New Hampshire Avenue (Washington, D.C.)

New Hampshire Avenue

Intersection of 22nd Street and New Hampshire Avenue, NW in the West End neighborhood
Other name(s)	New Hampshire Avenue NE New Hampshire Avenue NW
Maintained by	DDOT
Location	Washington, D.C., U.S.
South end	Watergate Complex
Major junctions	Virginia Avenue US 29 / Washington Circle Dupont Circle US 29 (Georgia Avenue) Grant Circle North Capitol Street
North end	MD 650 / Eastern Avenue
Construction
Commissioned	1907
Construction start	1908

New Hampshire Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., beginning at the Kennedy Center and extending northeast for about 5 miles (8 km) and then continuing into Maryland where it is designated Maryland Route 650. New Hampshire Avenue, however, is not contiguous. It stops at 15th and W Streets NW and resumes again on the other side of Columbia Heights at Park Road NW, a few blocks from Georgia Avenue. New Hampshire Avenue passes through several Washington neighborhoods including Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle, Petworth and Lamond-Riggs.

In Maryland, New Hampshire Avenue passes the neighborhoods and towns of Chillum, Takoma Park, Carole Highlands, Langley Park and Silver Spring. Eventually, it feeds into Damascus Road (Maryland Route 108) at Etchison. Many Maryland residents regard New Hampshire Avenue as a convenient access road to Washington's North Capitol Street, a wide road that starts north of the United States Capitol and divides the city into its northwest and northeast quadrants.

In 1907, the commissioners of the District of Columbia asked Congress to appropriate funds to extend New Hampshire Avenue northward to the Maryland state line. The northern portion was proposed in 1908. Rock Creek Church requested that New Hampshire Avenue not be extended in a straight line in order to be more direct to the church.Thomas H. Carter of Montana and Jacob Harold Gallinger of New Hampshire submitted the bill to the Senate. The bill passed in late 1908.