MacArthur Boulevard is a road in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...

and Washington, D.C. The road follows a northwest–southeast route from the Great Falls area of the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The park was established in 1961 as a National Monument by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to preserve the neglected remains ...

Potomac, Maryland Potomac () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, named after the nearby Potomac River. Potomac is the seventh most educated small town in America, based on percentage of residents with postsecondary deg ...

, to Foxhall Road NW and 44th Street NW in the Foxhall neighborhood of Washington, D.C., near the

Georgetown Reservoir The Georgetown Reservoir is a reservoir that provides water to the District of Columbia. Part of the city’s water supply and treatment infrastructure, it is located in the Palisades neighborhood, approximately two miles downstream from the Ma ...

. MacArthur Boulevard runs parallel to the

Clara Barton Parkway Clara Barton Parkway is an automobile parkway in the U.S. state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The highway runs from MacArthur Boulevard in Carderock, Maryland, east to Canal Road at the Chain Bridge in Washington. Clara Barton Pa ...

and the

C&O Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, wh ...

for most of its route, passing through the Palisades area of the District. In Cabin John, traffic is reduced to a single alternating lane as it passes over the

Union Arch Bridge The Union Arch Bridge, also called the "Cabin John Bridge", is a historic masonry structure in Cabin John, Maryland. It was designed as part of the Washington Aqueduct. The bridge construction began in 1857 and was completed in 1864. The roadw ...

, the longest span masonry arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere, and which also carries the

Washington Aqueduct The Washington Aqueduct is an aqueduct that provides the public water supply system serving Washington, D.C., and parts of its suburbs, using water from the Potomac River. One of the first major aqueduct projects in the United States, the Aquedu ...

History

The road was originally named Conduit Road, as it was built atop the Washington Aqueduct. The aqueduct delivers water from the Potomac River to the

Dalecarlia Reservoir Dalecarlia Reservoir is the primary storage basin for drinking water in Washington, D.C., fed by an underground aqueduct in turn fed by low dams which divert portions of the Potomac River near Great Falls and Little Falls. The reservoir is l ...

, which is the primary source of drinking water in the District of Columbia. The road was renamed for General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

on March 5, 1942, when a local resident living off the road proposed the name change to his friend, Texas representative

Luther Alexander Johnson Luther Alexander Johnson (October 29, 1875 – June 6, 1965) was a United States Congressman from the U.S. state of Texas. Early years Luther was born in Corsicana, Texas, where he attended the public schools. He received his L.L.B. in 1896 fr ...

, who sponsored the bill in Congress.

Bike path

In 1975, a bike path, the MacArthur Boulevard Bike Trail, was built along MacArthur Boulevard from Berma Road to the south driveway for the Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center (DMATC), a short distance from the District line. In 2013, the county began a project to rebuild the road and bikeway to make it safer and more pleasant. The project widened the existing road by to provide bike lanes in each direction and rebuild the bikeway with a vegetative buffer. Segment 2, between I-495 and Oberlin Road, was completed in 2014. Segment 3, between Oberlin and DC is scheduled to begin in 2020. Segment 1 will rebuild the road and trail between I-495 and Berma Road.

Major intersections

References

{{Streets in Washington, DC Roads in Montgomery County, Maryland Streets in Washington, D.C. The Palisades (Washington, D.C.)