Why Does I-70 End in Cove Fort, Utah? - Ask the Rambler - General Highway History - Highway History - Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 202-366-4000
I-90: 3,020.54 miles from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington. I-80: 2,899.54 miles from Teaneck, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California. I-40: 2,555.40 from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Barstow, California. I-10: 2,460.34 miles from Jacksonville, Florida, to Los Angeles, California
The eastern terminus of I-70 would surprise the engineers who laid out the Interstate System. In the original September 1957 numbering plan, I-70 split at Frederick, Maryland, with I-70N continuing to a terminus at I-95 east of Caton Avenue in west Baltimore while I-70S provided a link to the planned Inner Beltway in Washington, D.C. Controversy prevented construction of either route to its original city terminus.
On May 18, 1975, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approved a request from the Maryland State Highway Administration to change I-70N to I-70 and change I-70S to I-270 from the split in Frederick to the Capital Beltway (I-495). By then, the segment of I-70S inside the Capital Beltway was doomed. In response to separate requests from Governor Marvin Mandel of Maryland (February 25, 1975) and Mayor Walter E. Washington of the District of Columbia (June 27, 1975), the FHWA and Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) approved withdrawal of I-70S inside the Capital Beltway from the Interstate System. Federal Highway Administrator Norbert T. Tiemann and UMTA Acting Administrator Judith T. Connor approved withdrawal of the Maryland portion on July 28, 1975, while Administrator Tiemann and UMTA Administrator Robert E. Patricelli approved withdrawal of the District portion on October 3, 1975.
