South Capitol Street in the context of Southwest (Washington, D.C.)

Southeast (SE or S.E.) is the southeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of East Capitol Street and east of South Capitol Street. It includes the Capitol Hill, Hill East, and Anacostia neighborhoods, the Navy Yard, the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB), the U.S. Marine Barracks, the Anacostia River waterfront, Eastern Market, the remains of several Civil War-era forts, historic St. Elizabeths Hospital, RFK Stadium, Nationals Park, and the Congressional Cemetery. It also contains a landmark known as "The Big Chair," located on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. The quadrant is split by the Anacostia River, with the portion that is west of the river sometimes referred to as "Near Southeast". Geographically, it is the second-smallest quadrant of the city.

Southwest (SW or S.W.) is the southwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of the National Mall and west of South Capitol Street. It is the smallest quadrant of the city, and contains a small number of named neighborhoods and districts, including Bellevue, Southwest Federal Center, the Southwest Waterfront, Buzzard Point, and the military installation known as Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling.

Southern Avenue is one of three boundary streets between Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland. Following a southwest-to-northeast line, Southern Avenue begins at the intersection of South Capitol Street in Southeast, Washington, D.C., and Indian Head Highway on the Maryland side. It runs for approximately 7 miles (11 km) to its other end at Eastern Avenue in Northeast, Washington, D.C., with an uncompleted gap between Naylor Road SE and Branch Avenue SE.

Southern Avenue was built in pieces. For example, the portion between Benning Road SE and 46th Street SE was not started until 1928. One of the first residential developments on Southern Avenue was Fairfield, a cluster of luxury homes at the intersection of Highview Terrace SE and 34th Street SE in the Summit Park neighborhood.

Maryland Route 210 (MD 210) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Indian Head Highway, the highway runs 20.86 miles (33.57 km) from Potomac Avenue in Indian Head north to the District of Columbia boundary in Forest Heights, where the highway continues into Washington, D.C., as South Capitol Street. MD 210 is a four- to six-lane divided highway that connects Washington, D.C., with the suburban communities of Oxon Hill, Fort Washington, and Accokeek in southwestern Prince George's County, and Bryans Road and Indian Head in northwestern Charles County. The highway also provides access to Fort Washington Park and Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center and, in conjunction with MD 228, connects Waldorf with Interstate 95 (I-95)/I-495 and I-295.

Indian Head Highway was constructed by the U.S. federal government as a military access highway in the mid-1940s to connect Washington with the Indian Head Naval Proving Ground and Fort Washington. The previous highway between Washington, D.C., and Indian Head was Livingston Road, which was traced in the late 18th century and improved in the 1920s and early 1930s as MD 224. The new highway incorporated several sections of meandering MD 224 into its straight path. Indian Head Highway was fully designated MD 210 in the mid-1950s when the road was transferred from federal to state control. MD 210 was expanded to a divided highway in Forest Heights in the late 1940s and south through Fort Washington in the 1960s. Another section of divided highway was completed through Charles County in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The final divided highway section was completed through Accokeek in the mid-1980s. MD 210 was connected with I-295 in 1989 and its interchange with I-95/I-495 was reconstructed in the mid-2000s. The Maryland State Highway Administration has long-term plans to replace the highway's major intersections with interchanges from Oxon Hill south through Fort Washington.