Streets and highways of Washington, D.C.

The streets and highways of Washington, D.C. help people move around the city. Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States. It was planned carefully when it was built. Because of this, the streets have a special layout and way of numbering addresses.

There are many roads in the city—about 1,500 miles of public roads. Most of these roads are taken care of by the city government. This helps people get around easily in the nation’s capital.

City layout

See also: L'Enfant Plan

Washington, D.C. was created in 1790 to be the national capital. A new city was founded in 1791 near a place called Georgetown. The street layout was designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant.

As a planned city, Washington was designed in a Baroque style. Big roads spread out from squares, leaving space for parks and gardens. The city has four parts, called quadrants: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE), and Southwest (SW). Streets are named with letters and numbers to show where they are, like C Street SW or 4th Street NW. Some diagonal streets are named after U.S. states, such as Pennsylvania Avenue, which connects the White House to the U.S. Capitol.

There is no J Street in any quadrant because, long ago, the letters "I" and "J" looked too similar when written by hand. Some other letters like X, Y, Z, and B are also not used for street names.

Expansion of the street-name system

See also: Georgetown street renaming

In the 1800s, different parts of Washington, D.C. had their own street systems. In 1871, a new law joined all areas into one city government.

Later laws tried to make all streets follow the same plan. Some people were upset because their land would be used to change streets. In 1901, a new naming system was created. Streets going north and south were numbered. East and west streets were named after famous Americans, using easy-to-remember names. This made it easier to find places in the city.

Address system

The city has a special way to give addresses. It starts from the Capitol building. This helps people know where a place is and how far to go. For example, the address 633 A Street SE means it is southeast of the Capitol, one block south of East Capitol Street, on the south side of A Street SE, between 6th and 7th Streets SE.

Another example is the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. This means it is at 16th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Addresses work both ways; an address at 514 19th St NW would be on 19th St west of the Capitol. The city uses the word “unit” for the first block of a street instead of zero or one, which is different from most American cities.

Major roads

Interstate highways

Interstate 495, called the "Capital Beltway", circles around Washington, D.C. It passes through a small part of the city near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. I-66 starts near Georgetown and connects to the Beltway, going through Northern Virginia. I-295 begins at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and ends at the 11th Street Bridges, where it meets I-695 to cross the Anacostia River into downtown. Near the U.S. Capitol Building, I-695 connects with I-395, a main route for commuters from New York Avenue to the Beltway and Interstate 95 in Springfield, Virginia. The Inner Loop was a planned set of highways in the city center, but only parts were built. Today, people often use "inner loop" to mean the lanes of 495 that go clockwise around Washington.

Other expressways and parkways

The Anacostia Freeway continues north from where I-295 ends and connects to the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, which leads to Maryland Route 295. The Suitland Parkway links the city to suburbs in Prince George's County, Maryland. The Whitehurst Freeway is an elevated road over K Street in Georgetown, helping traffic on US 29 avoid busy streets between the Key Bridge and downtown. The E Street Expressway connects I-66 to areas near the city's Foggy Bottom and the White House. The Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway offers a route into downtown from the north and west.

City streets

Important city streets include MacArthur Boulevard NW, 14th Street NW, 16th Street NW, 18th Street NW, 7th Street NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, K Street NW, H Street NW, Wisconsin Avenue, M Street NW, H Street NE, Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, Independence Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, U Street NW, South Dakota Ave NE, North Capitol Street, South Capitol Street, East Capitol Street, Georgia Avenue, Minnesota Avenue, Benning Road, Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, New York Avenue, and Rhode Island Avenue.

City streets usually do not have numbers, but some U.S. Routes run along them.