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How do you tell the inner loop from the outer loop?
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Anonymous
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This thread is cute! I have never had problems with inner/outer loop, but I will now share a dirty secret: I have an advanced degree in the hard sciences and...
I have to stop and think "which way is west and which way is east?" (i.e. left vs right on a map) when I get on an unfamiliar highway. Terrible shameful secret, huh?  God, I hope I'm not contributing to the fallacy that women are bad with directions (or worse, proving it's no fallacy!).
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Anonymous
| When I first moved to DC I thought there were two separate "belts", but I could never find the second belt on a map. |
Anonymous
This helps but I've driven on 495 from Connecticut Ave toward 95 North and I distinctly remember curving both ways from Ct Ave to GA Ave to NH Ave.... (quit laughing at me!) |
Anonymous
Well, a similar confession perhaps: I have to face east in order to tell left from right. My desk in kindergarten faced east when we learned left from right, so that's how I have to position my body. ( I can do it without facing east, too, but it takes me a few seconds to figure out.) But inner/outer loop is easy. Unless you're only on the beltway for an extremely short distance, how can you not tell that you're going in a circle? One circle is on the outside of the other circle. |
Anonymous
| psst... there's this thing called a Map. if you look at it, you will see the beltway loops around the city. if you know where you are (even as simple as VA or MD really) and you know which cardinal direction you're traveling in (like if you're going from springfield to tysons, that is going north) then you should be able to figure out what is inner and what is outer. |
Anonymous
This is why it is confusing to some: I-270 and I-495 split at a highly complex Y-junction, with separate HOV connections to I-270's HOV lanes and separate ramps to and from MD 355 (formerly US 240). The old Rock Creek Parkway alignment follows I-270 north, while I-495 turns west and enters the only other six-lane segment of the Beltway still in existence; significant levels of traffic exit onto I-270 north, leaving the six-lane segment west of the split adequate. Interchanging with MD 187, I-495 soon meets Interstate 270 Spur, the other side of the I-270/I-495 triangle. I-495 joins I-270 Spur at a converging wye junction; Inner Loop traffic exits from itself at the southern terminus of I-270 Spur, while Outer Loop traffic crosses the spur and enters it from the right. The two carriageways of I-495 temporarily widen to five lanes each until the MD 190 and Cabin John Parkway interchanges, where the route narrows to eight lanes again. Turning sharply to the west, I-495 meets the Clara Barton Parkway just to the north of the Potomac River, and soon crosses into Virginia over the ten-lane American Legion Memorial Bridge. |
Anonymous
There are maps....and signs....but for some of us who have no sense of direction, it's difficult to figure out if you haven't just seen a sign. And truly, some people have NO sense of direction (myself included). It's difficult. My son, on the other hand, at age 2, knew if I had taken a wrong turn. He probably already knows the difference between the inner and outer loop, while I'm the one who posted about which general direction the highway is curving. 
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Anonymous
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I grew up in this area and have a really good sense of direction -I never use GPS and I can go places one time and then have the directions committed to memory - but I seriously did not understand the inner loop/outer loop concept until my husband explained it to me LOL.
I used to think it changed based on time of day or something - maybe it's because I grew up living inside the Beltway (and still do) and rarely drove on or outside of the Beltway.... I can totally sympathize, OP. :0) |
Anonymous
My DD, now 6, has always had incredible directional awareness. It's spooky, isn't it? No need for a GPS with DD around. I'm sure I didn't have a very good idea how to get places until I was behind the wheel myself at age 16. |
Anonymous
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The Beltway simply needs signage (gasp!) and a "you are here" indicator. But that will never happen. |
Anonymous
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That 495 and 270 mess is confusing especially when other people are zipping by me at 85 MPH. I have been in cars through The Mixing Bowl and NEVER would drive it.
Recently one winter the ice caused people to be stuck for hours on an overpass. I just can't handle those sorts of roads and wonder if others are like that as well. So confusing and hard to change lanes. |
Anonymous
This DID help! NP, but also directionally challenged. Thank you to this poster - this is an explanation I might actually remember. |
Anonymous
| But don't you know where you are going? That tells you inner v outer, assuming you know where you were when you got on the highway. |
Anonymous
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What has always confused me is WHY refer to it as inner and outer loops. The signs never label it as such. Intead they are west, east, north and south and have what somtimes seem like confusing destinations. I admit, I get confused easily. I am in Maryland and going to Virginia - choosing to head towards Baltimore just doesn't seem right.
But for all those who say they can "tell". |
Anonymous
Oh, come on... It's not that hard:
BIG RED LINE - BELTWAY inner - closer to DC outer - MD/VA side |