Route description
The Parkway has two points of origination on its southern end, one at the traffic circle around the Lincoln Memorial, and the other at the intersection of Ohio Drive (Washington, D.C.), Ohio Drive and Independence Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Independence 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 the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge (I-66) was built, Constitution Avenue ran to the parkway, with Ohio Drive ending at Constitution Avenue. The parkway's entrance is framed by two monumental statues, ''Music and Harvest'' and ''Aspiration and Literature'', which together form a group known as ''The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace, The Arts of Peace''. They were designed by James Earle Fraser (sculptor), James Earle Fraser and erected in 1951.Folliard, Edward T. "Truman Accepts Italy's Gift of Memorial Bridge Statues." ''Washington Post.'' September 27, 1951."Four Italian Bronze Horses Here for Span." ''Washington Post.'' June 8, 1951. After passing under the Roosevelt Bridge, the parkway passes the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, including an at-grade intersection with F Street Northwest (DC), F 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 the Watergate building; there it intersects Virginia Avenue, which provides easy access to and from the Interstate 66, Potomac 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 a freeway, most notably limited access by ramp. The first interchange (road), interchange is with K Street (Washington, D.C.), 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 over the L 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 both the parkway and the creek on a Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge, combined bridge, with a single loop ramp from the southbound Parkway to Pennsylvania Avenue eastbound. Just to the north, M Street (Washington, D.C.)#M Street NW, M Street Northwest also crosses the parkway and creek together, with no access between the roads. Further north, P Street (Washington, D.C.)#Northwest, 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 on the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Bridge near P Street, Bridge near P Street, and a northbound onramp from P Street merges. It passes under Q Street Northwest's Dumbarton Bridge (Washington, D.C.), Dumbarton Bridge over the creek with no access. The Charles C. Glover Bridge carries Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Massachusetts 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 the Shoreham Hill Bridge. The end of the parkway is near an intersection with Beach Drive (DC), Beach 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, with Cathedral Avenue (DC), Cathedral Avenue heading northeast next to Beach Drive under the Taft Bridge, William H. Taft Bridge and Duke Ellington Bridge (Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street (DC), Calvert Street), and the parkway becoming 24th Street Northwest (DC), 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, enters a tunnel under a hill, passes the National Zoological Park (United States), National Zoo, and continues towards Maryland. Trucks and other commercial vehicles are barred from the parkway.Major intersections
The entire route is in Washington, D.C. All exits are unnumbered.Trail
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. 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. The trail was extended in September 1971 to Calvert Street, and then to Bluff Bridge in 1972. In 1981-82, the L Street Bridge, parkway 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. In 1997, the Shoreline Trail section was repaved and realigned.See also
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External links
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