Interstate 295 (I-295) also known as the Anacostia Freeway, is a six-mile (9.7 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of Maryland and in Washington, D.C. It connects I-95/I-495 and Maryland Route 210 (MD 210; Indian Head Highway) near the Potomac River (just outside DC's boundary with Maryland) to I-695 and District of Columbia Route 295 (DC 295) in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Although I-295 technically begins at the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495), a pair of mainline ramps connects the southern terminus of the route to the nearby MD 210. Continuing north from this interchange, I-295 enters the District of Columbia; the route is only 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long in Maryland.

Passing to the west and north of Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm, the route parallels the Potomac River, running through the Southeast quadrant of DC. It passes close to Shepard Parkway and forms the eastern boundary of Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. Near the southern end of Anacostia Park, the route turns east and begins to parallel the Anacostia River, interchanging with South Capitol Street near the latter's crossing of the river.

Within the park, I-295 encounters the junction with I-695 (which heads northwest across the 11th Street Bridges) and DC 295 at exit 4. At this junction, I-295 ends, and the mainline freeway through the interchange assumes the identity of DC 295 and continues to Baltimore, though it changes identities several times: DC 295, MD 201, the Baltimore–Washington Parkway (an unnumbered federally owned expressway operated by the National Park Service), and MD 295.

The Anacostia Freeway was first conceived by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in 1950 as a connector route between the Baltimore–Washington Parkway at Kenilworth Avenue and the Capital Beltway near Oxon Hill. The route would provide access to the Anacostia waterfront, which included Bolling Air Force Base (Bolling AFB) and Naval Support Facility Anacostia (NSF Anacostia). In 1955, DC officials approved the portion of the route between Suitland Parkway and East Capitol Street; the remainder of the route was approved in 1956.

In 1958, the southern portion of the route, from the beltway to the 11th Street Bridges, became a part of the Interstate Highway System and the route was designated I-295 by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO).

I-295 opened in pieces. The first section was from the Beltway to South Capitol Street, and the final section of the route, the three miles (4.8 km) from South Capitol Street to the Pennsylvania Avenue interchange, opened on August 7, 1964. The final part of the project, the connecting ramps to the 11th Street Bridges, opened the following year. In 1990, a 1.7-mile (2.7 km) section of connecting ramps was built to directly connect I-295 to MD 210 in order to remove the significant traffic flow between the two routes from the segment of the beltway between both interchanges. These ramps are not considered part of the mainline of I-295.

Under the 1971 DC freeway plans, I-295 would have turned east at the northern end of the 11th Street Bridges and followed the Southeast Freeway as far as East Capitol Street, where it would turn north and follow the East Leg of the Inner Loop freeway. The East Leg, six lanes wide, would have curved around the far eastern edge of the downtown area, passing beneath Mt. Olivet Road in a half-mile (0.80 km) tunnel, before terminating at I-66 and I-95 north of Washington Union Station, providing access to the North Leg Freeway, the North Central Freeway, and the New York Avenue Industrial Freeway.