I am talking about the district itself. To get from, say, Capitol Hill to the northwest part of town and the Maryland suburbs, you either have to drive up Wisconsin or Mass Ave, oh joy, and 100s of stop lights, at least an hour, or you can go out Penn. Ave., get on 295, go up 295 to BW Parkway, take the parkway to the Beltway and go west. That trip takes 35-40 minutes to go just a jew miles on the weekend (I can't even think about doing this on a week day) and head for the suburb of your choice. Rock Creek Parkway is not an option because there is always something happening along that route and you end up sitting there for a half hour or more, and if you want to go much farther north than Adams Morgan or Mount Pleasant, you are screwed. There is no direct east-west route, and there is no direct north-south route. L'Enfant is my enemy.
"Washington DC: Where Code Orange means something!"
I think DC wanted to avoid bulldozing neighborhoods and historic buildings to allow a freeway through town, which is admirable, but at this point, a REAL crosstown freeway would do wonders for traffic. Also a couple more ways to cross the Potomac wouldn't hurt.
Back in college years (and before fax and email), I worked for Metro Messenger. 30 BMW motorcycles with mounted shortwave radios, and we were paid piecework (flat 33 percent) for every delivery made.
So you had to know the DC streets pretty well in order to make as many drops as possible during the day.
From downtown to NW Maryland 'burbs, the fastest routes are 16th Street and Military Road, or straight up Connecticut. On 16th Street the lights are timed even during off hours, because it's designed as a commuter route from/to Maryland.