Interstate 95 (I-95) is an interstate highway running along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canadian border in Houlton, Maine. In Maryland, the route is a major highway that runs diagonally from southwest to northeast, entering from Washington, D.C. and Virginia at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, northeast to the Delaware state line near Elkton. It is the longest Interstate Highway within Maryland and is one of the most traveled Interstate Highways in the state, especially between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., despite alternate routes along the corridor, such as the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, US 1, and US 29. I-95 also has eight auxiliary routes in the state, the most of any state along the I-95 corridor. Portions of the highway, including the Fort McHenry Tunnel and the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge, are tolled.
From the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to the community of College Park, it follows a portion of the Capital Beltway, completed in 1964 and numbered as I-95 in 1977. Prior to 1977, the route was intended to go on a new highway through Washington, D.C.; however, public opposition caused the cancelation of I-95 inside of the Capital Beltway. The unnamed section between the Capital Beltway to north of Baltimore was completed in various stages between 1964 and 1985, while the northeastern section from Baltimore to the Delaware state line, known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway (named after the former US president, John F. Kennedy), was the first section completed, opening to traffic in 1963. A rebuild of this section was begun in 2006, and is underway; , several miles of express toll lanes have been added to I-95 north of Baltimore, with further widening of the roadway planned through to the Delaware state line.
Route description
Capital Beltway
I-95 enters the state of Maryland concurrently with I-495, the Capital Beltway. From Alexandria, Virginia, the roadways, five lanes in either direction, travel together over the Potomac River on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, briefly cross the southern tip of the District of Columbia (over water), and touch down in Prince George's County west of Forest Heights. I-95/I-495 immediately encounter the southern terminus of I-295, known as the Anacostia Freeway, a route that serves Downtown Washington, D.C., and connects to the originally planned alignment of I-95 through Washington D.C., I-395. Just beyond I-295 the two routes interchange with MD 210, a major north–south route into the southern part of D.C.
The two Interstates continue along the Capital Beltway and have interchanges with various local highways such as MD 5 and MD 4 on either side of Andrews Air Force Base, which the beltway travels very close to near its northern edge. Turning north past the MD 4 interchange, the beltway runs through Glenarden, interchanging with MD 202, US 50, and MD 450, the latter route offering access to New Carrollton Station serving Washington Metro's Orange Line, MARC Train's Penn Line, and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor railroad line and the New Carrollton area.
Turning northwest, the beltway enters Greenbelt Park, interchanging with the Baltimore–Washington Parkway in the northeastern edge of the park. Just after the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, the two routes interchange with MD 201, which connects to the southern terminus of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway at US 50 near the D.C. line. Now turned fully west, the beltway runs through the northern edge of College Park, interchanging with the access roadway to the Greenbelt station serving Washington Metro's Green Line and MARC Train's Camden Line and US 1.
Beyond the US 1 interchange, I-95 encounters its own route at the College Park Interchange and separates from I-495 within this interchange. I-495 continues west, alone, on the Capital Beltway to I-270, while I-95 turns north onto its own planned alignment. The interchange includes access to a park and ride and a weigh station. It is marked as exit 27 on both interstates.
Beltsville to Baltimore
Running northeast, I-95, still eight lanes wide, passes through Beltsville, interchanging with MD 212 near the community. The highway, completed in 1971, runs through undeveloped land to the interchange with MD 200 and Konterra Drive before interchanging with MD 198 just west of Laurel. Passing over the Patuxent River just south of the T. Howard Duckett Dam, the route enters Howard County and promptly has an interchange with MD 216. North of the MD 216 interchange, the route encounters its first rest area in the state of Maryland, with separate facilities for the northbound and southbound lanes. Continuing northeast, I-95 interchanges with MD 32 at a modified directional cloverleaf interchange. Within this interchange, I-95 grade-separates, with the northbound carriageway passing over MD 32 and the southbound carriageway passing under MD 32, allowing left exits from both of the latter's carriageways to merge into the left lanes of I-95 without conflict.
North of this unusual interchange, I-95 encounters MD 175, the main access route into Columbia, at a less-radical directional cloverleaf interchange. After the MD 175 interchange comes the MD 100 interchange, providing access to Ellicott City, US 29, and I-70 to the west and the Baltimore–Washington Parkway and I-97 to the east. Just beyond this interchange, I-95 encounters three more of its auxiliary routes within Maryland: I-895, which splits from I-95 within Patapsco Valley State Park, just south of the Patapsco River (and at which point the road enters the southwestern part of Baltimore County); I-195 and MD 166 near Catonsville, a short spur to Baltimore/Washington International Airport; and I-695 near Halethorpe, the Baltimore Beltway, a full-circle beltway around Baltimore that offers a full freeway bypass of the city and that connects to I-70, I-83, and I-97. Before its collapse in March 2024, northbound traffic not authorized to make use of either of the direct (tunnel) routes through Baltimore (such as vehicles either carrying hazardous materials or exceeding the tunnel clearance heights) was encouraged to use the eastern half of I-695, which crossed the Patapsco River via the Francis Scott Key Bridge; it is now detoured onto the western half of the beltway, with I-95 being available to all other through traffic.
When this part of I-95 opened to traffic in 1971, all interchanges in the stretch had high-mast lighting (with mercury vapor lights), but, beginning in 2010, these were replaced with lower-mounted conventional streetlights. However, the MD 200 and southern I-895 interchanges (which opened in 1973 as part of an extension from its original terminus at US 1) now have high-mast lights (with high-pressure sodium lights, same as those within Baltimore), and new LED high-masts replaced the original ones at the I-195/MD 166 interchange.
Within Baltimore
South of Baltimore, I-95 is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration; north of the southern Baltimore city line, I-95 changes jurisdiction to the Maryland Transportation Authority. Continuing on its northeasterly track, the route interchanges with Caton Avenue (US 1 Alt.) just beyond the city line. I-95's interchange with Caton Avenue (US 1 Alt.) incorporates stubs and unused embankments that would have been used for the planned eastern terminus of I-70 within Baltimore (later planned as the southern terminus of I-595, though the freeway was later canceled and that designation was moved to US 50 east of Washington). Continuing past this unbuilt interchange, I-95 intersects Washington Boulevard, a local city street (with ramps to the southbound side and from the northbound side), before encountering the main access route into the central business district, I-395. I-95 also interchanges with MD 295 at the northern terminus of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway (and the southern terminus of Russell Street, with ramps to the transitioning roads and from the terminating ones) within the I-395 interchange, which is almost completely elevated over the middle branch of the Patapsco River. After interchanging with both routes, I-95 interchanges with MD 2 and Key Highway, the latter route offering access to Fort McHenry and an escape route for hazardous material traffic.
I-95 encounters the Fort McHenry Tunnel south of Fort McHenry. The tunnel, containing eight lanes, curves underneath the Northwest Harbor and emerges in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore, quickly encountering the all-electronic toll plaza and connector ramps that lead to and from Keith Avenue. After the toll plaza, I-95 encounters the Boston Street/O'Donnell Street interchange, which also incorporates stubs and other unused infrastructure planned to be used for the southern terminus of I-83; I-95 also passes over I-895 within the interchange area, with no access between the two routes, then runs into east Baltimore, providing local access to various city streets (a northbound-only exit to Dundalk Avenue and a three-quarter interchange with Eastern Avenue, which share southbound access ramps via Kane Street) in lieu of I-895. It interchanges with the Moravia Road freeway spur next to the Baltimore city line, where ramp stubs were once planned for an unbuilt portion of the Windlass Freeway, then connects with US 40 before narrowing to six lanes and merging with I-895 just after exiting Baltimore into northeastern part of Baltimore County.
From 2009 to 2015, new gray gantries were installed that displayed signs in the Clearview font which was being adopted statewide, replacing the old brown gantries and Highway Gothic signs, some of which had button copy. In 2017, the high-mast poles, which were also brown, were taken down and replaced with new gray ones.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway portion of I-95, a toll facility operated by the MDTA, begins at the end of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway (I-895), which is also operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority, at the Baltimore city line. Starting out eight lanes wide at the junction with I-895, after , I-95 once again interchanges with I-695 in Rosedale at what was a unique double-crossover interchange. Within this interchange, the carriageways of I-95 narrowed to six lanes and crossed over each other, thereby putting through traffic on the left within the interchange nexus, allowing left exit ramps and left entrance ramps to accommodate four of the eight movements in lieu of flyovers. Beyond the interchange, both sets of carriageways crossed over each other again and resumed right-hand running. As part of the upgrades to I-95 to accommodate express toll lanes in this area, this interchange was replaced with a more conventional four-level stack; all exits are now on the right, and I-95's carriageways no longer cross over one another; a similar project also eliminated the crossovers on I-695. At this junction, southbound vehicles that cannot use either tunnel are redirected onto the western half of I-695, as its eastern half has been severed by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Continuing to the northeast, parallel with the Chesapeake Bay, the route encounters MD 43 near White Marsh. After passing through Gunpowder Falls State Park, and into Harford County, the route has interchanges with MD 152 north of Joppatowne, then with MD 24, providing access to Bel Air and Edgewood. Within the MD 24 interchange, I-95 narrows to six lanes and remains this wide to the Delaware state line.