Interstate 395 (Virginia–District of Columbia)

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.[2] 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.[3] In 2012, the exemption was modified to be "open-ended" rather than year-to-year.[4]

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.[5]

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.

• Images from I-395, from south to north
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  Southern terminus of I-395 at the Springfield Interchange
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  I-395 in Alexandria, Virginia
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  I-395 northbound at Glebe Road in Arlington
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  Cars on I-395, leaving Washington, D.C. (in distance) and passing by the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
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  US 1 exit on I-395 Northbound, just after crossing the 14th Street Bridge into the District of Columbia
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  I-395 northbound along the Southwest Freeway at Exit 3
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  Entrance to Third Street Tunnel under the National Mall
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  I-395 northbound along the Center Leg Freeway at Exit 10.

The portion of Interstate 395 between the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the interchange with Interstate 95 and the Capital Beltway in Springfield is part of the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway, named for a Virginia Highway Commissioner who died on July 16, 1941, just a few weeks after approving work on the new expressway. Originally State Route 350, the full length of the Shirley Highway was opened on September 6, 1949, from south of the Pentagon to Woodbridge, Virginia,[6] along what is now better known as the Interstate 95 corridor. The Shirley Highway featured the nation's first reversible bus lanes, a precursor to today's HOV lanes.

During an evening rush-hour snowstorm in 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed on take-off from Ronald Regan Washington National Airport, hitting the easternmost of the three highway bridges known as the 14th Street Bridge. The oldest span, formerly named the Rochambeau, is now named the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge, in honor of a passenger of Flight 90 who survived the crash, escaped from the sinking aircraft, and perished in the Potomac River while saving others from the icy waters. The center span is now called the Rochambeau Bridge, and the western span, the George Mason Memorial Bridge.

Original plans called for I-95 to travel through Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, toward the northeastern portion of the Capital Beltway, from which I-95 presently continues its northbound route. However, neighborhood opposition in the District halted this plan in 1977, diverting planned funding toward construction of the Washington Metro. The only remnant of the Maryland extension is a series of ramp stubs near College Park, which now lead to a Park & Ride. The portion of I-95 within the Beltway became I-395, while the eastern half of the Beltway was re-designated I-95 (and, later, co-signed I-95/I-495). I-395 currently terminates in Washington, D.C., at a traffic signal at U.S. Route 50, which is New York Avenue, near Mount Vernon Square.

The District government finalized a deal in 2010 with the Louis Dreyfus Group to construct a 2.1-million-square-foot (200,000 m²) mixed-use development in the airspace over the Center Leg Freeway portion of Interstate 395. The $425 million office, residential, and retail project at the east end of the Judiciary Square neighborhood will also restore the area's original L'Enfant Plan street grid by reconnecting F and G Streets over the freeway. The project was awaiting final regulatory approval and expected to be complete by 2016.[7]

In 2015, work began on I-395 in conjunction with the Capitol Crossing, a major real estate project in D.C, part of which lies on top of the highway. The work involves adding a $200 million concrete platform that connects neighborhoods that have been severed by the freeway, creating a better community atmosphere in the eastern edge of downtown. DDOT expected the work would take up to four years.[8]

In January 2021, as part of an effort to eliminate driver confusion among I-395, I-695 and I-295 in downtown Washington, AASHTO approved a request by the District of Columbia to eliminate the entirety of I-695 and renumber it as an extension of I-395. I-395's previous route along the Center Leg Freeway is to be renumbered as a new I-195.[9]

In 2015, the Commonwealth of Virginia announced that the HOV lanes between the Turkeycock Run bridge and Eads Street (at The Pentagon) will be converted to toll lanes as part of the I-395 Express Lanes Extension project. The existing HOV lanes, which run in both directions in some areas, became reversible HOT lanes for the entire scope of this project, spanning eight miles (13 km).[10]

Part of the project involved the reconfiguring of the Pentagon interchange to provide greater access to Army Navy Drive, as well as the closing of the on-ramp—from the southbound HOV lanes to the mainline Interstate southbound—located just west of the Pentagon interchange. All existing HOV interchanges within the project's scope became tolled, except for the northbound exit and southbound entrance at Seminary Road, which remains toll-free while retaining its HOV-only restriction.[11]

Vehicles carrying three or more passengers are still be able to use the former HOV lanes for free. The express lanes opened on November 17, 2019.