Here’s a caution to the city’s commuters: be extra careful if you’re driving on I-395. A new traffic analysis from WTOP finds that the two-mile stretch between the 14th Street Bridge and Southeast Freeway has the highest frequency of crashes in the region, when compared to any other stretch of highway.
Over the last four years, about 1,700 crashes have been recorded on that stretch, averaging over one per day and reaching as many as five in a single day. The number comes from WTOP’s Traffic Center, which is monitored around the clock. Since December 2017, the center has logged more than 91,000 crashes.
The analysis found that about two-thirds of these crashes were on the northbound side of 395, meaning that the drivers were heading into the city.
Here are the other four stretches that made up the top five most crash-prone areas around DC:
295 between Pennsylvania Avenue and Benning Road: A little over 1,000 crashes were recorded there in the same time period.
I-495 between Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road: This Silver Spring stretch of the Beltway saw a little under 1,000 crashes, most of which were on the outer loop.
I-495 between I-270 and Connecticut Avenue: There are an average of 182,000 vehicles per day on this Montgomery County stretch of the Beltway, where about 954 crashes were recorded.
I-66 between Nutley Street and I-495: About 862 crashes were reported on this Virginia highway, most of which were in the eastbound lanes.
