Existing comment:
Generals Still Ride in Washington:
Traffic circles are perhaps one of the most conspicuous legacies of the Civil War in the city. Many of them sport gallant statues of Civil War Union generals astride their horses.
Washington's street layout consists of numbered streets along the north-south axis and lettered and named streets (of single and multiple syllables in alphabetical order) along the east-west axis. Avenues crisscross the grid diagonally, and where the avenues intersect there is a traffic circle. These circles bearing generals' names challenge modern drivers, but were a quaint addition to Washington's landscape in the 19th century. |