United States Highway 1 is a United States highway which parallels the east coast of the United States. It runs 2390 miles (3846 km) from Key West, Florida in the south to Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border in the north. It parallels Interstate 95, although for a longer route and usually further to the east. It connects the major cities of the east coast, including: Miami, Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, Augusta, Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, Petersburg, Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, Fredericksburg, Virginia, Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Trenton, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, New York City, New Haven, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston, Massachusetts.

Theoretically, the highway is numbered "US 1" because it is the U.S. Federal Highway furthest east, and north-south highways are numbered east to west; however, several U.S. Highways run east of US 1, such as U.S. Highway 17. The location of the road is most likely explained by the wishes of several large cities to have a "major" road run through them; the location of the fall line at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains may have influenced US 1's location.

In many of the states through which it passes, the residents call it Route 1 rather than Highway 1 (and route often rhymes with boot).

In Virginia, it is also known as "Jefferson Davis Highway." The section from Miami, Florida to Jacksonville, Florida in most places closely follows the old route of the earlier Dixie Highway. From Jacksonville, US 1 follows one of the inland spurs of the Dixie Highway to Waycross, Georgia.

In Florida, where signs for U.S. Highways formerly had different colors for each highway (until they were forced by the federal government to conform to standards that required consistent black-and-white signs), the "shield" for US 1 was red.

Termini

As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus is in Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border, where it crosses the Saint John River and intersects Provincial Highway 205. Its southern terminus is in Key West, Florida, the southwesternmost island in the Florida Keys, where it is known as the Overseas Highway.

States traversed

An old-style US 1 shield in the Florida Keys.

The highway passes through the following states:

• Maine
• New Hampshire
• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island
• Connecticut
• New York
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Maryland
• Washington, D.C.
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia
• Florida

Related U.S. routes

• United States Highway 101 (not a "child" of US 1)
• U.S. Highway 201
• U.S. Highway 301
• U.S. Highway 401
• U.S. Highway 501
• U.S. Highway 601
• U.S. Highway 701

External links

• Endpoints of U.S. highways (http://www.geocities.com/usend0009/End001/end001.htm) (used with permission)
• Federal Highway Administration Home Page (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/)