The Beltway turns 50!

http://wtop.com/862/3682358/Capital-Beltway-celebrates-50-years
This is actually something of a big deal for the DC area.  I still remember my Mother, brother and I going on a little road trip when a portion of the Virginia section was opened.  It really was fun to no longer rely on what were still basically country roads once you got beyond Arlington and Alexandria.  It's difficult to underestimate the effects that the Beltway has had on our region.  It meant the explosive growth of suburbia, and with the simultaneous development of Dulles airport, and the Tyson's Corner Shopping Center,  it meant that NoVa was going to become a major economic hub, (that no one really predicted at the time).  It also gave us a geopolitical reference point.  From then on there would be two worlds - Inside the Beltway, and Outside the Beltway.  And never the twain shall meet...
I will point out one flaw in this article/site, it was not written by a long-term native.  The original use of the term "Mixing Bowl" did not refer to the conjunction of the Beltway with 95, but further North, on Shirley Highway at the Pentagon.   The 495 usage of that term is a recent invention...