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Interstate 395 north - District of Columbia
Interstate 395 crosses the 14th Street Bridge from Arlington, Virginia into Washington, DC, with overhead signage displaying information for exit 1, where U.S. Route 1 departs the Interstate onto 14th Street toward the National Mall. I-395 north is marked as going toward Capitol Hill, Capital One Arena (the home of the NHL's Washington Capitals and NBA's Washington Wizards) and Nationals Park (home of MLB's Washington Nationals). Photo taken 04-28-2025.
After exit 1, exit 2 serves interests to Potomac Park and the headquarters of the U.S. Park Police. Since this is National Park Service property, large trucks are forbidden from taking this exit. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Near the north end of the 14th Street Bridge, the Jefferson Memorial becomes visible to the right of the top of the Washington Monument. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
US 1 parts with I-395 on the left. It follows 14th Street to Constitution Avenue to 6th Street to Rhode Island Avenue, which it follows northeastward to an exit into Maryland. Along the way, it passes by the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art, and Penn Quarter. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Exit 1 contains a tiny gore sign to the left. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Exit 2 is just beyond a crossing of CSX's Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Subdivision. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Exit 2 is a standard right exit. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Exit 3 is located at the 12th Street Expressway and is the designated exit for Capital One Arena. Behind the light pole at right, those bound for Nationals Park and Audi Field (D.C. United soccer) are respectively directed to exits 4 and 5. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
The next overhead gantry contains a height restriction warning for trucks for the approaching Center Leg tunnel. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Before exit 3, the Interstate crosses the Washington Channel to mainland D.C. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
The exit 3 gore. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
The next three exits - Maine Avenue, I-695, and C Street Northwest - are displayed here, all coming in a one-mile span. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Now oriented to the east, I-395 approaches exit 4 with Maine Avenue, which is also marked as serving the Southwest Waterfront beside the Washington Channel, which features a Titanic Memorial. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Exit 4 is on the other side of this overpass beside Benjamin Banneker Park. A couple of blocks to the north sits L'Enfant Plaza and its five-line Metro station. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
At exit 4, there are pavement markings denoting which lanes to be in for I-695 and I-395. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Exit 5, which comprises the three left lanes, marks the west end of the previously unsigned Interstate 695 (Southeast Freeway), which leads east to Interstate 295 and its northern counterpart, D.C. Route 295 (Anacostia Freeway). I-395 north has a "control city" of Capitol Hill. There was also once signage in this area for the two chambers of Congress (Senate, House of Representatives). Photo taken 04-28-2025.
Just after its split onto the Center Leg Freeway (just over the line between southwest and southeast D.C.), I-395 will enter the 3rd Street Tunnel which was built beneath the namesake street. In 2021, AASHTO approved renumbering the Center Leg Freeway to I-195 and shifting the I-395 designation to the Southeast Freeway (thus eliminating I-695), but no action has yet been taken to change signage in the field. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
At the split, there is an exit ramp to South Capitol Street and Nationals Park. Photo taken 04-28-2025.
