Much has been written about the transformation wrought on the American landscape and social patterns by the interstate highway system since its creation in 1956. The construction of I-95 on the East Coast is perhaps the most important example, transforming rural outposts into bedroom communities and creating a series of sprawling metropolitan areas where there was once a clearer demarcation between city and country. This impact is particularly evident in Maryland, where I-95 travels northeast to southwest through Cecil, Harford, Baltimore, Howard, and Prince George’s counties. The section between the Delaware border and Baltimore officially opened in November 1963. In 1960, Harford County had a population of 77,000 residents; by 2010 the population was 245,000. The independent city of Baltimore saw a related decline, shrinking from 939,000 to 621,000 residents in the same period. These fundamental demographic shifts exacerbated racial inequalities in housing and opportunity and would not have been possible without major highway construction such as I-95 and its many connector routes.
The massive volume of traffic moving along I-95 also feeds into the associated beltways around the two major cities in the region—I-695/895 in Baltimore and I-495 in Washington. I-95 between the two beltways was completed in 1971, further supplanting other roads such as U.S. 1 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and the railroad as routes for local commuters and through-travelers between Baltimore and Washington. As commercial and residential sprawl has swallowed up historic landscapes and districts along the I-95 corridor, the general result has been an overwhelmingly generic collection of commercial strips, office parks, town houses, and so-called McMansions. While justly criticized by many designers, planners, and environmentalists as ugly and unsustainable, it is these contemporary landscapes generated by construction of I-95 that define suburban life for many Maryland residents and form a major economic engine for the region.
Writing Credits
Data
Citation
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "The I-95 Corridor ", [, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/essays/MD-01-ART05.
Print Source
Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 325-325.
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