This 2009 photo shows a split-level section of the Clara Barton Parkway, heading southbound just south of the Cabin John Parkway (I-495X / Capital Beltway Connector) interchange in Glen Echo. (Photo by Steve Anderson.)

Length:
Constructed:

6.8 miles (10.9 kilometers)
1960-1970

Passenger cars only. Trucks prohibited.
Commercial vehicles and buses by permit only.
Height restrictions apply.

ONE-WAY OPERATIONS (MacArthur Boulevard to Chain Bridge):

  • Southbound (DC-bound): Monday-Friday 6:00 am-10:00 am
  • Northbound (MD-bound): Monday-Friday 3:00 pm-7:00 pm
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A PARKWAY FOR THE POTOMAC'S MARYLAND SIDE: In 1928, the Federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) authorized construction of the "Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway" from Memorial Bridge in Arlington south to Mount Vernon, along the Virginia side of the Potomac River. Although the parkway was to be built along the Potomac shoreline, which had created obstacles for prior planners, generous funding from the Federal government ensured the parkway would have design features for the high-speed automobile age such as extensive infilling and bridges, grade separations, and interchanges instead of intersections.

With plans for the George Washington Parkway taking shape in the early years of the 20th century on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, planners began to consider a similar route along the Maryland side of the Potomac. In 1930, lawmakers expanded the scope of the Mount Vernon Memorial Parkway when Congress passed the Capper-Cramton Act, which authorized construction of the George Washington Memorial Parkway along both sides of the Potomac from Great Falls south to Mount Vernon (later amended south to Fort Humphreys) on the Virginia side and south to Fort Washington on the Maryland side.

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) advocated construction of a four-lane parkway along the bluffs atop the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal, converting the existing Conduit Road (now MacArthur Boulevard) to parkway use in some sections, and building a new parkway closer to the canal where topographically feasible. Some planners even suggested filling in a portion of the canal with the parkway between Chain Bridge and Georgetown University.

However, with funds scarce at the onset of the Great Depression, the Bureau of Public Roads focused on completing the original Arlington-to-Mount Vernon section of the parkway in time for the bicentennial of George Washington's birth in February 1932. One key obstacle to getting the Maryland side of the parkway completed was found in the Capper-Cramton Act itself, which mandated that the Maryland parkway be built as a state highway, with the Federal government paying for only half the cost of the parkway. The arrangement for the Virginia parkway was different: the Federal government paid for its entire cost. Another key obstacle was land acquisition, which to date had been done on a piecemeal basis.

THE NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE TAKES OVER: With a key obstacle of acquiring rights-of-way removed, the National Parks Service (NPS) took over planning for the Maryland parkway in 1939. The NPS proposed building a modern four-lane parkway on a new right-of-way along the canal, though even this plan sparked internal debate among landscape architects within the NPS. One landscape architect proposed that both northbound and southbound roadways at the same level separated by a narrow median. A second proposal featured split-level roadways, with the southbound roadway designed along the canal and the northbound roadway set atop the bluffs between the canal and Conduit Road. A third proposal disagreed with the NPS plans, and instead featured an upgraded Conduit Road south of Cabin John.

The onset of World War II postponed any further planning, though as soon as the war ended, Congress amended the Capper-Cramton Act in 1946, paving the way for the Federal government to pick up the entire cost of building the Maryland parkway.

POST-WAR DELAYS: Even as changes in the Capper-Cramton Act made it possible for 100% Federal funding for the Maryland portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the Federal government itself was reluctant to fund the project in the immediate postwar years. By the late 1950s, however, heavy use of NPS parks and roads prompted the agency to embark on "Mission 66," a multi-year program to upgrade national parks and connecting roadways in time for the 50th anniversary of the NPS in 1966. NPS Director Conrad Wirth called the completion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway on both sides of the Potomac a key part of the Mission 66 agenda.

At the same time, the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1956 prompted officials in Maryland and the District of Columbia to devise their plans for a waterfront route along the Potomac. The proposed alignment went by different names, including the Northwest Freeway, the Potomac River Parkway, and the Potomac Palisades Freeway, but this alignment would have sent I-70S (today's I-270) along the Potomac from the Capital Beltway (I-495) southeast to the proposed Potomac River Freeway (unbuilt I-266), near the current western terminus of the Whitehurst Freeway (US 29).

One freeway plan even featured a two-lane George Washington Parkway sandwiched in between the northbound and southbound roadways of I-70S. Another plan featured a split level interchange in the area of the Chain Bridge approach, with the southbound lanes traveling under the bridge and the northbound lanes at the level of the Chain Brain approach. (This proposal was rejected immediately by the NPS, even though the section within the District was not under NPS jurisdiction.) Nevertheless, strong opposition in Northwest Washington prompted Congress to enact legislation in 1960 that banned design consideration of any freeways west of Rock Creek Park.

This 2009 photo shows a two-lane section of the Clara Barton Parkway, heading southbound at the Syracuse Island pedestrian overpass in Bethesda. Built in 1968, the overpass has a spiral approach on the southbound side of the span, but has no provision to accommodate a second two-lane carriageway, (Photo by Steve Anderson.)

CONSTRUCTION GETS UNDERWAY: Even as District officials stalled on connection between the parkway and its own proposed network of expressways, the NPS began work on building the parkway in Maryland in 1960. The steep slopes on the Maryland side of the Potomac presented design challenges, which NPS landscape architects and engineers addressed by doing the following:

  • In a departure from traditional NPS parkway design, engineers designed a split-level roadway system in the Glen Echo area such that the northbound roadway was between eight and 20 feet above the southbound roadway, and in the area of Glen Echo Park, was cantilevered 20 feet over the southbound roadway.

  • To stabilize the slopes, engineers designed extensive retaining walls in the Brookmont area, just north of the District border, as well as in the Glen Echo area, just south of the Capital Beltway.

The first section of the parkway from MacArthur Boulevard in Potomac southeast to the Capital Beltway opened on November 20, 1964. Measuring 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) long, the parkway starts as a two-lane undivided road, then becomes a four-lane divided controlled-access road just west of the diamond interchange for the US Naval Surface Warfare Center. The speed limit is 30 MPH on the two-lane undivided section and 50 MPH on the four-lane divided section.

The second section of the parkway from the Capital Beltway southeast to MacArthur Boulevard in Glen Echo opened on January 8, 1965. Measuring 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) long, the parkway has a four-lane divided design with a 50 MPH speed limit. It was built with a diamond interchange in Cabin John, as well as ramps for the Cabin John Parkway connection to the Capital Beltway, which opened a few months later. At the MacArthur Boulevard interchange in Glen Echo, an overpass was built to carry a future second carriageway for two-lanes of Maryland-bound traffic.

DEADLOCK TO THE CHAIN BRIDGE: Continuing southeast from MacArthur Boulevard in Glen Echo, work already had begun to grade a roadway towards the Chain Bridge just over the District of Columbia line, and the NPS built a short viaduct over the Little Falls Branch. By the fall of 1965, paving work was completed on a two-mile (three-kilometer)-long section south to the Maryland-District of Columbia border.

However, the NPS refused to complete the parkway to the Chain Bridge as the NCPC, which had jurisdiction over freeway planning in the District, had yet to finalize plans for the Palisades Parkway, which was to continue the parkway southeast towards a proposed junction with I-266 (Potomac River Freeway) and the Three Sisters Bridge. According to the Congressional Record, the Palisades Parkway was estimated to cost $25 million. Directly south, the cost of pre-Interstate era Whitehurst Freeway as the new I-266 was tagged at $150 million (including condemnation costs), while the cost of building the Three Sisters Bridge was estimated at $36 million.

As an interim measure, in 1968 the NPS devised a plan with the Army Corps of Engineers, which had jurisdiction over MacArthur Boulevard, to build a 1,300-foot (400-meter)-long ramp connecting the parkway with MacArthur Boulevard in the vicinity of Maryland Avenue in Glen Echo. Both agencies had something to gain from this proposal: the NPS would gain congestion relief until issues regarding the Palisades Parkway and I-266 were resolved, while the Corps sought to relieve pressure on water conduits (which were owned by the Corps) that ran underneath MacArthur Boulevard north of Maryland Avenue.

A TEMPORARY SOLUTION BECOMES PERMANENT: Motorists did not wait for the ramp at Maryland Avenue to become reality, and instead used the graded - but not yet paved - section of the parkway from the MacArthur Bouelvard interchange in Glen Echo and the Chain Bridge. Instead of building the ramp at Maryland Avenue, the NPS accelerated construction of an interim roadway along the existing parkway right-of-way alongside the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. By 1968, the NPS completed two pedestrian overpasses at Brookmont and Sycamore Island in anticipation of this extension. The interim roadway from Glen Echo to the Chain Bridge was opened to traffic in 1970. The two-lane interim roadway, which cost $99,000 to build (excluding the right-of-way cost expensed earlier), became a permanent part of the parkway when the NCPC canceled plans for the four-lane Palisades Parkway in 1972.

HONORING THE FOUNDER OF THE RED CROSS: In 1989, the NPS renamed the George Washington Memorial Parkway from the Chain Bridge northwest to Potomac as the Clara Barton Parkway. The parkway was renamed in honor of Clara Barton, a nurse and humanitarian who founded the American Red Cross. Her residence in Glen Echo was used initially as a warehouse for storing disaster relief supplies; from 1897 until her death in 1912, it served as the headquarters for the American Red Cross. Today, the Clara Barton residence is designated as a National Historical Site administered by the NPS.

THE PARKWAY TODAY: According to the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Clara Barton Parkway carries approximately 15,000 vehicles per day (AADT) from MacArthur Boulevard in Potomac south to the Cabin John Parkway junction, and about 25,000 vehicles per day from the Cabin John Parkway junction south to the Maryland-District of Columbia line. Owing to the limited capacity of the two-lane roadway from the MacArthur Boulevard interchange in Glen Echo south to the Chain Bridge, the parkway is open only to two lanes of DC-bound traffic through this area weekdays from 6:00am to 10:00am, and only to two lanes of Maryland-bound traffic from 3:00pm to 7:00pm.

The NPS proposes the following projects along the Clara Barton Parkway:

  • The NPS plans to either rehabilitate or replace the cantilever structure that carries the northbound lanes of the parkway. The project would entail rehabilitation or replacement of 1,409 feet (429 meters) of cantilever structure and 2,048 feet (624 meters) of adjacent retaining walls between the Cabin John Parkway junction and the MacArthur Boulevard exit.

  • The NPS is considering plans to demolish the unused overpass at the MacArthur Boulevard interchange, which engineers determined was deteriorating. However, given the historical nature of the bridge, the NPS instead may consider work to rehabilitate the unused overpass.

No cost estimate was provided for these projects.

This 2009 photo shows the northbound Clara Barton Parkway approaching the MacArthur Boulevard exit in Glen Echo. The overpass above, which was built in 1963, was to carry a separate carriageway for two lanes of northbound parkway traffic. Today's two-lane bi-direcitonal roadway was to be the southbound roadway. The National Parks Service is considering plans to either rehabilitate or demolish this overpass. (Photo by Steve Anderson.)

EXTENDING NORTH TO GREAT FALLS: The land around Great Falls originally was purchased by the Potomac Edison Power Company (PEPCO) for the express purpose of building a hydroelectric dam. PEPCO had leased the land back to the Fairfax County Park Authority, which maintained a public park and operated a popular carousel on the land. The NPS did not want the site to become a dam or be sold to developers, but finances remained tight well into the postwar era.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, planners proposed a northerly extension north of Potomac towards Great Falls. In 1966, the NPS acquired the 800-acre Great Falls PEPCO property, forever keeping the land off limits to developers. The NPS opened a visitor center in 1968, and with additional acreage purchased, this appeared to remove the last obstacle toward extending the parkway.

In the early 1970s, environmentalists blocked successfully any provision for a Potomac River crossing for the Outer Beltway north of the American Legion Bridge (I-495). With the northerly Potomac crossing blocked, it did not take long for the NPS to abandon plans to extend the Clara Barton Parkway on the Virginia side of the Potomac - and the George Washington Memorial Parkway on the Virginia side - north to Great Falls.

SOURCES: "Canal Is Being Rebuilt As Park by CCC Crew," The Washington Evening Star (10/06/1938); "Potomac Parkway" by George H. Copeland, The New York Times (5/21/1950); The Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital and Its Environs, National Capital Park and Planning Commission (1950); "House Votes $1,000,000 for Parkways," The Washington Post (3/25/1955); "George Washington Parkway May Become Two-Lane Road Along Potomac in Maryland" by Wes Barthelmes, The Washington Post (1/06/1957); "Bids Opened for Parkway in Maryland," The Washington Post (12/11/1957); "Maryland Now Likes River Site for 240" by Laurence Stern, The Washington Post (2/01/1958); "Cuts for Funds in Area Leave Palisades Parkway Hanging" by Jack Eisen, The Washington Post (3/21/1959); "GW Parkway Stretch Delayed in Maryland," The Washington Post (3/17/1963); "Op-Ed: Dead End Parkway," The Washington Post (2/25/1964); "Maryland Opens Its Second Section of GW Parkway to Traffic Today," The Washington Post (1/08/1965); "GW Parkway Extended Two Miles, but It Still Comes to a Dead End" by Helen Dewar, The Washington Post (11/08/1965); "Interior Acquires River Park Land" by Andrew Garnes, The Washington Post (12/09/1966); "Agencies Agree on GW Link," The Washington Post (1/04/1968); "War on City Freeways Is Entering Decisive Stage" by Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post (1/23/1968); "Park Service To Close Gap in Parkway" by Jack Eisen, The Washington Post (8/21/1969); "Work Slated To Pave Link of Parkway," The Washington Post (12/13/1969); "Bush Signs Bill Naming Parkway For Clara Barton," The Washington Post (11/29/1989); "DC's Bridge to Nowhere" by John Kelly, The Washington Post (9/10/2011); "George Washington Memorial Parkway: Administrative History 1985-2010;" Robinson and Associates (2011); HistoricAerials.com; National Parks Service; Mike Tantilllo.

  • I-70S shield by Scott Colbert.
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CLARA BARTON PARKWAY LINKS:

CLARA BARTON PARKWAY CURRENT TRAFFIC CONDITIONS:

CLARA BARTON PARKWAY VIDEO LINK:

THE EXITS OF METRO WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE:

  • Clara Barton Parkway exit list by Steve Anderson.

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