Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 to MD-717 where it becomes Stephanie Roper Highway. The section between the White House and Congress is called “America’s Main Street”; it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches. Moreover, Pennsylvania Avenue is an important commuter road and is part of the National Highway System.
The avenue runs for 5.8 miles (9.3 km) inside Washington, but the 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the United States Capitol building is considered the most important. It continues within the city for 3.5 miles (5.6 km), from the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds through the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and over the Anacostia River on the John Philip Sousa Bridge. Crossing most of Prince George’s County, Maryland, it ends 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from the DC line at the junction with MD 717 in WUpper Marlboro where the name changes to the Stephanie Roper Highway, for a total length of 15.3 miles (24.6 km). Stephanie Roper Highway used to be Pennsylvania Avenue, but was renamed in 2012. In addition to its street names, in Maryland it is designated as Maryland Route 4. At one point in the mid-20th century, Pennsylvania Avenue was designated DC 4, an extension of Maryland Route 4 that reached at least the east side of the White House. Northwest of the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue runs for 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to its end at M Street NW in Georgetown, just beyond the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge over Rock Creek. From 1862 to 1962, streetcars ran the length of the avenue from Georgetown to the Anacostia River.
Ever since an impromptu procession formed around Jefferson’s second inauguration, every United States president except Ronald Reagan has paraded down the Avenue after taking the oath of office (Reagan paraded up the avenue for his first inauguration, in 1981, but not for the second in 1985 because freezing temperatures and high winds made it dangerous). From William Henry Harrison to Gerald Ford, the funeral corteges of seven of the eight presidents who died in office and two former presidents followed this route. Franklin Roosevelt was the only president who died in office whose cortege did not follow this route. Lyndon B. Johnson and Ford were the former presidents whose funeral cortege followed this route. For LBJ, it was along the route from the Capitol to the National City Christian Church, where he worshiped often, because the funeral was held there. Ford’s went up Pennsylvania Avenue because it paused at the White House en route to the Washington National Cathedral, where the funeral was held. Abraham Lincoln‘s funeral cortege solemnly proceeded along Pennsylvania Avenue in 1865; only weeks later the end of the American Civil War was celebrated when the Army of the Potomacparaded more joyously along the avenue.
K Street crosses Pennsylvania Avenue in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. There were numerous offices of the political lobby industry along K Street, so that today the term “K Street” is synonymous with pretty much everything that goes wrong in political Washington (the district also houses the Watergate building complex. Another example of corruption is within sight of the United States Capitol: the Old Post Office Pavilion, converted to “Trump® International Hotel Washington, D.C.”), even though only a few lobby organizations are actually located here today.
