U.S. Route 1

U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making it the longest north–south road in the United States. US 1 is generally paralleled by Interstate 95 (I-95), though US 1 is significantly farther west (inland) between Jacksonville, Florida, and Petersburg, Virginia, while I-95 is closer to the coastline. In contrast, US 1 in Maine is much closer to the coast than I-95, which runs farther inland than US 1. The route connects most of the major cities of the East Coast—including Miami, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston passing from the Southeastern United States to New England.

While US 1 is generally the easternmost of the main north–south U.S. Highways, parts of several others occupy corridors closer to the ocean. When the road system was laid out in the 1920s, US 1 was mostly assigned to the existing Atlantic Highway, which followed the Fall Line between the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain north of Augusta, Georgia. At the time, the highways farther east were of lower quality and did not serve the major population centers. From Henderson, North Carolina, to Petersburg, Virginia, it parallels I-85. Construction of the Interstate Highway system gradually changed the use and character of US 1, and I-95 became the major north–south East Coast highway by the late 1960s.

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Florida

US 1 travels along the east coast of Florida, beginning at 490 Whitehead St. in Key West and passing through Miami, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Fort Pierce, Melbourne, Cocoa, Titusville, Daytona Beach, Palm Coast, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville. The southernmost piece through the chain islands of the Florida Keys, about long, is the 2-lane Overseas Highway, originally built in the late 1930s after railroad tycoon Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway's Overseas Railroad, which was built between 1905 and 1912 on stone pillars, was ruined by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The rest of US 1 in Florida is generally a 4-lane divided highway, despite the existence of the newer I-95 not far away. Famous vacation scenic route Florida State Road A1A is a continuous oceanfront alternate to US 1 that runs along the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, cut only by assorted unbridged inlets and the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. North of Jacksonville, US 1 turns northwest towards Augusta, Georgia; US 17 becomes the coastal route into Virginia, where US 13 takes over.Google Maps street maps and USGS topographic maps, accessed vi
ACME Mapper
/ref> In Florida until the 1990s, US 1 used high-contrast markers (white text on a red background).

Georgia

The part of US 1 in Georgia, as it shifts from the coastal alignment in Florida to the Fall Line alignment in South Carolina, is generally very rural, passing through marshes and former plantations between the towns and cities of Folkston, Waycross, Alma, Baxley, Lyons, Swainsboro, and Augusta. The Georgia Department of Transportation has an ongoing plan to widen all of US 1 to four lanes with bypasses, which is more than 50 percent complete.

The Carolinas

In South Carolina, US 1 generally serves mostly rural areas as it falls west of I-95 while the coastal areas are served by routes east of it. Starting in South Carolina, US 1 is paralleled by I-20 along the Fall Line through Aiken, Lexington, and Columbia to Camden and Lugoff. US 1 functions as a local 2-lane road with occasional boulevard stretches. After Camden, US 1 continues northeast away from any Interstate towards Bethune, Patrick, McBee and Cheraw with no bypasses or 4-lane sections except around Cheraw through the US-52 and SC 9 concurrencies. After SC 9, it continues northward into North Carolina as a 2-lane highway. SCDOT has no plans to widen or bypass any US 1 alignments northeast of Camden to the North Carolina line.

Between the South Carolina line and the US 74 bypass, US 1 is a 2-lane road but sees a considerable amount of truck and tourist traffic of people cutting through from the US 74/ US 220 and I-73/I-74 corridor attempting to reach points south and east. US 1 goes through downtown Rockingham, with a bypass in the future plans. North of the NC 177 junction, it becomes 4 lanes or greater, becoming a super-street with limited access and then becoming a limited access freeway. US 1 becomes a major artery for the state as it moves north of Rockingham. After Richmond County, it goes into Moore County with two expressway bypasses in Southern Pines, Vass and Cameron. US 1 continues with the Jefferson Davis Highway label through Lee County and Sanford, and on to Cary and Raleigh. US 1 runs concurrently with US 64 through most of Cary, where the freeway recently underwent a major renovation and improvements that added lanes in both directions. North of Raleigh, US 1 (known as Capital Boulevard in northern Wake County) crosses I-540 and then again becomes a 4-lane divided arterial to I-85 near Henderson. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has begun a corridor study for this section of US 1. Moreover, NCDOT is planning to finish 4-laning US 1 in Richmond County past NC 177 with a Rockingham bypass to the east. There are no plans from SCDOT to widen US 1 from the state line. From Henderson into Virginia, US 1 runs parallel with I-85 as a 2-lane local road until the state line, where Virginia hosts a continuous 3rd center lane for alternate passing towards US Highway 58 before South Hill.

Mid-Atlantic Region

In the Mid-Atlantic region, US 1 generally serves some of the most populated areas of the east coast. Through Virginia, US 1 is paralleled by Interstates: the remainder of I-85 to Petersburg, I-95 through Richmond and Fredericksburg to Alexandria, and I-395 into Arlington. In much of Virginia, US 1 was called Jefferson Davis Highway by state law, although there are exceptions. South of Petersburg, it is known as Boydton Plank Road. Through some of Fairfax County and Alexandria, it is called Richmond Highway. In February 2021, Virginia renamed all remaining portions of Jefferson Davis Highway in the state to Emancipation Highway beginning on January 1, 2022.

US 1 crosses the Potomac River with I-395 on the 14th Street Bridges, and splits to follow mainly 14th Street and Rhode Island Avenue through the District of Columbia. US 1 is at the minimum a 3 lane (with alternate passing) from the N.C. line to Petersburg with occasional 4 lane divided sections. North of Petersburg is a 4 lane undivided roadway at the minimum to the D.C. line.
The route of US 1 from Petersburg to the state line is parallel with the Fall Line. From Petersburg onwards it is parallel with I-95.
After exiting the District into Maryland, US 1 follows the Baltimore-Washington Boulevard, the first of several modern highways built along the Baltimore-Washington corridor; I-95 is the newest, after the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. US 1 runs through the University of Maryland at College Park campus in College Park, Maryland. The route bypasses downtown Baltimore on North Avenue and exits the city to the northeast on Belair Road, gradually leaving the I-95 corridor, which passes through Wilmington, Delaware, for a straighter path towards Philadelphia. Around and beyond Bel Air, US 1 is a two-lane road, crossing the Susquehanna River over the top of the Conowingo Dam before entering Pennsylvania. (Routed further north, US 1 bypasses the state of Delaware, unlike I-95.)

The 2-lane US 1 becomes a 4-lane expressway, officially known as the John H. Ware III Memorial Highway, just after crossing into Pennsylvania. This bypass extends around Oxford and Kennett Square, merging into the 4-lane divided Baltimore Pike just beyond the latter. At Media, US 1 again becomes a freeway – the Media Bypass – ending just beyond I-476. After several name changes, the road becomes City Avenue, the western city limits of Philadelphia, at the end of which a short overlap with the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) leads to the Roosevelt Expressway and then the 12-lane Roosevelt Boulevard partly overlapping US 13. US 1 again becomes a freeway after leaving the city, bypassing Penndel and Morrisville and crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey on the Trenton–Morrisville Toll Bridge.

After crossing into New Jersey in Mercer County, US 1 continues on the Trenton Freeway through the state capital of Trenton and Lawrence Township as a 4 lane freeway. As the freeway ends, the 4 lane divided highway upgrades to 6 lanes north of I-295 passing through the Penns Neck section of West Windsor Township. Through Penns Neck is a series of traffic signals. NJDOT is looking to revamp the highway through this area by replacing traffic signals with grade separations. The highway enters Middlesex County through Plainsboro and South Brunswick, where the highest point resides. By Forrestal Village, the highway downgrades from 6 to 4 lanes until after Finnegans Lane in North Brunswick. Northward, it continues through New Brunswick as a short limited-access highway until the CR 529/Plainfield Avenue traffic signal in Edison. Through Edison and Woodbridge, US 1 has a mix of boulevard and limited-access segments and continues to do so after the US 9 juncture in the Avenel section of Woodbridge. The US 1/9 concurrency continues through the rest of the state. The 6 lane divided highway remains through Rahway in Union County and Elizabeth, until it reaches the Newark Airport, where it becomes a dual carriageway freeway around downtown Newark in Essex County with a 2-2-2-2 configuration. The historic Pulaski Skyway takes US 1/9 into Jersey City