MacArthur Boulevard (Washington, D.C.)

MacArthur Boulevard is a road in Montgomery County, Maryland 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 in Potomac, Maryland, to Foxhall Road NW and 44th Street NW in the Foxhall neighborhood of Washington, D.C., near the Georgetown Reservoir. MacArthur Boulevard runs parallel to the Clara Barton Parkway and the C&O Canal for most of its route, passing through the Palisades area of the District.

MacArthur Boulevard

Former name(s)	Conduit Road[1]
Namesake	Douglas MacArthur[1]
Length	12.9 mi[2] (20.8 km)
Tourist routes	C&O Canal Scenic Byway
Restrictions	No commercial vehicles over 4 wheels or 6 tons in Maryland[2]
West end	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
Major junctions	Clara Barton Parkway in Potomac, MD MD 614 in Bethesda, MD
East end	Foxhall Road in Washington, DC

History

The road was originally named Conduit Road,[1] as it was built atop the Washington Aqueduct. The aqueduct delivers water from the Potomac River to the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which the primary source of drinking water in the District of Columbia.

The road was renamed for General Douglas MacArthur on March 5, 1942, when a local resident living off the road proposed the name change to his friend, Texas representative Luther Alexander Johnson, who sponsored the bill in Congress.[1]

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, a short distance from the District line.[3] 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 four feet (1.2 m) to provide three-foot (0.91 m) bike lanes in each direction and rebuild the bikeway with a five-foot-wide (1.5 m) 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.[4]

Major intersections

State/district	County	Location	mi[2]	km	Destinations	Notes
Maryland	Montgomery	Potomac	0.0	0.0	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park	Dead end near Great Falls
			1.3	2.1	Falls Road / C&O Canal Scenic Byway west	Scenic byway continues west
			3.5	5.6	Clara Barton Parkway east / C&O Canal Scenic Byway east to I-495	Western terminus of Clara Barton Parkway; scenic byway continues east
		Cabin John	6.5	10.5	Clara Barton Parkway to I-495 – Washington	Access via Clara Barton Access Road
		Cabin John Creek	6.6– 6.7	10.6– 10.8	Union Arch Bridge
		Glen Echo–Bethesda line	6.8	10.9	Wilson Lane (MD 188 east)	Western terminus of MD 188
			7.4	11.9	MD 614 north (Goldsboro Road)	Traffic circle; southern terminus of MD 614
		Glen Echo	7.7	12.4	Clara Barton Parkway west to I-495
			9.8	15.8	District of Columbia–Maryland border
District of Columbia	Washington		12.9	20.8	Foxhall Road NW / 44th Street NW – Downtown	Eastbound traffic can only access Foxhall Road south.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Route transition

References

1. "Why is it named MacArthur Boulevard?". Ghosts of DC. May 14, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
2. Google (February 1, 2020). "MacArthur Boulevard" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
3. Beck, Jody (August 22, 1975). "Happy Ending to the Brookmont Bike Trail Tale". Washington Evening Star.
4. "MacArthur Boulevard Bikeway Improvements" (PDF). Retrieved May 5, 2019.