Morning drive northbound for the full route of Interstate 395 into Washington, DC. Video begins on I-95 headed into the famous Springfield Interchange and continues through Alexandria, Arlington, and finally into Washington.
Filmed: November 2020
From Wikipedia:
Interstate 395 (I-395) in Washington, D.C., and Virginia is a 13.39-mile-long (21.55 km) spur route of I-95 that begins at an interchange with I-95 in Springfield and ends at an interchange with U.S. Route 50 (US 50) in northwest Washington, D.C. It passes underneath the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol and ends at a junction with US 50 at New York Avenue, roughly one mile (1.6 km) north of the 3rd Street Tunnel. Despite its proximity to I-395 in Maryland, the route is unrelated and unconnected.
I-395 is known by three different names over its various segments. The Virginia portion is part of the larger Shirley Highway that continues southward on I-95 beyond the terminus of I-395. In the District of Columbia, it is known as the Southwest Freeway from the 14th Street Bridge to the Southeast Freeway interchange (I-695), the Center Leg or Center Leg Freeway from the Southeast Freeway interchange to New York Avenue.
The intersection where I-395, I-95, and the I-495 (Capital Beltway) meet is called the Springfield Interchange. Unofficially, this interchange is referred to as The Mixing Bowl. This moniker causes confusion, because the intersection of I-395, Washington Boulevard, and Columbia Pike several miles north was historically known by that name, and continues to be recognized by the Virginia Department of Transportation as such.
I-395 contains a third roadway: reversible, barrier-separated Virginia HOT lanes with their own entrances and exits, also known locally as the "express lanes", between South Eads Street near the Pentagon in Arlington County and State Route 610 (Garrisonville Rd.) in Stafford County, Virginia. During morning and evening rush hour, traffic on this roadway flows in the direction of rush-hour traffic. At these times, the road may only be used by vehicles containing three or more passengers and by motorcycles, alternative-fuel cars, hybrids registered in Virginia before July 1, 2006, and law enforcement vehicles. At other times, the road is either open to all traffic in one direction or closed to all traffic.In 2012, the exemption was modified to be "open-ended" rather than year-to-year.
This third roadway was built as a single-lane busway, the first in the United States, before being expanded and converted to HOV use. A 2007 survey found that during the morning rush hour, the HOV lanes carry about 65% of travelers on I-395 (61,000 commuters), including 32,000 in transit buses and 29,000 in private vehicles with two or more people. The other 33,000 commuters (35% of total users) drove alone.
I-395 and US 1 cross the Potomac River from Virginia to Washington, D.C., on three parallel four-lane bridges, together known as the 14th Street Bridge. Potomac River crossings for the Washington Metro's Yellow Line and for a major CSX railroad line are immediately downstream here. This site has long been a major Potomac River crossing, with the first bridge constructed here in 1809. Of the present highway spans, the eastern one was built in 1950, the western one in 1962, and the central one in 1972.
After crossing the 14th street Bridge, the freeway has a left-side exit allowing access to US 1 (exit 1). The southbound side of I-395 has no access to northbound US 1 here. I-395 crosses Potomac Park (exit 2) and a second bridge, the Francis Case Memorial Bridge over the Washington Channel. Here, the route bends from a generally northeast direction to a due east direction, interchanging (exit 3) with the 9th and 12th Street Expressways, two tunnels that carry traffic under the National Mall. A series of complex interchanges (numbered 4, 5, 6, and 7) provide partial access to Maine Avenue and C Street SW, as well as connections to Interstate 695. Immediately after I-695, the freeway makes a hard turn to the due north to follow the Third Street Tunnel immediately under Union Square and just to the west of the United States Capitol Building. Emerging from the tunnel, I-395 follows a depressed roadway (the Center Leg Freeway) that has three more partial interchanges (exits 8, 9, and 10) with local streets before terminating at New York Avenue/US 50.