Clara Barton Parkway | |
---|---|
Route information | |
Maintained by National Park Service | |
Length | 6.8 mi[1] (10.9 km) |
Existed | 1930[2]–present |
Tourist routes | C&O Canal Scenic Byway |
Restrictions | No trucks; one-way traffic during rush hour |
Major junctions | |
West end | MacArthur Boulevard in Potomac, MD |
| |
East end | Chain Bridge / Canal Road in Washington, DC |
Location | |
Country | United States |
States | Maryland, District of Columbia |
Counties | Montgomery |
Highway system | |
The Clara Barton Parkway is a parkway in the U.S. state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The highway runs 6.8 miles (10.9 km) from MacArthur Boulevard in Carderock, Maryland, east to Canal Road at the Chain Bridge in Washington. The Clara Barton Parkway is a two- to four-lane parkway that parallels the Potomac River and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) in southwestern Montgomery County, Maryland, and the far western corner of Washington. The parkway provides access to the communities of Cabin John and Glen Echo and several units of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The Maryland portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway was constructed from Carderock past Interstate 495 (I-495) to Glen Echo in the early to mid-1960s. The parkway was proposed to continue west to Great Falls and east to Georgetown. However, these proposals never came to fruition and the parkway was extended only to the Chain Bridge in the early 1970s. The Maryland portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway was renamed in 1989 for Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, and whose original headquarters is located in Glen Echo.