State Route 401 (SR 401) is a primary
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in the U.S. state of
Virginia. Known as Van Dorn Street, the state highway runs from
SR 613 at the south city limit of the
independent city of
Alexandria north to
SR 420 within Alexandria.
Route description
SR 401 begins at the south city limit of Alexandria, which is located on the north side of the underpass of
CSX's
RF&P Subdivision. Van Dorn Street continues south as SR 613 into
Fairfax County toward its interchange with
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
(I-95)/
I-495 (Capital Beltway) and
Franconia. SR 401, which heads north as a four-lane
divided highway, has an intersection with Eisenhower Avenue, an east–west arterial through the industrial southern edge of Alexandria, and has a
trumpet interchange with a connector to Eisenhower Avenue and the
Van Dorn Street station on the
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,[Google Books search/preview](_blank) 's
Blue Line. There is no ramp from the connector to northbound SR 401. The state highway crosses over
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...
's
Washington District and Backlick Run and intersects Edsall Road.
SR 401 continues through a
partial cloverleaf interchange
A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange.
The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...
with SR 236 (Duke Street) adjacent to now-demolished
Landmark Mall
Landmark Mall (or Landmark Regional Shopping Center) (formally Landmark Center) was an American shopping mall. Located in a triangle formed by Duke Street ( Virginia State Route 236), Interstate 395, and Van Dorn Street ( Virginia State Route 4 ...
. North of SR 236, the state highway becomes an undivided highway, crosses Holmes Run, and begins to closely parallel
I-395 Interstate 395 may refer to:
*Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), a spur from I-95 to Auburn, Massachusetts
*Interstate 395 (Delaware), a proposed portion of I-95 in Delaware, when it was under construction
*Interstate 395 (Florida), a spu ...
(Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway). SR 401 continues northeast to a point within SR 420's (Seminary Road) overpass of the highway and the latter highway's
three-level diamond interchange with I-395. Van Dorn Street continues northeast as an unnumbered street to its end at
SR 7 on the boundary between Alexandria and
Arlington. Access from Van Dorn Street to SR 420 is provided by a pair of intersections with Kenmore Avenue that lead to a pair of
right-in/right-out intersections with the overpassing highway.
History
SR 401 was assigned to its present location, previously unnumbered, in the early 1980s, but it only ran as far north as SR 236. In the mid-1980s, it was extended to its current terminus at SR 420. Its current route was once part of Fairfax County, and the portion of SR 401 from immediately south of Edsall Road to its southern terminus was part of SR 613 until it was annexed by Alexandria in the 1950s.
Major intersections
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Virginia Highways Project: VA 401
401
__NOTOC__
Year 401 ( CDI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus (or, less frequently, year 1154 ' ...
State Route 401