Exclusive: D.C.'s most lucrative speed cameras
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D.C.'s cash cow speed cam is on the Potomac River Freeway, issuing tickets worth $9.17 million last year.
Why it matters: The future of D.C.'s 547 automatic traffic cameras — speeding, red light, stop sign enforcement — is up in the air because the Trump administration wants to ban them.
The big picture: The 10 cameras that click the most scofflaws raised $65 million in 2025 — well, in theory, since Maryland drivers don't always pay their tickets.
Zoom in: Topping the list is the Potomac River Freeway cam, which has been particularly lucrative since getting installed in 2023, per D.C. data shared with Axios.
- Some new speed cams have joined the top 10 since 2024, like the one on Kenilworth Avenue NE (600 block) — No. 3 with $7.7 million in tix.
- Also entering the list: big-dollar cameras on Massachusetts Ave. NW (4600 block), Independence Ave. SE (1900 block) and Bladensburg Rd. NE (1400 block).
Context: Cameras issue tickets only if a driver goes at least 10mph over the speed limit.
Friction point: D.C. officials argue the cameras are all about getting drivers to obey traffic laws.
- When reports broke that Trump's Transportation Department is pushing to prohibit the cameras through a congressional bill, Mayor Muriel Bowser fired back: "Removing ATE cameras would endanger people in our community."
- Traffic fatalities in D.C. fell 52% last year, Bowser noted, to the lowest number since 2014.
Yes, but: Many people have also criticized some cameras as feeling like a gotcha and a cop-out to designing actually safer roads.
Between the lines: Losing traffic cams, Bowser noted, would create a $1 billion budget hole over four years.
State of play: "USDOT is constantly examining a broad set of preliminary policy options on transportation matters," the agency told Axios in a statement, not commenting on its push.
Zoom out: D.C. is cracking down harder on dangerous drivers. Last year it began suing out-of-state drivers who've accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines.
The complete list:
- Potomac River Freeway northwest bound @ 25th Street NW = $9,179,249
- Eastbound DC295 SW a half-mile south of Exit 1 = $8,516,308
- 600 block of southbound Kenilworth Avenue NE = $7,701,013
- 2200 block of westbound K Street NW = $6,632,794
- 4600 block of northwest bound Massachusetts Avenue NW = $6,491,227
- New York Avenue southwest bound @ N Capitol Street NE = $6,423,951
- 600 block of westbound New York Avenue NE = $5,631,557
- 2200 block of eastbound K Street NW = $5,172,864
- 1900 block of eastbound Independence Avenue SE = $4,887,516
- 1400 block of southbound Bladensburg Road NE = $4,316,155