Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway
The
Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, often known simply as the
Rock Creek Parkway, is a
parkway maintained by the
National Park Service as part of
Rock Creek Park in
Washington, D.C. It runs next to the
Potomac River and
Rock Creek, carrying four lanes from the
Lincoln Memorial and
Arlington Memorial Bridge north to a junction with
Beach Drive near
Connecticut Avenue and the
National Zoological Park.
The Parkway was listed on the
National 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".
[Historic American Buildings Survey - Rock Creek & Potomac Parkway] |
Signage on Beach Drive indicates the times that the Parkway is one-way. |
A
reversible lane setup is used between Ohio Drive and
Connecticut Avenue; during
rush hours, all lanes are used for the prevailing direction of travel. More specifically, the Parkway is
one-way southbound on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and one-way northbound from 3:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m..
[When is the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway one way?]Plans for Rock Creek Park announced by the National Park Service in November 2005 include a redesign of the intersection between the Parkway and
Beach Drive for greater safety and a reduction of the
speed limit on part of Beach Drive from 25 mph (40 km/h) to 20 mph (30 km/h).
The Parkway begins with two legs - one from the
traffic circle around the
Lincoln Memorial, and the other from
Ohio Drive and
Independence Avenue. The east half of the traffic circle is now closed, but traffic to and from the Parkway can still only turn right, so the Ohio Drive branch is now the main one; traffic from the circle must stop at the merge. Before the
Theodore Roosevelt Bridge (
I-66) was built,
Constitution Avenue ran to the Parkway, with Ohio Drive ending at Constitution Avenue.
After passing under the Roosevelt Bridge, the Parkway passes the
Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, including an
at-grade intersection with
F Street Northwest north of the building. Prior to the building of the Kennedy Center,
New Hampshire Avenue ran to the Parkway. After F Street, the Parkway runs past the
Watergate building and turns away from the
Potomac River before intersecting
Virginia Avenue, which provides easy access to and from the
Potomac River Freeway (I-66).
Past Virginia Avenue, the Parkway has many characteristics of a
freeway, including a lack of cross traffic and access only at ramps. The first
interchange is with
K Street Northwest, lying inside the newer
Whitehurst 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, 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 both the Parkway and the Creek on a combined bridge, with a single loop ramp from the southbound Parkway to Pennsylvania Avenue eastbound. Just to the north,
M Street Northwest also 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 both 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, and a northbound onramp from P Street merges. It passes under
Q Street Northwest's
Dumbarton Bridge over the Creek with no access.
The
Charles C. Glover Bridge carries
Massachusetts Avenue over the Parkway and Creek. Access is provided to and from the south 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.
The end of the Parkway is near an intersection with
Beach Drive, which continues next to the Creek into
Maryland. The intersection does not provide for an entrance to Beach Drive from local roads. Just north of Beach Drive, the Parkway again splits, with
Cathedral Avenue heading northeast next to Beach Drive under the
William H. Taft Bridge and
Duke Ellington Bridge (
Connecticut Avenue and
Calvert Street), and the Parkway becoming
24th 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, almost immediately entering a
tunnel under a hill.
*
Rock Creek Park (National Park Service)
