M Street (Washington, D.C.)
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The name M Street refers to two major thoroughfares in the United States capital of Washington, D.C.
Because of the Cartesian-coordinate-based street-naming system in Washington, the name "M Street" can be used to refer to any east-west street located twelve blocks north or south of the dome of the United States Capitol (not thirteen blocks, as there is no J Street). Thus, there are streets called M Street in all four quadrants of the city, which are disambiguated by quadrant designations, namely, M Street, N.W., N.E., S.W., and S.E.
[edit] M Street, N.W.
In Northwest, M Street is a major street downtown and is also the main east-west street in Georgetown.
M St NW begins at the Key Bridge, which crosses the Potomac River at the 3500 block. To the west of 36th St, M St turns into Canal Road. Georgetown was called Bridge Street until the streets in Georgetown were renamed in 1895 to conform to the street names used in the original federal city. Where 32nd St would otherwise be, M St intersects with Wisconsin Avenue. At 29th St, it meets the western terminus of Pennsylvania Avenue. This is the last major intersection before Rock Creek (Potomac River), which forms the eastern border of Georgetown. The section in Georgetown carries heavy commuter traffic because it connects Pennsylvania Avenue with the Key Bridge and Canal Road.
From Pennsylvania Avenue to Thomas Circle at 14th Street, M Street is a one-way street with traffic flowing westbound-only, and becomes two-way in Georgetown. This stretch is highly developed, consisting mostly of apartments from 26th to 21st and businesses from 21st to Thomas Circle, which has recently emerged as a desired residential area.
From 14th St to 5th St NW, M St is again a two-way street. Between 9th and 7th it passes underneath the Washington Convention Center. From 5th St to North Capitol Street, it assumes a very complex traffic pattern because of the intersections and near-intersections of several high-traffic streets: M, New York Ave/U.S. Route 50, the northern terminus of I-395, New Jersey Ave., and North Capitol St. Currently, traffic is west-to-east from 5th to 4th, east-to-west from New York to 4th, and west-to-east from New York through North Capitol and onto M St NE. M St. east of Thomas Circle is still very run-down and impoverished, but projects are currently underway to both gentrify the neighborhood as well as improve the condition of its poorest residents.
[edit] M Street, N.E.
M Street, N.E., is a relatively minor street compared to its 3 sister streets. It runs west-to-east only from North Capitol Street to Florida Avenue between 6th and 7th, where it terminates at the gates of Gallaudet University. Along the way, it uses an overpass to avoid the Union Station rail yard.
Because the intervening Trinidad neighborhood does not follow the grid pattern, M St does not emerge again until Bladensburg Road (between 16th and 17th). This two-way stretch quickly dead-ends, however, after intersecting with Maryland Avenue (where 26th St would be), because the remaining land between that intersection and the Anacostia River is occupied by the National Arboretum and Langston Golf Course. The portion of DC across the Anacostia follows its own variant of the grid pattern, so while there is no M St. N.E., the Deanwood neighborhood of Anacostia does have a Meade St. N.E. in the location where M St. would have re-emerged.
[edit] M Street, S.W./S.E.
In the part of the city about a mile south of the Capitol, M Street is a major east-west traffic thoroughfare connecting Maine Avenue with Interstate 295. The Potomac River prevents M St. from extending further west than 6th St/Maine Avenue. Likewise, the Anacostia River limits M St SE east of 11th to being more than a named on-ramp for I-295 (the 11th Street Bridges to the immediate south and the Southeast Freeway to the immediate north), Water St SE (home of several boating clubs), and Pennsylvania Ave SE at the Sousa Bridge before terminating.
The most prominent intersection on M Street between those points is with South Capitol Street. M Street runs along the northern edge of the Washington Navy Yard (between 1st and 11th SE) and near the proposed site of the new ballpark for the Washington Nationals, between 1st and South Capitol.
The Anacostia neighborhood of DC, across the river, has its own M St S.E., but it is extremely short. Beginning at the Anacostia Freeway (DC-295, roughly where 29th St would be), it runs diagonally two blocks, merges with Anacostia Road for one block, then straightens out for two blocks before terminating at 34th St SE. Its route is blocked by Massachusetts Ave SE and Fort Dupont Park (not to be confused with Dupont Circle, which runs very close to M St. N.W. and also intersects Massachusetts Ave N.W.)
