The Rock Creek Trails are a series of trails through the Rock Creek valley and along the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, Maryland. The main route extends 22 miles from Lake Needwood in Maryland to the Inlet Bridge in Washington, D.C., with a loop in the north part of Rock Creek Park and other trails through the Klingle Valley, Turkey Branch Valley, and along the North Branch of Rock Creek. Three separate trails comprise the main Rock Creek Trail route; others connect to it. The section along the Potomac River from Arlington Memorial Bridge to Rock Creek is sometimes called the Shoreline Trail.
The trails are some of the oldest recreational trails in the Washington, D.C., region; some parts were built on bridle trails dating to the early 20th century. They are heavily used for recreation and transportation.
District of Columbia Physical segments of the trails trace back to bridle trails that used several bridges across the creek. These bridges were constructed by the National Park Service (NPS) in Rock Creek Park before 1904. Parts of the bridle trail, and several of the bridges, were rebuilt two years after a 1932 flood.
The idea of a set of shared-use trails along Rock Creek and the Potomac was born in the 1960s trail movement. In August 1963, the Park Service decided to experiment with ways to make the park more enticing to cyclists and other active recreation, so they closed mile-long Ross Drive to cars from 6 a.m. to noon on Sundays.
Planning for a separate trail system was undertaken by the Department of the Interior in its 1965 "Trails for America" report, part of President Lyndon Johnson's trail movement. The report suggested creating a shared-use trail along Rock Creek, one of many trails for the D.C. area. That same year, another report—“Fort Park System, A Re-evaluation Study of Fort Drive, Washington, D.C.”—suggested running the Fort Circle Trail through the park.
Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Trail
The Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Trail is a 1.91-mile-long trail from the Inlet Bridge in West Potomac Park to the Smithsonian Zoo. It consists of two pieces, the first – the Shoreline Trail or Promenade – extending from West Potomac Park at the Inlet Bridge along the DC shore of the Potomac River to Rock Creek, and a second along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway and Beach Drive to the Zoo Tunnel where it connects to the Rock Creek Park Trail.
The first part of the Shoreline section, between Memorial Bridge and Virginia Ave, NW, was constructed in 1964 as part of the Roosevelt Bridge construction. By 1990 it was extended south to the Inlet Bridge. The section between Memorial and Inlet bridges was completed sometime between 1964 and 1979.
The Rock Creek Parkway section got its start in 1971 after 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 at encouraging bike use, but caused traffic jams so the Park Service paved bridle paths immediately to the west of the creek. They paved the section from P Street to Calvert that had existed since the park was founded, except for the section of bridle path between P and Q streets was built in conjunction with the Pentagon in 1942 when that project needed dirt and the park service needed dirt removed. This included two bridges, the Lyon's Mill and Saddle Club footbridges, that were built in 1934 and a connection to the C&O Canal towpath. The trail was extended two miles to Bluff Bridge in 1972.
Since its original completion in the 1970s, the trail has been improved and widened many times. In 1981–82 the parkway bridge over Rock Creek at L Street was replaced and as part of that project a separate trail bridge was built. The trail bridge replaced a narrow section of the old bridge that had served as part of the bike path. In 1997, the Shoreline Trail section was repaved and realigned. In 2007–08, the Park Service and Federal Highway Administration rehabilitated the Rock Creek Parkway between Virginia Avenue and P Street and at the same time widened and repaved the trail, and installed wooden barriers between the trail and roadway in places. In 2007, the connection between the trail and the Capital Crescent Trail was improved as part of Phase II of Georgetown Waterfront Park, with several blocks of sidepath constructed south of Water Street. This replaced a temporary connection built in 2000–01 following the handover of the land from the District to the NPS. In 2009, as part of phase III of the Georgetown Waterfront Park, the section of the trail between Virginia Ave and F Street was resurfaced, an existing unpaved social trail was paved and the nearby bridge over Rock Creek, connecting the trail to the waterfront, was resurfaced. In 2018, DDOT built a protected bikeway along Water Street that further connected the Rock Creek Parkway Trail to the Capital Crescent Trail's trailhead. From 2014 to 19, the Kennedy Center constructed a bridge over the Rock Creek Parkway from the trail to the Kennedy Center, as part of the center's expansion. On June 22, 2022, a tunnel opened through the north abutment of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, moving the trail from the narrow sidewalk through the parkway underpass.
At some point prior to 2000, NPS constructed a trail connection on Shoreham Hill to Calvert Street, as recommended by the Park Service's 1990 Plan for Paved Recreational Trails of the National Capitol Region (which also recommended adding a new connection at Massachusetts Ave; bypassing the Zoo Tunnel; widening the bridge south of the Zoo; and improving the ramp crossings at P and Pennsylvania) and paved a small parallel trail through Rose Park in Georgetown.
In the NPS's 2016 Paved Trails Study for the National Capitol Region, NPS identified several future improvements to the trail. These included widening the trail along Ohio Dr.; removing the stairs on the south side of the Inlet Bridge to extend the trail south; improving the trail at the Belvedere/Constitution Avenue extension; and creating new trail connections at F St NW and to the new bridge planned for near the railroad bridge.
As part of a rehabilitation of Beach Drive that started on September 22, 2016, part of the trail was rehabilitated. Much of the trail between Shoreham Drive and the Zoo Tunnel was widened to 8–10 feet, repaved and realigned; and the Shoreham Drive crossing, reworked in 2006, was again improved. Work was completed on January 8, 2018.
Rehabilitation
In March 2021, DDOT began a rehabilitation project on the section of the Parkway Trail from P Street to Shoreham Drive, and to build a new bridge over Rock Creek just south of the Zoo Tunnel. This work had been in planning for years and announced in 2018. The project also included a new connection to the Rose Park Trail and the rehabilitation of that trail. Rehabilitation of the Rose Park Trail was completed on July 2, 2021. During the rehabilitation of the Rock Creek Trail, workers disturbed land that was part of a protected historically black burial ground and work was paused for an archaeological study of two 200-year-old Black cemeteries that the trail might have passed over.
The new bridge over Rock Creek, south of the Zoo Tunnel opened on Oct 7, 2022. The full rehabilitation of the trail south of the Zoo Tunnel was complete on December 7, 2022.
Rock Creek Park Trail The Rock Creek Park Trail is a 4.33-mile-long trail from the south entrance of the Zoo Tunnel on the Smithsonian Zoo property to Broad Branch Road in Rock Creek Park.
The trail through Rock Creek Park was first constructed in 1971 along a bridle path dating back to the early 20th century. After the September 1971 experimental closing of a lane of the Rock Creek Parkway for the use of cyclists showed the interests of bike commuters, NPS paved a parallel bridle path from Bluff Bridge, built in 1934, to P Street, NW. It opened on September 23. These first sections of trail were 4 to 8 feet wide with rough pavement, steep slopes, poor visibility and sharp curves. By 1976, the trail was extended to Broad Branch Road, crossing the creek at Bluff Bridge and twice on newly constructed "breakaway" bridges.
NPS continued to make small improvements to the trail. In 1982 they built a new bridge across Rock Creek between Pennsylvania Ave and K Street in conjunction with reconstruction of the roadway bridge. Prior to the project, the trail used a narrow section of the existing bridge. That same year one of the two low-water breakaway bridges just south of Pierce Mill that was washed away by Tropical Storm David in 1979 was replaced with a high water bridge.Based on the engraving on the upstream side of the bridge. In 1991 the trail bridge beneath Porter Road, the other low-water breakaway bridge built in the 1970s, was replaced with a high-water bridge.
Closing the Gap
NPS has long sought a way to close the gap between the park trail, the loop and the section in Maryland. Following a 1973 proposal to extend the trail, NPS launched a study and then announced a plan to do so in 1983, but quickly retracted it. In 1980 NPS, inspired by road closures in New York's Central Park, prepared an assessment of alternatives for a Bicycle Trail Study of the park that analyzed nine alternatives including construction of a new bike trail and alteration of the existing road network. After a period of public comment, NPS proposed expanding the weekend closure; constructing an additional 3.5 miles of trail, designating Beach Drive north of Bingham a bicycle route and studying the suitability of a trail in that section. After years of additional study, public hearings and trial closures, NPS announced in February 1983 a plan to expand weekend closures and close Beach between Joyce and Broad Branch to automobile traffic. At first only one lane of Beach would be closed during rush hour, but after Metro's Red Line opened in Montgomery County in 1985, the section would be permanently closed. Six months later, under pressure from the American Automobile Association and the governments of DC and Montgomery County, NPS decided not to close the section of Beach. Instead, they decided to go ahead with the weekend closures and build a bicycle trail along a horse trail between Joyce and Broad Branch by 1986, but that trail was never built.Construction of initial roads, bridle paths and foot paths took place during 1897–1912.