Interstate 83
Interstate 83 is an interstate highway in the eastern United States. Its southern terminus is in Baltimore, Maryland at the Fayette Street exit; its northern terminus is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at Interstate 81.
Length
Major Cities Along the Route
Intersections with other Interstates
Spur Routes
Notes
- There's a weird bit on I-83 where it intersects with itself. Just north of Baltimore I-83 merges with the Baltimore Beltway for a few miles. Now this intersection is unusual. If you are coming from downtown, there is a fork in the road. One side goes to the Beltway and eventually York, PA. The other one stays marked as I-83 for a mile and then intersects Falls Road. Now heading south, the Falls Road spur is marked as I-83 at the intersection. However the first exit is for I-695 East and I-83 North. In other words there is an exit from I-83 south to I-83 north.
- There are movements to extend I-83 in both directions from its current termini. First, the possibility that I-83 will be extended to Rochester, New York instead of Interstate 99 will be discussed at an October 2002 Task Force meeting. I-83 is preferred over I-99 because it is more logical that Rochester would rather connect to larger cities such as Harrisburg and Baltimore instead of smaller cities such as Altoona and Bedford. At the southern end, another group wants to extend I-83 down the U.S. Highway 29 corridor to Greensboro, North Carolina. This would create another interstate highway in the Appalachians parallel to Interstate 81. However, the southward extension may prove to be more difficult because there's no way that a freeway can be built across downtown Baltimore, and that will most likely create serious problems in that part of the city, mainly economically and socially. And as far as US 29 is concerned, it's highly unlikely that a freeway would be paved over it, and the route from Greensboro to Danville, Virginia has already been assigned another Interstate number: I-785 (see Interstate 85). The freeway section of US 29 between Silver Spring and Columbia/Ellicott City, Maryland would be better off as a spur of I-70 (and possibly named "The New Interstate 170!").
- At one point, I-83 was supposed to intersect I-95 in Baltimore. This project, like the I-70 one, has been cancelled.
Reference
- 2005 Rand McNally "The Road Atlas 2005" - newest feature- interstate mileage by state
