Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway | |
|---|---|
 Map of the District of Columbia with Rock Creek Parkway highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained byNPS | |
| Length | 2.9 mi[1] (4.7 km) |
| Existed | 1944–present |
| Restrictions | No trucks[2] |
| Major junctions | |
| South end | Lincoln Memorial Circle on theNational Mall |
| Major intersections | |
| North end | Shoreham /Beach Drives inRock Creek Park |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Federal district | District of Columbia |
| Highway system | |
Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Historic District | |
| Location | Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway,Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°54′47″N77°3′16″W / 38.91306°N 77.05444°W /38.91306; -77.05444 |
| Area | 0 acres (0 ha) |
| Built | 1889 |
| Architect | Olmsted, Frederick Law, Jr.; Langdon, James G. |
| Architectural style | Designed Historic Landscape |
| MPS | Parkways of the National Capital Region MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 05000367[3] |
| Added to NRHP | May 4, 2005 |
TheRock Creek and Potomac Parkway, informally called theRock Creek Parkway, is aparkway maintained by theNational Park Service as part ofRock Creek Park inWashington, D.C. It runs next to thePotomac River andRock Creek in a generally north–south direction, carrying four lanes of traffic from theLincoln Memorial andArlington Memorial Bridge north to a junction withBeach Drive nearConnecticut Avenue at Calvert Street, N.W., just south of theNational Zoological Park. Duringrush hours, the parkway is converted to one-way traffic corresponding to the peak direction of travel: southbound in the morning and northbound in the afternoon.
The Parkway was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places on May 4, 2005. Built from 1923 to 1936, it is "one of the best-preserved examples of the earliest stage of motor parkway development".[4]
The Parkway has two points of origination on its southern end, one at thetraffic circle around theLincoln Memorial, and the other at the intersection ofOhio Drive andIndependence Avenue. The eastern portion of the Lincoln Memorial traffic circle has been closed for several years, and there is no longer any easy access to the northbound parkway from that point. The Ohio Drive branch is now the main originating branch. Before theTheodore Roosevelt Bridge (I-66) was built,Constitution Avenue ran to the parkway, with Ohio Drive ending at Constitution Avenue.[1] The parkway's entrance is framed by two monumental statues,Music and Harvest andAspiration and Literature, which together form a group known asThe Arts of Peace. They were designed byJames Earle Fraser and erected in 1951.[5][6]
After passing under the Roosevelt Bridge, the parkway passes theKennedy Center for Performing Arts, including anat-grade intersection withF Street Northwest north of the building. Prior to the building of the Kennedy Center,New Hampshire Avenue ran to the parkway. Beyond F Street, the parkway runs past theWatergate building; there it intersectsVirginia Avenue, which provides easy access to and from thePotomac River Freeway (I-66). The Potomac River sweeps to the west at approximately this point; the parkway continues along its rough north–south path and instead parallels the small Potomac tributary of Rock Creek.
Past Virginia Avenue, the parkway has many characteristics of afreeway, most notably limited access by ramp. The firstinterchange is withK Street Northwest, lying inside the newerWhitehurst Freeway/Potomac River Freeway interchange. Due to the partial nature of the interchange, some movements are made via Virginia Avenue instead. Just to the west, K Street crosses Rock Creek over theL Street Bridge, with the Whitehurst Freeway overhead and separate side bridges for the ramps to and from the northbound Parkway. After K Street, the parkway crosses Rock Creek, paralleling it to the west for a while.
Pennsylvania Avenue crosses over the parkway and the creek on acombined bridge, with a single-loop ramp from the southbound parkway to Pennsylvania Avenue eastbound. Just to the north,M Street Northwest crosses the parkway and creek together, with no access between the roads.
Further north,P Street Northwest crosses the parkway and creek, with ramps from P Street to the parkway northbound and southbound and from the southbound parkway to P Street. Just after crossing under P Street, the parkway crosses to the east side of the creek on theBridge near P Street, and a northbound onramp from P Street merges. It passes underQ Street Northwest'sDumbarton Bridge over the creek with no access.
TheCharles C. Glover Bridge carriesMassachusetts Avenue over the parkway and creek. Access to and from the south is provided via Waterside Drive, which merges into the parkway at a Y interchange. To the north, Waterside Drive merges back into the parkway, providing for all movements but a southbound offramp. Soon after, the parkway again crosses to the west side of the creek on theShoreham Hill Bridge.
The end of the parkway is near an intersection withBeach Drive, which continues generally northward along the creek. A left turn from southbound Rock Creek Parkway provides access to Beach Drive from local roads. Just north of Beach Drive, the parkway again splits, withCathedral Avenue heading northeast next to Beach Drive under theWilliam H. Taft Bridge andDuke Ellington Bridge (Connecticut Avenue andCalvert Street), and the parkway becoming24th Street Northwest at Calvert Street, with easy access to Connecticut Avenue. Cathedral Avenue is one-way at the same times as the parkway. Beach Drive continues as a two-lane road parallel to Rock Creek, enters atunnel under a hill, passes theNational Zoo, and continues towardsMaryland.
Trucks and other commercial vehicles are barred from the parkway.[2] The parkway has been used as part ofstate funeral processions between theUnited States Capitol and theWashington National Cathedral.
Duringrush hours, areversible lane setup is used betweenOhio Drive andConnecticut Avenue to permit all lanes to be used for the predominant direction of travel. The parkway first became one-way during rush hours on Valentine's Day 1938.[7]
The parkway is postedone-way southbound on weekdays from 6:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and one-way northbound from 3:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.,federal holidays excepted.[8] The changeover requires four to fiveUnited States Park Police officers to travel the length of the parkway on motorcycle, manually placing barricades and cones and directing traffic. As each changeover takes 30 minutes, in practice the effective time of one-way operation is roughly two hours per day in each direction.[9]
The one-way arrangement has been criticized as confusing and unusual. (Full roadway reversals are rare in the United States; more common are individual reversible lanes, such as those found locally onInterstate 395 in Virginia[10])[11] After the District of Columbia eliminated the reversible peak-hour lane setup on Connecticut Avenue in 2020, the National Park Service began exploring a similar idea for Rock Creek Parkway.
In 2024, aDepartment of Transportation study found that crashes are disproportionately higher during the one-way periods, due to the heavy traffic and antiquated construction of the parkway, and identified several other design and signage factors that contribute to driver confusion.[9] The barricades preventing wrong-way entry are simple woodensawhorses with signs attached so they can be moved easily; Park Police officers state it is common for drivers to illegally move them themselves.[10][9] The study recommended discontinuing one-way operation and adding construction to reduce anticipated traffic backups.[12] The National Park Service plans to begin collecting public feedback for its environmental assessment over the winter of 2024-25.
 | This sectionis missing mileposts for junctions. Please helpadd them. |
The entire route is inWashington, D.C.
| Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Mall | 0.00 | 0.00 | Independence Avenue SW /Ohio Drive SW –Memorials | At-grade intersection | |
| 0.28 | 0.45 | Memorial Bridge –Virginia,Arlington Cemetery | |||
| Foggy Bottom |  I-66 /E Street Expressway | No southbound exit | |||
| 0.42 | 0.68 | Kennedy Center | At-grade intersections; no left turn southbound | ||
| 0.92 | 1.48 |  Virginia Avenue NW toI-66 /E Street Expressway –Kennedy Center,Thompson Boat Center | At-grade intersection; no left turn northbound | ||
| West End | 1.03 | 1.66 | K Street NW /Whitehurst Freeway (US 29 south) | ||
| Rock Creek Park | 1.17 | 1.88 | Pennsylvania Avenue NW east | Southbound exit only | |
| 1.62– 1.77 | 2.61– 2.85 | P Street NW | No northbound exit | ||
| 1.99– 2.62 | 3.20– 4.22 | Massachusetts Avenue NW (viaWaterside Drive NW) | No southbound exit | ||
| 2.90 | 4.67 | Beach Drive NW / Cathedral Avenue NW /Connecticut Avenue NW –National Zoo | At-grade intersection; access via Shoreham Drive NW | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
The Rock Creek Park Trail runs along the Parkway from the Lincoln Memorial to Connecticut Avenue, where it continues along Beach Drive to Broad Branch Road. The trail continues north along Beach from Joyce Road to Bingham Drive.
The Shoreline section along the Potomac is the oldest section of the trail, built before 1967.[14][15]
In 1971, the Park Service set aside a lane of the Parkway north of Virginia Avenue for a week to promote commuting by bicycle. The experiment was a success, but caused traffic jams, so the Park Service paved bridle paths immediately to the west that had existed since the park was founded.[16] The trail was extended in September 1971 to Calvert Street,[17] and then 2 miles (3.2 km) to Bluff Bridge in 1972.[18]
In 1981-82, theparkway bridge over Rock Creek at L Street was replaced and as part of that project, a separate trail bridge was built. It replaced a narrow section of the existing bridge that then served as part of the bike path.[19]
In 1997, the Shoreline Trail section was repaved and realigned.[14]
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