D.C. Roads - US 50/1



US 1 has the lion's share of these little black signs, but because it multiplexes with US 50, 50 gets to have a couple, including one missing the DC-US from the top. The first sign is on Constitution Ave. EB at 6th St. NW, and should have a NORTH 1 pointing the same way. After turning, one comes to the second sign.


One more black multiplex assembly, courtesy Lou Corsaro (I'm guessing one or the other sign was turned by accident). I didn't see it in my travels, so I can't tell you what the cross street is.


There's another black-background sign NB on 23rd St. NW, but that's not the main attraction coming from the Arlington Memorial Bridge. That honor goes to the old-spec state name shield on the near corner. I can only imagine that there was a cutout DC-US shield on the other post. Whether or not it was cut out, I'll let you decide with your own imagination.


Filling in the gap of what a DC-US shield would look like, because none of my other photos have one.


Mike Byrnes found me some more old signs that have me planning a return trip. The first one, which I just flat-out missed, faces 15th St. NW northbound. Mike assures me the second one is on US 50 EB, but since I didn't see it last time I traveled the road, I don't know where or how he found it. Click on it for a closeup showing the transformation of ALT into JCT (or vice versa, it's really hard to tell), 29 into 1, and a bent arrow into a hard right and then into nothing at all.


Westbound nearing the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, which unlike the non-eponymous tunnel in Boston is not called "The Ted." Constitution Ave. is the north side of the National Mall, giving US 50 some great views and a lot of importance.


Eastbound at 14th St. NW (which may be US 1 - see next caption), and then continuing EB but also NB on US 1. Not SB, making this SOUTH sign wildly out of place.


These reverse shields are on 9th St. NW, southbound at Constitution Ave. As I explain on the US 1 page, just because US 1 is signed straight ahead to I-395 doesn't necessarily mean it goes that way. The problem is, if it doesn't continue straight, it can't follow the other possibility (Constitution to 14th) because there are no left turns at that intersection.


The signs on either side of 9th St. as it tunnels underneath the National Mall only show I-395 (and refer to I-695, the Southeast Freeway), not US 1.


Constitution Ave. continues past US 50 and spawns Maryland Ave. east of the Capitol complex. It is very much worth the detour. I have to believe this shield dates to when I-395 was planned to continue north as I-95.


View in the opposite direction along Maryland Ave.


The next two signs for this page are on the top, and then come these old LGS's on 6th St. NW NB. New York Ave. is US 50, and you have to follow it to get to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.


Frankly, I'm flummoxed. These signs are still on 6th St., up to where US 50 leaves US 1 at NY Ave. Had I-395 been completed as I-95 north and out of the city, then "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA I-95" would be just to the east of this intersection and the signs would make perfect sense. I can forgive the old sign under the premise that I-395 was still I-95 and planned to be completed back when DC would have used the full district name in the shield, but I can't forgive the new sign at all. Please don't excuse this as pointing to the Beltway or the B-W Parkway to get to I-95 from the city, since there is already a north-south route to get to I-95 in US 29.


Narrow shield westbound. The "TO" is superfluous.


Presumably, ALT US 1 follows US 50 to Bladensburg Rd. NE, as these EB and WB signs suggest. There is no ALT US 1 signage inside DC, but there is some on both US 50 and US 1, and I didn't follow Bladensburg Rd./Baltimore Ave. to see if there are any there. In the second (WB) photo, the top sign is to the left of the bottom sign, but they were so widely spaced I cut out the middle and stacked them for your convenience. Items to note: wide 1 shield, ALT inside the shield, EB corners either rounded (left) or square (right), WB Bladensburg sign not replaced like the others.

Onto I-66 and the 66/50 duplex
Onto US 1 alone

Into Maryland on US 50
Into Virginia on US 50
Onto US 29
To the B-W Parkway
Onto I-395
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