Washington Street begins in the west at the
intersection with Raceway Road. As it heads east-northeast, it passes by the
Indianapolis International Airport, which lies to south. Immediately thereafter, it has an
interchange with I-465 on the west side of the city, where US 40 diverges. After merging with Rockville Road, Washington Street heads more directly east toward
downtown Indianapolis. Approaching downtown it passes the
Indiana Medical History Museum on the former site of
Central State Hospital for the Insane; it then passes the headquarters of the
Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation, which is in buildings that once housed the
Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company. On the west side of downtown, Washington Street passes by the
Indianapolis Zoo and
White River Gardens, crosses the
White River, and traverses
White River State Park, with the
Indiana State Museum and
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art on the north side of the street and
Victory Field on the south. Within downtown, the street carries only westbound traffic; eastbound traffic is routed a block south to Maryland Street where it passes by the
Indiana Convention Center. Among the buildings directly on Washington Street within the central business district are (from west to east): the
Indiana Statehouse; the
Indiana Theatre, home of the
Indiana Repertory Theatre; the headquarters of the
Simon Property Group; the
Circle Centre shopping mall; the
Barnes and Thornburg Building (which until the 1960s was the tallest building in the city); and the
City-County Building. Washington also runs under the
Indianapolis Artsgarden, a suspended glass structure at the intersection with Illinois Street. Washington does not intersect
Monument Circle (the city's
town square); rather, the Circle is located on Market Street, one block north of the intersection of Washington with
Meridian Street. On the eastern edge of downtown, Washington Street has an interchange with the
I-65/
I-70 "Inner Loop". As it continues east, it travels through or by the
Cole-Noble and
Rural-Sherman neighborhoods. In the
Irvington Historic District, an early
suburb of Indianapolis, Washington crosses
Pleasant Run Creek with its associated parkway and
trail. On the far east side of the city, US 40 again joins Washington Street at the interchange with I-465 and I-69. The street travels south of the
Washington Square Mall as it approaches
Cumberland, Indiana, where it terminates at Carroll Road. ==See also==