It is still
possible to follow US 1 from
Key West to
Fort Kent, Maine, with only minimal detours onto
I-95 and other interstates (US 1 does not parallel I-95 from
Jacksonville FL to
Petersburg VA). US 1 is still the main road south of
Miami to
Key West, since I-95 ends there and
Florida's Turnpike ends just a bit to the south in Florida City. US 1 is also the main road north of
Houlton, Maine, but that is a fairly local road (most thru traffic will use
Trans-Canada Highway 2 on the other side of the border).
Florida: South of
Miami, as I said above, US 1 is still the main route. North of there it is mostly a
four-lane route that passes thru the main
coastal towns, roughly following the old
Dixie Highway (east leg). It however does not go
along the coast;
that honor is reserved for
A1A. The route was four-laned before the Interstates, and continues to serve local and semi-local traffic, including
commuter traffic in the
urban/suburban areas. US 1 splits from
I-95 in
Jacksonville. There are no
multiplexes with
Interstates; most maps show one with
I-95 in southern Jacksonville, but it actually uses Old Kings Hwy. In addition,
I-95 ends/begins at US 1 in south Miami; going northbound this is signed as a split. There are a couple short
freeway sections in
Jacksonville on the
Main St Bridge and
20th St Expwy.
Signage is typical Florida; excellent signage in rural and suburban areas, and reasonably easy to follow in urban areas.
An
alternate route exists in
Jacksonville; this would more accurately be signed as a
bypass route, since it is almost all
freeway. A
business route exists in
Saint Augustine on the old route.
Georgia: US 1 stays away from
I-95, instead taking a more inland route. It is almost all rural, popping into
Augusta as it crosses into
South Carolina. Some portions are
four lane, but most of it is
two lane.
Business routes exist in
Waycross,
Swainsboro,
Wadley, and
Louisville. They are probably all the old route.
South Carolina: US 1 follows the
I-20 corridor through most of South Carolina, splitting north of
Columbia in Camden. Most is
rural two lane, with some reasonably sized cities and
Columbia along the way.
North Carolina: US 1 begins as a two lane rural route, but becomes a
rural freeway from
Sanford to
Raleigh. It
bypasses Raleigh on
I-440 and is a
four lane road to
Henderson, where the freeway merges with
I-85 and US 1 leaves onto the old
two lane.
There are
alternate routes in
Youngsville and
Franklinton, both part of the old route.
Business routes exist in
Sanford and
Henderson, probably both old routes.
Virginia: US 1 continues to parallel
I-85 to its end at
Petersburg, and then parallels
I-95 through
Richmond and
Fredericksburg to
Northern Virginia, where it becomes a
major suburban arterial (
Jefferson Davis Hwy). There is a short
almost-freeway at
Washington National Airport and it then joins with
I-395 over the
14th St Bridge into
Washington, DC.
Fredericksburg has a
business route, probably on the old route.
Washington, DC: US 1 quickly leaves
I-395 and runs roughly east-west thru the city. Signage is fairly bad, but all turns are likely marked.
There is an
alternate route in the northern/eastern half; it leaves the city into
Maryland.
Maryland: US 1 runs from
Washington to
Baltimore on the
Baltimore-Washington Boulevard, once the main road. It passes thru
Baltimore, bypassing the city center, and continues roughly parallel to
I-95, but a bit more
inland, into
Pennsylvania.
The
alternate route in
Washington, DC continues into
Maryland for a bit. In addition, there is in alternate route in
Baltimore going a bit closer to downtown than the main route. The old route in
Bel Air and
Hickory are
business routes.
Pennsylvania: US 1 quickly becomes a freeway, bypassing the small towns on the old road. At
Kennett Square, the freeway gives way to a four lane
surface road to
Media, where there is a short
freeway bypass and then a surface stretch on
City Ave along the
Philadelphia city line. US 1
multiplexes with
I-76 for one exit and then leaves onto the
Roosevelt Expwy. This becomes
Roosevelt Blvd shortly, a twelve lane arterial in a 3-3-3-3 configuration.
Left turns are made from the inner lanes and
right turns from the outer lanes. This continues to the city line, where it becomes a divided highway and shortly a freeway. The
freeway crosses the
bridge into
Trenton. Signage in Pennsylvania is generally good, but few turns are made.
The old route in
Fairless Hills is now a
business route.
New Jersey: US 1 enters New Jersey as the
Trenton Freeway, thru
downtown Trenton. This freeway was part of the original plan for
I-95, but
I-95 now bypasses
Trenton to the north, and will soon
bypass to the south. North of Trenton, US 1 becomes a 4 to 6 lane arterial with
jughandles, New Jersey's answer to left turn lanes. This continues, with less
interchanges and more
jughandles as you continue north, to
New Brunswick. From there to
Rahway,
interchanges pick up in intensity but
jughandles continue.
US 9 joins on in
Woodbridge and forms the famous
US 1-9. North of
Rahway,
NJDOT didn't even bother with
jughandles;
left turn lanes are very common. Just north of Elizabeth, US 1 undergoes another transformation, into an eight lane
freeway with
local and express lanes. This goes past the massive
interchange complex at
Newark Airport, and heads north on twin
viaducts, the
southbound one built in 1928 (and recently
renovated), into the
Pulaski Skyway. The
Pulaski Skyway, the "
big black brontosaurus", rises above the
industrial landscape of
northern New Jersey on a four lane
viaduct built in 1933. Lanes are narrow and ramps are on the left, so trucks are banned to parallel surface route
US 1-9 truck, the old pre-skyway route. US 1 exits the Skyway at
Tonnele Circle, while
NJ 139 (former
US 1-9 business) continues towards the
Holland Tunnel and
New York City. US 1-9 goes north on
Tonnele Ave, a four lane route with
jughandles. At
NJ 3, the
jughandles end and the route has the look of a standard old suburban arterial. It joins on the
US 46 semi-freeway east, and enters the
George Washington Bridge (along with
I-95,
US 9, and half of
US 46). Signage in New Jersey is very good, since it is a major route. It however makes few turns.
There is a
business route in
North Trenton on the old route. Signage extends it thru downtown into
Pennsylvania, but there is no signage there and it does not
officially do that.
Truck US 1-9 is the old route in
Newark and
Jersey City, since trucks are not allowed on the
Pulaski Skyway.
New York: US 1 spends its whole distance in New York in the city and suburbs. It starts out on the
Cross-Bronx Expwy (
I-95), and splits at
Fordham Rd. It travels thru the Bronx and then parallels
I-95 in the suburbs. Signage isn't bad.
Connecticut: US 1 parallels the coast, usually closer than
I-95. It passes thru all the cities, and is mostly
two lanes outside. In many places it is signed east-west; it is signage north-south on
I-95 however.
The old route in
Wequetequock and
Stonington is now an
alternate route.
Rhode Island: US 1 enters at Westerly. Soon it becomes a rural four lane route, and at
Charlestown it becomes an
almost freeway. There are no
overpasses and occasional
driveways, but left turns are all done by median
U-turn ramps and there is no
cross traffic at a single point. Around
Wakefield it is a true freeway, and then it reverts to a rural four lane road with some
jughandles. Soon
RI 4 splits off as the main road (almost freeway) and US 1 continues as a two lane road. At
Wickford RI 1A joins and it becomes four lanes to
East Greenwich, where it is once again two lanes. The
four lanes start again as it nears
Providence, and it passes thru
Providence and
Pawtucket on its way to
Massachusetts.
US 1A (
functionally an
alternate) goes east of US 1 thru the
Providence area. It enters
Massachusetts as
MA 1A. There are also several sections of
RI SCENIC 1A further south, and a short
business/
bypass split in Warwick.
US 1 takes the more
coastal route, while
I-95 takes the
direct route. Even in the 1920s,
NE 1A (later
RI 1A) followed roughly the path of
I-95. In 1947,
Connecticut tried to reroute US 1 along
CT 184 and
RI 3, which
parallels
I-95.
Little Rhodey refused, and
countered with a
proposal for
US 1A.
This never happened.
Signage in
Providence and
Pawtucket is horrible. Almost no turns are signed, and no known map shows the correct path.
Massachusetts: South of the
Boston area, uses the old four lane route parallel to
I-95. At
Route 128, it joins on and uses
Route 128 (
I-95 and
I-93) and the
Southeast Expwy to downtown. Until 1989, it used a surface alignment; many signs remain. North of downtown
Boston, it leaves onto the
Tobin Bridge and
Northeast Expwy, once signed
I-95 but never completed. In
Revere, the
freeway ends with
ghost roadway going off thru the
swampland. US 1 contineus as a four to six lane
arterial with no
traffic lights or
cross traffic, except for one
jughandle in the
Route 128 interchange. At the second crossing of
I-95, in
Danvers, it becomes a two lane rural road into
New Hampshire.
There are no
alternates
per se, but there are several
MA 1As, one of which crosses the line onto
US 1A in
Rhode Island. These are all parts of the old route.
Signage is very good, although it rarely leaves the main road.
New Hampshire: US 1 follows the
second-generation old main route (as it does in
Massachusetts) parallel to
I-95. Not much else to say.
The route along the shore (probably never the main route) is
NH 1A.
Portsmouth has a bypass along an
almost freeway; it extends into
Maine.
Maine: US 1 roughly parallels
I-95, but goes much closer to the coast. A short freeway exists from
Brunswick to
Bath. US 1 crosses the dying
I-95 in
Houlton and ends in
Fort Kent.
Alternates exist in
York Corner-
Cape Neddick,
Portland,
Rockland,
Bangor (a long one along the former main route),
Millbridge-
Harrington,
Jonesboro-
Machias, and
Mars Hill-
Van Buren. They are probably all parts of the old route, except maybe the last.
Damariscotta has a
business route on the old route. The
bypass in
Portsmouth NH also extends into Maine.
Sources: http://www.us-highways.com/flausa.htm http://www.us-highways.com/flautotr.htm http://www.us-highways.com/usban.htm http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/framed/stright.htm http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/us1.html
personal knowledge