20th century Initial construction The Baltimore County Planning Commission first conceived the Baltimore Beltway as a county-level roadway project in 1949; by 1953, the state took over the project due to slow progress at the county level. The project was included as part of the
Interstate Highway System by 1956, increasing the speed of construction due to federal funds available. The first part of the Baltimore Beltway was completed in December 1955 between MD 25 (Falls Road) and the Harrisburg Expressway (present-day I-83). In 1956, the next portion of the road between the Harrisburg Expressway and MD 45 (York Road) opened. Several more segments of the Baltimore Beltway would be built in the following years, with the section from MD 168 (Nursery Road) to the Glen Burnie Bypass (present-day I-97) opening in 1957; the portions from MD 45 to MD 542 (Loch Raven Boulevard), MD 7 (Old Philadelphia Road) to US 40 (Pulaski Highway), and from MD 168 to US 40 (Baltimore National Pike) opening in 1958; the segment from MD 2 (Ritchie Highway) to the Glen Burnie Bypass completed in 1960; the portion from US 1 (Belair Road) to MD 7 finished in 1961; and the portions from MD 542 to US 1 and from US 40 to MD 25 completed in 1962. At this time, the original length of the Baltimore Beltway, from MD 2 in the south clockwise to US 40 in the northeast, was fully completed and opened to traffic, providing the first Interstate-grade bypass of Baltimore and the first beltway in the US built under the Interstate Highway System. A segment of the road completed in 1973 ran from MD 10 to MD 2, heading toward the Outer Harbor Crossing. However, the section of the Baltimore Beltway between south of MD 150 to west of the Back River crossing was not built, requiring it be rerouted on portions of two freeways not originally planned to be part of it. The first was the Windlass Freeway (
MD 149), a route planned to run from I-95 at Moravia Road northeast to
Chase, paralleling US 40 to the south. The only portion of the Windlass Fwy constructed is the section of I-695 that diverges southwest from the
directional T interchange with MD 702 to a point less than to the southwest where I-695 makes a sharp turn from west to south. From here, the Windlass Freeway would have continued to its southerly terminus at I-95. This sharp turn is half of what would have been another directional T interchange (which was to have become exit 37), marking the northern terminus of the Patapsco Freeway, the other freeway incorporated into the Baltimore Beltway. The Patapsco Freeway was planned to connect the Windlass Freeway to the originally-planned Baltimore Beltway. Completed in 1973, the planned Patapsco Freeway is now part of I-695. The wide median in I-695 south of exit 41 (Cove Road) is where the unbuilt beltway would have intersected the Patapsco Freeway after crossing Back River to the east, making this the southern terminus of the Patapsco Freeway. Continuing southeast, I-695 rejoins the original alignment of the beltway. and, at the present west end at the Southeast Freeway (MD 702), the partially built junction with the proposed Windlass Freeway. The planned junction of the Windlass and Patapsco freeways, now the point where I-695 makes a sharp turn from west to south, just to the north of where it crosses the Back River, was originally built with provisions for extending the Windlass Freeway to I-95,
Outer Harbor Crossing and further upgrades The Outer Harbor Crossing is the name given to the segment of the Baltimore Beltway maintained by the MDTA. Construction on the Outer Harbor Crossing, including the bridge, started in 1972 and was opened on March 23, 1977, completing the full Baltimore Beltway. By the early 1980s, the southern approach to the Francis Scott Key Bridge was dualized, with a second roadway constructed along with a second drawbridge over Curtis Creek. The northern approach was left as a two-lane viaduct in the
Sparrows Point area until a four-lane surface freeway was constructed along this portion, with interchanges reconfigured, following an $89.5-million (equivalent to $ in ) project completed in January 2000. The Outer Harbor Crossing, as well as the entire Baltimore Beltway east of I-95, was first signposted as MD 695 because portions of it were a two-lane expressway not up to
Interstate Highway standards.
21st century The beltway was dedicated in honor of former Governor
Theodore McKeldin in May 2005. During his term, McKeldin was responsible for constructing the Beltway and other state highways. Most Marylanders still refer to the highway as the "Baltimore Beltway", "695", or (mainly among Baltimore metro area residents) simply "The Beltway", like its Washington, D.C. counterpart. In March 2009, construction began on the reconstruction of the bridge that carries MD 139 (Charles Street) over I-695. The bridge is decorative, featuring ornamental street lights. As part of the MD 139 project, the interchange was reconstructed, and the traffic circle at the MD 139/I-695 ramps was removed and replaced with a traffic signal. This project cost $50 million (equivalent to $ in ) and was completed in 2012. The ramps from southbound I-95 to both westbound and eastbound I-695 were completed in June 2009 and the ramp from westbound I-695 to southbound I-695 was completed in July 2009 and the ramp from eastbound I-695 to northbound I-95 opened in August 2009. In April 2024, the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials approved designating the MD 695 section of the beltway as I-695.
Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse On March 26, 2024, the
Francis Scott Key Bridge on I-695
collapsed after a ship collided with the bridge. The incident killed six construction workers and forced traffic to be rerouted to
Interstate 895. Following the collapse, the section of I-695 between MD 157 (exit 43) and MD 173 (exit 1), including exit 44, was closed. The section will remain closed until the opening of the
Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement, and in the meantime, I-695
de facto terminates at the route 695C turnaround ramp clockwise (inner loop) and MD 173 counter-clockwise (outer loop). ==Future==