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108-572: The North Central Freeway was a planned freeway in the District of Columbia that would have run from the Inner Loop in D.C. to the Capital Beltway (I-495) at Silver Spring . The entire route was canceled in 1977 amid vitriolic protest from Washington D.C. and Takoma Park residents, angered at earlier proposed alignments for the route through the northern suburbs. The cancellation of the route led to

216-488: A cascading waterfall with Italian Renaissance -style architecture. Modern , Postmodern , contemporary , and other non-classical architectural styles are also seen in the city. The National Museum of African American History and Culture deeply contrasts the stone-based neoclassical buildings on the National Mall with a design that combines modern engineering with heavy inspiration from African art . The interior of

324-593: A 950-foot (290 m) tunnel in the Brookland area. At the point where the railroad curves to the southwest, the freeway would continue south and enter the site of the Union Station interchange, sparing 3 blocks near Jackson St. NE but removing 69 homes in the freeway's path. Also, the 196 plans for the North Central Freeway removed the reversible roadway that had been previously considered. The final length of

432-480: A center of the nation's internal slave trade . After its survey, the new federal city was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac River, to the east of Georgetown centered on Capitol Hill . On September 9, 1791, three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The same day, the federal district was named Columbia, a feminine form of Columbus , which

540-558: A consolidated routing of the North Central Freeway south of the Northeast Freeway. This study stated that the Northeast Freeway should enter D.C. between Gallatin St. and Galloway St., in the vicinity of Michigan Park , where it would run west for 3/4 mile through Fort Drive Circle Park before intercepting the B&;O corridor near Fort Totten, Washington, D.C. This plan,a major departure from

648-463: A federal town". In Federalist No. 43 , published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety. The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution permits

756-457: A for future urban planning and civil rights activists, becoming an early example of the importance of community engagement and environmental justice in city development projects. District of Columbia Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C. , is the capital city and federal district of the United States . The city

864-408: A garden-lined grand avenue about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 400 feet (120 m) wide in an area that is now the National Mall inspired by the grounds at Versailles and Tuileries Gardens. In March 1792, President Washington dismissed L'Enfant due to conflicts with the three commissioners appointed to supervise the capital's construction. Andrew Ellicott , who worked with L'Enfant in surveying

972-496: A modern glass exterior and heavy curvature. CityCenterDC is home to Palmer Alley, a pedestrian-only walkway, and houses several apartment buildings, restaurants, and luxury-brand storefronts with streamlined glass and metal facades. Outside Downtown D.C., architectural styles are more varied. Historic buildings are designed primarily in the Queen Anne , Châteauesque , Richardsonian Romanesque , Georgian Revival , Beaux-Arts , and

1080-431: A relatively high homelessness rate, despite its high living standard compared to many American cities. Washington, D.C., is divided into four quadrants of unequal area: Northwest (NW) , Northeast (NE) , Southeast (SE) , and Southwest (SW) . The axes bounding the quadrants radiate from the U.S. Capitol. All road names include the quadrant abbreviation to indicate their location. House numbers generally correspond with

1188-455: A six-lane freeway. One major characteristic of this alignment, as compared to previous alignments, is its close companionship with the railroad; the separate carriageways would cross under/over it repeatedly to avoid housing developments and other areas; in Takoma Park, the railroad would be flanked by I-70S's carriageways, while south of Van Burean Street the southbound carriageway would shift to

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1296-577: A snowstorm in January 1772. Hurricanes or their remnants occasionally impact the area in late summer and early fall. However, they usually are weak by the time they reach Washington, partly due to the city's inland location. Flooding of the Potomac River , however, caused by a combination of high tide, storm surge, and runoff, has been known to cause extensive property damage in the Georgetown neighborhood of

1404-657: A special committee charged with beautifying Washington's ceremonial core. What became known as the McMillan Plan was finalized in 1901 and included relandscaping the Capitol grounds and the National Mall, clearing slums, and establishing a new citywide park system. The plan is thought to have largely preserved L'Enfant's intended design for the city. By law, the city's skyline is low and sprawling. The federal Height of Buildings Act of 1910 prohibits buildings with height exceeding

1512-468: A variety of Victorian styles. Rowhouses are prominent in areas developed after the Civil War and typically follow Federal and late Victorian designs. Georgetown 's Old Stone House , built in 1765, is the oldest-standing building in the city. Founded in 1789, Georgetown University features a mix of Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture . The Ronald Reagan Building is the largest building in

1620-861: Is generally popular among tourists and locals. In 2007, six of the top ten buildings in the American Institute of Architects ' ranking of America's Favorite Architecture were in the city: the White House , Washington National Cathedral , the Jefferson Memorial , the United States Capitol , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial . The neoclassical , Georgian , Gothic , and Modern styles are reflected among these six structures and many other prominent edifices in

1728-457: Is on the Potomac River , across from Virginia , and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It was named after George Washington , the first president of the United States . The district is named after Columbia , the female personification of the nation . The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of

1836-465: Is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area , with a 2023 population of 6.3 million residents. A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C., residents are, on the federal level, politically disenfranchised since the city's residents do not have voting representation in Congress;

1944-494: Is water. The district is bordered by Montgomery County, Maryland , to the northwest; Prince George's County, Maryland , to the east; Arlington County, Virginia , to the west; and Alexandria, Virginia , to the south. The south bank of the Potomac River forms the district's border with Virginia and has two major tributaries, the Anacostia River and Rock Creek . Tiber Creek , a natural watercourse that once passed through

2052-602: The American Civil War in 1861 led to the expansion of the federal government and notable growth in the city's population, including a large influx of freed slaves. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which ended slavery in the district, freeing about 3,100 slaves in the district nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation . In 1868, Congress granted

2160-435: The Anacostia River to the east. Washington, D.C.'s street grid was extended, where possible, throughout the district starting in 1888. Georgetown's streets were renamed in 1895. Some streets are particularly noteworthy, including Pennsylvania Avenue , which connects the White House to the Capitol; and K Street, which houses the offices of many lobbying groups. Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue , located on

2268-538: The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park , the National Mall and Memorial Parks , Theodore Roosevelt Island , Columbia Island , Fort Dupont Park , Meridian Hill Park , Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens , and Anacostia Park . The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation maintains the city's 900 acres (3.6 km ) of athletic fields and playgrounds, 40 swimming pools, and 68 recreation centers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates

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2376-466: The College Park Interchange and continuing on its current alignment towards Baltimore. The remainder of the North Central Freeway, now part of I-70S and six lanes wide, would have continued along the B&O railroad corridor, passing beneath Takoma, Washington, D.C. in a 1/2-mile tunnel, and terminated at a large wye junction with I-495 . I-70S would have begun at the southern terminus of

2484-719: The Interstate Highway System as defined did not guarantee direct inner-city access. Furthermore, the NCPC also baldly stated that the construction of the North Central Freeway would simply provide another way into the District for commuters, which was seen as undesirable and unnecessary. In 1971, a study released by DeLeuw retained the I-70S/I-95 North Central Freeway configuration. The study's various alternatives differed little from one another; one major similarity

2592-523: The National Mall , was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s. The creek also formed a portion of the now-filled Washington City Canal , which allowed passage through the city to the Anacostia River from 1815 until the 1850s. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal starts in Georgetown and was used during the 19th century to bypass the Little Falls of the Potomac River, located at the northwest edge of

2700-566: The North Central Freeway south of Takoma Park, Washington, D.C. , running northeast out of the District in the vicinity of New Hampshire Avenue. Exiting the District, it would have merged with the Pepco power line corridor and run straight northeast, crossing Northwest Branch Park in the outer suburban area. (A portion of the current I-95 route parallels the Pepco power line corridor from I-495 to

2808-669: The Springfield Interchange in Virginia is now designated as I-395 . The stub end of I-95 south of the College Park Interchange in Maryland was converted into a Park & Ride lot in 1986, and a new flyover ramp was constructed for the southbound direction to allow a seamless merge with eastbound I-495. As proposed in the 1971 D.C. Interstate System program, the Northeast Freeway, eight lanes wide, would have separated from

2916-472: The U.S. Congress . As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state , and is not one itself. The Residence Act , adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in 1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia . In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including

3024-600: The Washington Metro stations and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden are designed with strong influence from the 20th-century Brutalism movement. The Smithsonian Institution Building is built of Seneca red sandstone in the Norman Revival style. The Old Post Office building, located on Pennsylvania Avenue and completed in 1899, was the first building in the city to have a steel frame structure and

3132-540: The 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria declined economically, due in part to its neglect by Congress. Alexandria was a major market in the domestic slave trade and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the district . Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to retake the land it had donated to form the district, a process known as retrocession . The Virginia General Assembly voted in February 1846, to accept

3240-701: The 1959 concept of 3 separate northern radial mixed traffic highways with that of a 2 into 1 "Y" route for a North Central Freeway as inside-the-Beltway I-70S, joined by an I-95 North East Freeway near Fort Totten, and continue together as the I-95 North Central Freeway. The I-70S and I-95 portions of the North Central would be routed along the existing B&O Metropolitan Branch RR (today's WMATA Red Line). Accordingly, this avoids "the substantial relocation of persons, loss of taxable property and disruption of neighborhoods that would result from construction of

3348-409: The 1960 route, was adopted to ensure that the route followed the right-of-way of the circumferential Fort Drive Parkway , thus addressing the complaints of local residents, while conforming with the state of Maryland's plans to run the Northeast Freeway through Northwest Branch Park . The study elucidated three separate options that could be followed once the route reached Fort Totten: The last option

North Central Freeway (Washington, D.C.) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-469: The 1964 proposal. The low-level option relocated the I-70S/I-495 wye interchange to a point 3/4 mile west of Georgia Avenue ( MD 97 ), with the western wye of the interchange closely hugging the railroad alignment on its western edge; various short tunnels would be constructed to carry the freeway across parking lots and under the railroad, where it would join the eastern leg of the wye and continue south as

3564-463: The 446-acre (1.80 km ) United States National Arboretum in Northeast Washington, D.C. Washington's climate is humid subtropical ( Köppen : Cfa ), or oceanic ( Trewartha : Do bordering Cf downtown). Winters are cool to cold with some snow of varying intensity, while summers are hot and humid. The district is in plant hardiness zone 8a near downtown, and zone 7b elsewhere in

3672-526: The 9,122 acres (36.92 km ) of city land owned by the U.S. government. Rock Creek Park is a 1,754-acre (7.10 km ) urban forest in Northwest Washington, which extends 9.3 miles (15.0 km) through a stream valley that bisects the city. Established in 1890, it is the country's fourth-oldest national park and is home to a variety of plant and animal species, including raccoon, deer, owls, and coyotes. Other National Park Service properties include

3780-537: The B&O railroad corridor. The median of this route was planned as a transit right-of-way; the transit line was later built as the WMATA Green Line . The study described this routing as superior to previous routings, especially in terms of cost and complexity of construction. The study concluded that the route as proposed, between the Union Station interchange and the College Park Interchange (thus including

3888-623: The Canadas , the British set fire to government buildings in the city, gutting the United States Capitol , the Treasury Building , and the White House in what became known as the burning of Washington . However, a storm forced the British to evacuate the city after just 24 hours. Most government buildings were repaired quickly, but the Capitol, which was largely under construction at the time, would not be completed in its current form until 1868. In

3996-510: The Capital Beltway. The justification used for this deletion, as recorded in the NCPC's "Red Book", was that traffic with destinations beyond the District should not be permitted to travel through the District, but instead bypass it via the Beltway. Traffic with destinations within the District, as noted above, were expected to use the street grid; the NCPC further justified this by stating that

4104-502: The City of Washington in 1895. However, the city had poor housing and strained public works, leading it to become the first city in the nation to undergo urban renewal projects as part of the City Beautiful movement in the early 20th century. The City Beautiful movement built heavily upon the already-implemented L'Enfant Plan , with the new McMillan Plan leading urban development in

4212-511: The Conoy, inhabited the lands around the Potomac River and present-day Washington, D.C., when Europeans first arrived and colonized the region in the early 17th century. The Nacotchtank , also called the Nacostines by Catholic missionaries , maintained settlements around the Anacostia River in present-day Washington, D.C. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes ultimately displaced

4320-527: The D.C. area which deleted the North Central Freeway and Northeast Freeway from the city's freeway grid. Traffic that would have made use of these freeway corridors was expected to either use the local street grid or the Capital Beltway. I-70S would have terminated on the Capital Beltway (as I-270 does now), and I-95 would have followed New York Avenue to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway , then continued north to its original routing, possibly via

4428-628: The Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis (ECTC) to campaign against the freeway. The ECTC argued that the freeway would lead to the displacement of thousands of Black residents and disrupt communities, while also advocating for improved public transportation as an alternative to freeway expansion. The movement against the North Central Freeway was notable for its coalition-building efforts, uniting Black activists, environmentalists, and urban planners. This diverse group highlighted

North Central Freeway (Washington, D.C.) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-454: The NCF would have been 7.71 miles (12.41 km), cost approximately $ 193 million to build, and would have displaced 535 homes and 159 businesses. Ultimately, the plan was doomed by further opposition as a direct result of indecisiveness on the part of D.C. and Maryland transportation officials. In 1968, the U.S. National Capital Planning Commission released an updated Major Transportation Plan for

4644-449: The North Central Freeway and Northeast Freeway indirectly ignored earlier suggestions regarding the use of the B&;O railroad corridor; instead, no fewer than 17 separate alignments were proposed for the NCF south of the Northeast Freeway, and a staggering 35 were proposed for the NCF (I-70S) north of it, many of which did not make much use of the railroad alignment. One important aspect of

4752-425: The North Central Freeway north of the Beltway would not carry an Interstate designation throughout. The enormous opposition to the 1964 and 1965 alignments for the North Central Freeway led to a supplementary study being conducted in 1966 that more closely examined routings that paralleled the existing B&O railroad corridor. Most of the alternatives created during this study retained a six-lane configuration for

4860-623: The Northeast Expressway and followed the North Central Freeway all the way to I-495, with I-70S following the western leg of the wye and a short section of the Beltway to its existing wye junction in Bethesda . In 1959, the Mass Transportation Plan outlined a North Central Freeway routing that would parallel Georgia Avenue through northern D.C. However, no detailed studies into the feasibility or impact of this route were undertaken at

4968-439: The Northeast Freeway that had a significantly lower impact on surrounding neighborhoods. I-95 was planned as an eight-lane freeway within a 250-foot (76 m) right-of-way; it would have run entirely within the Pepco power line corridor, and would have entered D.C. in the vicinity of New Hampshire Avenue, following it for 3,200 feet (980 m) in a depressed roadway configuration, before burrowing beneath it to join and parallel

5076-428: The Northeast Freeway. The study as a whole generally rejected alignments paralleling Georgia Avenue in favor of alignments along the B&O railroad, primarily due to the residential nature of the former and the disruption that the route would engender if sent through it. However, it did not reject out-of-hand the concept of separate routings for the North Central Freeway and the Northeast Freeway due to concerns that

5184-469: The Northeast, North Central and Northwest Freeways proposed in the 1959 plan. Further savings are realized by placing the rapid transit lines to Silver Spring and Queen's Chapel in this same railroad corridor." This B&O "Y" route concept North Central Freeway was later politically undermined by planning that failed to follow it. In a series of proposals published in 1963 and 1964, the subsequent study of

5292-480: The Old Gunpowder Road overpass, just past Exit 29.) The route would have merged with the College Park Interchange on the Capital Beltway, joining the segment of I-95 completed in 1971, continuing it northeast to Baltimore, Maryland . In a series of proposals published in 1963 and 1964, the subsequent study of the North Central Freeway and Northeast Freeway indirectly ignored the earlier suggestions regarding

5400-619: The Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland . Nine cities served as capitals to the Continental Congress and under the Articles of Confederation . New York City was the first capital upon the adoption of the Constitution , succeeded by Philadelphia , which was capital from 1790 to 1800. On October 6, 1783, after the capital

5508-498: The area. Blizzards affect Washington once every four to six years on average. The most violent storms, known as nor'easters , often impact large regions of the East Coast . From January 27 to 28, 1922 , the city officially received 28 inches (71 cm) of snowfall, the largest snowstorm since official measurements began in 1885. According to notes kept at the time, the city received between 30 and 36 inches (76 and 91 cm) from

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5616-530: The borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point; many of these stones are still standing. Both Maryland and Virginia were slave states , and slavery existed in the District from its founding. The building of Washington likely relied in significant part on slave labor, and slave receipts have been found for the White House, Capitol Building, and establishment of Georgetown University. The city became an important slave market and

5724-559: The buildings that house federal government headquarters, including the White House , the Capitol, the Supreme Court Building , and multiple federal departments and agencies . The city is home to many national monuments and museums , located most prominently on or around the National Mall , including the Jefferson Memorial , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Washington Monument . It hosts 177 foreign embassies and serves as

5832-458: The city , primarily in the U ;Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, which were predominantly black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until more than 13,600 federal troops and Washington, D.C., Army National Guardsmen stopped the violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned, and rebuilding from the riots was not completed until

5940-472: The city at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line . The highest natural elevation in the district is 409 feet (125 m) above sea level at Fort Reno Park in upper northwest Washington, D.C. The lowest point is sea level at the Potomac River. The geographic center of Washington is near the intersection of 4th and L streets NW. The district has 7,464 acres (30.21 km ) of parkland, about 19% of

6048-490: The city but bankrupted its government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member board of commissioners. In 1888, the city's first motorized streetcars began service. Their introduction generated growth in areas of the district beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries, leading to an expansion of the district over the next few decades. Georgetown's street grid and other administrative details were formally merged with those of

6156-485: The city is divided into quadrants , which are centered around the Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods . As of the 2020 census , the city had a population of 689,545. Commuters from the city's Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area , which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia ,

6264-806: The city throughout the movement. Much of the old Victorian Mall was replaced with modern Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architecture ; these designs are still prevalent in the city's governmental buildings today. Increased federal spending under the New Deal in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in the district, though the chairman of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations, Ross A. Collins of Mississippi , justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents by saying that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on niggers." World War II led to an expansion of federal employees in

6372-696: The city's classical-style architecture include buildings constructed in the French Second Empire style, including the Eisenhower Executive Office Building , and the modernist Watergate complex . The Thomas Jefferson Building , the main Library of Congress building, and the historic Willard Hotel are built in Beaux-Arts style , popular throughout the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Meridian Hill Park contains

6480-534: The city's residents elect a single non-voting congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment , passed in 1961. Washington, D.C. anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis . As the seat of the U.S. federal government , the city is an important world political capital . The city hosts

6588-416: The city's total area, the second-highest among high-density U.S. cities after Philadelphia . The city's sizable parkland was a factor in the city being ranked as third in the nation for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the park systems of the nation's 100 most populous cities, according to Trust for Public Land , a non-profit organization. The National Park Service manages most of

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6696-421: The city, was then tasked with completing its design. Though Ellicott revised the original L'Enfant plans, including changing some street patterns, L'Enfant is still credited with the city's overall design. By the early 20th century, however, L'Enfant's vision of a grand national capital was marred by slums and randomly placed buildings in the city, including a railroad station on the National Mall. Congress formed

6804-408: The city. Summers are hot and humid with a July daily average of 79.8 °F (26.6 °C) and average daily relative humidity around 66%, which can cause moderate personal discomfort. Heat indices regularly approach 100 °F (38 °C) at the height of summer. The combination of heat and humidity in the summer brings very frequent thunderstorms, some of which occasionally produce tornadoes in

6912-530: The city. Many of the government buildings, monuments, and museums along the National Mall and surrounding areas are heavily inspired by classical Roman and Greek architecture. The designs of the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court Building , Washington Monument , National Gallery of Art , Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial are all heavily drawn from these classical architectural movements and feature large pediments, domes, columns in classical order, and heavy stone walls. Notable exceptions to

7020-462: The city. Precipitation occurs throughout the year. The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 6, 1918, and on July 20, 1930. The lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 11, 1899 , right before the Great Blizzard of 1899 . During a typical year, the city averages about 37 days at or above 90 °F (32 °C) and 64 nights at or below

7128-654: The city; by 1950, the district's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the Electoral College for the election of president and vice president, but still not affording the city's residents representation in Congress. After the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in

7236-427: The connecting segment of the North Central Freeway ), would have been 8.6 miles (13.8 km) in length, cost only $ 176 million to construct, and would have displaced a maximum of 59 homes in the District and 110 in Maryland, with most of the displacements a result of expansive interchange design. In 1973, this routing was adopted by the Maryland State Highway Administration for official study. However, this routing

7344-541: The dignity of the Eastern Star Masonic Home property. This version of the Northeast Freeway would have had only three interchanges at Adelphi Road, University Boulevard ( MD 193 ) and East–West Highway ( MD 410 ). The routing as proposed by MDOT SHA would have been 4.89 miles (7.87 km) in length, avoided the wholesale destruction of portions of Northwest Branch Park, and displaced a significantly fewer number of homes — only 25 in D.C., and zero in Maryland, mainly due to less expansive interchange designs. However,

7452-419: The district into a state since the 1880s; a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate . To become law it would have to be passed by the Senate and signed by president; it would have renamed the city Washington, Douglas Commonwealth and shrunk the Federal District to about the size of the national mall. Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant ,

7560-399: The district with a total area of about 3.1 million square feet (288,000 m ). Washington Union Station is designed in a combination of architectural styles. Its Great Hall has elaborate gold leaf designs along the ceilings and the hall includes several decorative classical-style statues. Northeast Freeway (Washington, D.C.) The entire route was canceled in 1977 after

7668-427: The district's African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections. By 1870, the district's population had grown 75% in a decade to nearly 132,000 people, yet the city still lacked paved roads and basic sanitation. Some members of Congress suggested moving the capital farther west, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to consider the proposal. In the Organic Act of 1871 , Congress repealed

7776-643: The east and north of the Potomac and the County of Alexandria to the west and south. After the Act's passage, citizens in the district were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which ended their representation in Congress. On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 , British forces invaded and occupied the city after defeating an American force at Bladensburg . In retaliation for acts of destruction by American troops in

7884-535: The establishment of a "District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States". However, the constitution does not specify a location for the capital. In the Compromise of 1790 , Madison, Alexander Hamilton , and Thomas Jefferson agreed that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing

7992-426: The existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria , was officially recognized as the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia , including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for the remaining portion of the district. There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make

8100-551: The federal district was a square measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side and totaling 100 square miles (259 km ). Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown , founded in 1751, and the port city of Alexandria, Virginia , founded in 1749. In 1791 and 1792, a team led by Andrew Ellicott , including Ellicott's brothers Joseph and Benjamin and African American astronomer Benjamin Banneker , whose parents had been enslaved, surveyed

8208-512: The final plans published in the 1971 D.C. Interstate System program, the North Central Freeway, ten lanes wide, would have begun at the Union Station interchange (where the East Leg Freeway (I-295) , North Leg Freeway (I-66/I-95) and New York Avenue (US 50) would meet) and run north, paralleling the B&O railroad corridor as far as the Brookland area, where it would have entered a 3/4-mile tunnel south of Rhode Island Ave., emerging to

8316-666: The first to use electrical wiring in its design. Notable contemporary residential buildings, restaurants, shops, and office buildings in the city include the Wharf on the Southwest Waterfront , Navy Yard along the Anacostia River , and CityCenterDC in Downtown . The Wharf has seen the construction of several high-rise office and residential buildings overlooking the Potomac River . Additionally, restaurants, bars, and shops have been opened at street level. Many of these buildings have

8424-493: The former would not be able to handle the traffic levels of both routes combined. Twelve of the alternate routes considered by the study had this separated route approach, with the North Central Freeway routed via Georgia Avenue and Sherman Avenue; the other 5 advocated the consolidated alignment. Many of the alignments proposed for the North Central Freeway north of I-95 would have resulted in wholesale neighborhood demolition, with hundreds of homes completely removed to make space for

8532-417: The freeway and the expansive interchanges planned for it. The study itself recommended the construction of a consolidated alignment, with the North Central Freeway following the B&O all the way through the District and outside it, within the Capital Beltway , before turning to follow 16th St. to the Beltway, which it would meet, and continue north of, near Sligo Park . Surprisingly, the study stated that

8640-404: The freezing mark (32 °F or 0 °C). On average, the first day with a minimum at or below freezing is November 18 and the last day is March 27. Washington, D.C., was a planned city , and many of the city's street grids were developed in that initial plan. In 1791, President George Washington commissioned Pierre Charles L'Enfant , a French-born military engineer and artist, to design

8748-414: The government of the District of Columbia canceled the North Central Freeway , cutting off the southern end of the Northeast Freeway from the D.C. freeway network. The cancellation of the route led to the truncation of Interstate 95 at the College Park Interchange and its subsequent rerouting onto the eastern half of the Capital Beltway . The completed portion of I-95 that ran from downtown Washington to

8856-702: The headquarters for the World Bank , the International Monetary Fund , the Organization of American States , and other international organizations. Home to many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks , D.C. is known as a lobbying hub, with K Street as the industry center. The city had 20.7 million domestic visitors and 1.2 million international visitors, ranking seventh among U.S. cities as of 2022. The Algonquian -speaking Piscataway people , also known as

8964-436: The individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown , abolished Washington County , and created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. These steps made "the city of Washington...legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia." In 1873, President Grant appointed Alexander Robey Shepherd as Governor of the District of Columbia. Shepherd authorized large projects that modernized

9072-437: The late 1990s. In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act providing for an elected mayor and 13-member council for the district. In 1975, Walter Washington became the district's first elected and first black mayor. Since the 1980s, the D.C. statehood movement has grown in prominence. In 2016, a referendum on D.C. statehood resulted in an 85% support among Washington, D.C., voters for it to become

9180-491: The name Washington, Douglas Commonwealth (thus keeping the same abbreviation Washington, D.C.). The legalities, reasons, and impact of statehood have been heavily debated in the 2020s. Washington, D.C., is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. East Coast . The city has a total area of 68.34 square miles (177 km ), of which 61.05 square miles (158.1 km ) is land and 7.29 square miles (18.9 km ) (10.67%)

9288-600: The nation's 51st state . In March 2017, the city's congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill for statehood. Reintroduced in 2019 and 2021 as the Washington, D.C., Admission Act , the U.S. House of Representatives passed it in April 2021. After not progressing in the Senate, the statehood bill was introduced again in January 2023. The bill would have made D.C. into a state with one representative and two senators, with

9396-496: The new capital. He enlisted the help of Isaac Roberdeau, Étienne Sulpice Hallet and Scottish surveyor Alexander Ralston to help lay out the city plan. The L'Enfant Plan featured broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing room for open space and landscaping. L'Enfant was also provided a roll of maps by Thomas Jefferson depicting Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Paris, Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Turin, and Milan. L'Enfant's design also envisioned

9504-580: The new national capital in the Southern United States . On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act , which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River . Under the Residence Act, the exact location was to be selected by President George Washington , who signed the bill into law on July 16, 1790. Formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of

9612-541: The north and south sides of the National Mall, respectively, are home to many of Washington's iconic museums, including many Smithsonian Institution buildings and the National Archives Building . Washington hosts 177 foreign embassies ; these maintain nearly 300 buildings and more than 1,600 residential properties, many of which are on a section of Massachusetts Avenue informally known as Embassy Row . The architecture of Washington, D.C., varies greatly and

9720-486: The north of Michigan Avenue. Running north it would have continued along the railroad corridor to Fort Totten, Washington, D.C. , where it would have junctioned the eight-lane Northeast Freeway . I-95 would have joined the North Central Freeway from the North Leg Freeway and followed it to Fort Totten, where it would have turned east onto the Northeast Freeway and exited the District, eventually junctioning I-495 at

9828-520: The northern I-70S segment and an eight-lane configuration for the southern I-95 segment. Three major options were considered: The option chosen was the low-level option. Tunnels would be constructed in the vicinity of Montgomery College , and the freeway would be depressed in the Brookland area. However, in the Takoma Park, Washington, D.C. the freeway would be slightly elevated, yet the crossing of Georgia Avenue would be depressed instead of elevated in

9936-483: The northern side of the railroad and meet the Northeast Freeway near Riggs Road and New Hampshire Avenue. The 1966 plan included separate ramp connections to and from both freeways and North Capitol Street, but deleted 'round-the-corner' connections to and from southbound I-70S and northbound I-95. South of the Northeast Freeway, the North Central Freeway would run to the east of the railroad, after passing through

10044-404: The number of blocks away from the Capitol. Most streets are set out in a grid pattern with east–west streets named with letters (e.g., C Street SW), north–south streets with numbers (e.g., 4th Street NW), and diagonal avenues, many of which are named after states . The City of Washington was bordered on the north by Boundary Street (renamed Florida Avenue in 1890); Rock Creek to the west, and

10152-456: The number of homes required to be removed from 69 to 34. A group of concerned residents banded together and formed an opposition group called the Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis. The group emphasized their assertions that the route was "a white man's road through a black man's bedroom", and frequently interrupted meetings relevant to the highways construction. Reginald H. Booker, an advocate for civil rights and urban reform, led

10260-415: The project's potential environmental and social injustices, leveraging public forums, protests, and media engagement to raise awareness and pressure city officials. The concerted efforts of Booker and the broader coalition contributed significantly to the eventual halting of the freeway project. Their activism not only prevented the displacement of communities and the destruction of neighborhoods but also set

10368-405: The remaining three lanes per carriageway would join with the six-lane North Central Freeway. 'Round-the-corner' connections between I-95 south and I-70S north, and between I-70S south and I-95 north, were also removed from the junction in the 1966 study. Otherwise, few modifications were made to the routing of the Northeast Freeway. In 1971, a study released by De Leuw-Weese defined a new route for

10476-419: The return of Alexandria. On July 9, 1846, Congress went further, agreeing to return all territory that Virginia had ceded to the district during its formation. This left the district's area consisting only of the portion originally donated by Maryland. Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself. The outbreak of

10584-402: The study was the consideration of consolidating the North Central Freeway (I-70S) and Northeast Freeway (I-95) into a single freeway that would run south to the Inner Loop (designated solely as I-95). Many different alignments, including ones paralleling Georgia Avenue and Sherman Avenue through northern D.C., were considered as part of a consolidated routing of the North Central Freeway south of

10692-657: The time. A later study conducted in 1964 included diagrams of the 1959 route, but with the roadway in a 4-2-4 configuration instead of a 3-3 configuration. In November 1962, the Kennedy administration released a document "Recommendations for Transportation in the National Capital Region; A Report to the President for transmittal to Congress by the National Capital Transportation Agency". It replaced

10800-478: The truncation of Interstate 95 at the College Park Interchange and its subsequent rerouting onto the eastern half of the Capital Beltway , and the truncation of Interstate 70S (now I-270) at its current terminus at Bethesda . (At the same time, Interstate 70N , later I-70, was planned to terminate in Baltimore, Maryland , but it too was truncated due to the cancellation of its own segments within that city.) In

10908-521: The use of the B&O railroad corridor; instead, no less than 17 separate alignments were proposed, many of which did not make much use of the railroad alignment. One important aspect of the study was the consideration of a consolidated route, where the North Central Freeway and Northeast Freeway would join into a single freeway that would then run south to the Inner Loop . Many different alignments, including ones paralleling Georgia Avenue and Sherman Avenue through northern D.C., were considered as part of

11016-532: The width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet (6.1 m). Despite popular belief, no law has ever limited buildings to the height of the United States Capitol or the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument , which remains the district's tallest structure. City leaders have cited the height restriction as a primary reason that the district has limited affordable housing and its metro area has suburban sprawl and traffic problems. Washington, D.C., still has

11124-419: Was a poetic name for the United States commonly used at that time. Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800. Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 , which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. The area within the district was organized into two counties, the County of Washington to

11232-564: Was forced by the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 to move to Princeton, Congress resolved to consider a new location for it. The following day, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts moved "that buildings for the use of Congress be erected on the banks of the Delaware near Trenton , or of the Potomac , near Georgetown , provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers as aforesaid, for

11340-399: Was modified somewhat from the 1971 plan; the Northeast Freeway segment was narrowed to six lanes, in a 2-2-2 configuration with a center reversible roadway. It would have crossed Northwest Branch Park in a cut-and-cover tunnel, and the burrowed crossing of New Hampshire Avenue in Maryland next to the southern end of the Pepco route linking the Northeast Freeway with the North Central Freeway

11448-535: Was replaced with an elevated, sharply curved crossing with a 55 mph (89 km/h) design speed (the remainder of the route would be 70 mph), necessitated by the challenging topography of the area and the need to avoid rebuilding the Pepco substation. The segment along New Hampshire Avenue would have been depressed, with no apparent consideration for a cut and cover segment either in Maryland for new retail development, nor in Washington, D.C., such as for preserving

11556-469: Was the I-70S/I-95 wye junction, with the six-lane I-70S and the eight-lane I-95 (narrowing to six lanes, with the remaining two forming off ramps to North Capitol St.) merging into a 12-lane freeway that would quickly narrow to 10 lanes within the Union Station interchange. The plans included the 3/4-mile Rhode Island Ave.-Michigan Ave. tunnel, as well as revisions to an earlier 1970 proposal that would reduce

11664-574: Was the option recommended by the study. The enormous opposition to the 1964 and 1965 alignments for the North Central Freeway led to a supplementary study being conducted in 1966 that affected the routing of the Northeast Freeway. As noted above, the Northeast Freeway (I-95) was to enter the District via the Fort Drive route. The 1966 plans included several changes to the junction with the North Central Freeway; one lane per carriageway from I-95 would connect with ramps to and from North Capitol Street, while

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