B737 first officer reports confusing taxiway J1 and J at the approach end of runway 1 at dca. Report...

Narrative:

We we cleared to line up and wait on runway 1 and the taxi line and lights made our turn onto J1 very obvious and the only choice. I looked right into what seemed like a black hole and it appeared to me that this taxiway was the end of the runway; however as soon as we took the runway it became clear that there was still another taxi way at the very end of runway 1 which I did not see! We both had our commercial airport diagram out at the time. I quickly contacted tower and they stated 'no problem' and we cleared the runway at taxiway J so as not to be rushed. The tower had no issue as they were very busy with arrivals. We did a 180 turn on taxiway J and waited for takeoff clearance without further issue. The third leg of a very long day and the visibility and lack of lighting to taxiway J were poor to nonexistent. The airport lighting in this area was very poor and even though I was looking towards taxiway J; it looked like a dead end. The obvious choice was taxiway J1 which seemed like the only path to the runway end. Tower did not specify which taxiway to take and had they stated J specifically; we would have stopped and not entered at J1. I was unfamiliar with the airport and can see how easily this mistake was made.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer reports confusing Taxiway J1 and J at the approach end of Runway 1 at DCA. Reporter cited fatigue and poor lighting as factors and resulted in entering the runway at J1 instead of J.

Narrative: We we cleared to Line up and wait on Runway 1 and the taxi line and lights made our turn onto J1 very obvious and the only choice. I looked right into what seemed like a black hole and it appeared to me that this taxiway was the end of the runway; however as soon as we took the runway it became clear that there was still another taxi way at the very end of Runway 1 which I did not see! We both had our Commercial airport diagram out at the time. I quickly contacted Tower and they stated 'no problem' and we cleared the runway at taxiway J so as not to be rushed. The Tower had no issue as they were very busy with arrivals. We did a 180 turn on Taxiway J and waited for takeoff clearance without further issue. The third leg of a very long day and the visibility and lack of lighting to taxiway J were poor to nonexistent. The airport lighting in this area was very poor and even though I was looking towards Taxiway J; it looked like a dead end. The obvious choice was Taxiway J1 which seemed like the only path to the runway end. Tower did not specify which taxiway to take and had they stated J specifically; we would have stopped and not entered at J1. I was unfamiliar with the airport and can see how easily this mistake was made.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1040585
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	DCA.Airport
State Reference	DC
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Taxiway

B737 first officer reports confusing taxiway J1 and J at the approach end of runway 1 at dca. Reporter cited fatigue and poor lighting as factors and resulted in entering the runway at J1 instead of J.