Virginia Avenue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View of Virginia Avenue from the roof of the Hall on Virginia Avenue
View of Virginia Avenue from the roof of the Hall on Virginia Avenue

Virginia Avenue is a street in the Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. Like other state-named streets in Washington, it diagonally crosses the grid pattern formed by lettered (east-west) and numbered (north-south) streets. Many famous landmarks are adjacent to Virginia Avenue, including the Watergate complex, The George Washington University's Hall on Virginia Avenue (which, formerly branded as a Howard Johnson's hotel, served as the lookout point for the Watergate break-in in 1972), the Pan-American Health Organization, the US Departments of State and the Interior, the Kennedy Center, and West Potomac Park.

The western terminus of Virginia Avenue, N.W. is at the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. Virginia Avenue provides access from the Parkway to Interstate 66. The eastern terminus is at Constitution Avenue between 17th and 18th streets. Between those termini, there is a partial interchange with the E Street Expressway. Discontinuous portions of Virginia Avenue are found in Southwest, paralleling the railroad tracks, and Southeast, paralleling the Southeast Freeway.