Washington DC Street Description
by Bill Hanlon

Washington, DC is shaped like a diamond without most of the Southwest facet. It is divided into four sections called quadrants: Northeast (NE), Northwest (NW), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE). When you are in the city, every street sign will bear it's name plus one of the abbreviations, letting you know which quadrant you are currently in. For example, M St. in the Georgetown area will read "M St. NW", while M St. down by the Navy Yard will read "M St. SE". The U.S. Capitol building serves as the center around which the quadrants are created. Running in each direction out from the Capitol are the Capitol Streets that include North Capitol, East Capitol, and South Capitol. To the west runs the "Mall" - the park on which many of the monuments and Smithsonian museums reside. These streets and the Mall determine the division of the quadrants.

The streets in DC are based on a grid system. Numbered streets run North to South, lettered and named streets run East to West, and state avenues run diagonally. State avenues tend to be major corridors through which you can get around the City, Such as Wisconsin, Connecticut, and New York, and Massachusetts Avenues. As you drive away from the center of the city on a numbered street, the intersecting letter streets will increase alphabetically. When you come to the end of the alphabet (W St.), the alphabetical pattern will repeat, but, instead of letters, the streets will have names. When you come to the end of this pattern, it will start all over again with names that have one more syllable than the names of the streets in the previous pattern. Also remember there is no J street in DC (the reason remains a mystery).

This is a general pattern, and there are deviations. State avenues interrupt the alphabetical pattern, so, when you come to a diagonal avenue with an out of pattern name, don't worry. The pattern will continue with the next street. Also, some streets may take a surprise turn and you might find yourself on a different road than you intended to be on if you don't pay attention. Another thing people find very frustrating about DC are its circles. Yet, they are not that difficult to navigate once you get used to them. At each major circle there will be a sign showing a diagram of which streets radiate from it and where they are laid out in the circle.

Traveling in DC is easy if you stay in the same quadrant. Traveling between quadrants is a different. Some of the longer state avenues are continuous between two quadrants. For example, you can take Mass. Ave. NE into Mass. Ave. NW or Penn. Ave. NW into Penn Ave. SE. The Capitol Streets will give you access to two quadrants, one on either side of the street. For example, SE and SW are accessible from S. Capitol, while NE and NW are accessible from N. Capitol and so on. Numbered streets in NE and SE seem to be continuous. You can take, say, 9th St NE into 9th St. SE. However, lettered and named streets are not continuous and nothing, it seems, except for state avenues, is continuous between diagonal quadrants.

As you can see, there are a few tricks to getting around Washington DC. The best advice is to get a good map. You can not go wrong with one, and it can save you hours of frustration. Best of luck!

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(This page last updated April 24, 2001)