. North of the memorial, a high cement retaining wall and berm has been constructed to protect the Pentagon from any possible explosion threats on Route 27. These and related security improvements cost $35 million (equivalent to $ in ) and were completed in October 2004. On September 11, 2010, the portion of Route 27 near the crash site was dedicated as "9/11 Heroes Memorial Highway" after receiving that designation by the State Legislature. Commemorative signs have been added on both sides of the highway.] In 2001, planning began for a replacement of the US 50 bridge over Route 27, which had been built in 1944 by the War Department. Construction of a replacement bridge began in October 2005 and ended in August 2007. The project cost $6.5 million (equivalent to $ in ). At 3:40 a.m. on December 22, 2004, a gasoline
tank truck A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also desi ...
overturned and exploded on Washington Boulevard at the Mixing Bowl, near the Pentagon. The accident killed the driver, and sparked initial concerns that this explosion was another
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
attack. The driver was headed to a nearby gas station, near the Pentagon. The bridge over Columbia Pike west of the Mixing Bowl was rated as "poor" and a new replacement bridge was proposed with a reconfiguration of the interchange. Construction on a replacement bridge began in early 2012 and was completed in December 2015. The bridge was dedicated as the "Freedmans Village Bridge" in September 2015.


Exit list


See also

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References


External links

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SR 27 at Virginia Highways
027 Transportation in Arlington County, Virginia