The Washington Beltway had a short life before filling up, as noted in the Washington Post: “But within two months, the Beltway had nearly exceeded the daily number of vehicles that planners had projected for years in the future. Cheers turned to grumbles, then to anger. In late 1965, the American Automobile Association convened a ‘Beltway Forum’ at the National Museum of Natural History to debate the question: ‘Golden Ring or Vicious Circle?’
“Ever since, Washingtonians have struggled to live with the Beltway’s faults. Drivers have developed coping mechanisms for traffic jams, including reading and playing poker with drivers in adjacent vehicles. And the Beltway Singles Club, founded in 1984, used Beltway standstills as its premise: The organization provided individually coded bumper stickers enabling club members stuck behind a stickered car to call the club for the first name and phone number of its heartthrob driver.”