US 1 is the only US Highway in the District of Columbia with cool black shields like these (the above is courtesy Lou Corsaro).


Exiting the 9th St. Tunnel, US 1 SB bears left (unsigned, as is DC's wont with most highways) onto I-395. US 1 NB uses the 14th St. Tunnel, which happens to be two-way. Both sides could have used 14th St. or NB could use the 12th St. Tunnel under the National Mall as the counterpart to 9th St., but why make sense?


NB at Madison Dr. NW, just after crossing the National Mall. There are no left turns at Constitution Ave., meaning one must cut over to 15th St. to turn from US 1 NB to US 50 WB. As J.P. Nasiatka tells it, if you're heading southbound in this area, you can't follow US 1 SB because it turns from Constitution Ave. WB to 14th St. NW SB at an intersection with "no left turn" signs. US 1 is signed to use 9th St. to I-395 instead, and as other sources tell it, this is the official route of US 1, not just the signed route. It certainly makes more sense, even though it has SB on the wrong side of NB by five blocks.


All four northbound DC-US 1 shields still standing. I didn't see the southbound shields below that Lou had found, but I was paying more attention straight ahead than to the other side of the road.


A closeup of the arrow on the last sign above shows that the US 1 signs are actually a black sheet applied to a white background, with the appropriate holes cut out for the direction, shield, and in this case arrow. The sign is so old, the sheet is peeling away from the backing, leaving a halo around the arrow. Click for the full closeup of the sign.


Now southbound, a wide shield in the heart of Washington, courtesy Lou Corsaro.


All southbound along Rhode Island Ave., with the first photo to be found at 14th St. NE (and Montana Ave.), and the last photo at the turn to 6th St. NW. The 9th St. sign is really misleading, especially in DC where there are different 9th Streets. 9th St. NE does not cross US 1 to the south (toward New York Ave./US 50), but if you turn left at 13th St NE (right after the sign), you can follow Brentwood Rd. into another piece of 9th St. NE. (I don't see what the big deal is - making a left at 14th St. NE puts you on Montana Ave., which also meets New York Ave.) 9th St. NW is another optional meaning, but New York Ave. ends at the White House a few blocks to the west, and US 1 has already left Rhode Island Ave. (it's US 29 at that particular point). Look, neither one is possible, so just can the sign.


Ending the page right, courtesy Lou Corsaro, with South DC-US 1 in an INTERSTATE shield! I was unable to find it on my trip down US 1, sadly.

Onto US 50 and US 1/50
Onto I-395 and US 1/I-395

Into Virginia on US 1
Into Maryland on US 1
To I-495 in Virginia
Back to DC Roads
Back to Roads