The Rock Creek Trails are a series of trails through the Rock Creek valley and along the Potomac River in Washington, DC and Montgomery County, MD. The main route extends 22 miles from Lake Needwood in Maryland to the Inlet Bridge in Washington, DC, 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. There are three separate trails that make up the main Rock Creek Trail route and others that connect to it. Along the Potomac River from Arlington Memorial Bridge to Rock Creek is a section sometimes called the Shoreline Trail.
The trails are some of the oldest recreational trails in the Washington, DC region as parts were built on bridle trails dating back to the early 20th century. They are heavily used for both recreation and transportation.
District of Columbia
Physical segments of the trails trace back to bridle trails that utilized several bridges across the creek. These bridges were constructed by the National Park Service (NPS) in Rock Creek Park prior to 1904. Parts of the bridle trail, and several of the bridges, were rebuilt in 1934 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 am to noon on Sundays. As part of President Johnson's trail movement, planning for a separate trail system was undertaken by the Department of the Interior in its 1965 "Trails for America" report which identified a shared-use trail along Rock Creek as one of many trails for the DC area. That same year, the “Fort Park System, A Re-evaluation Study of Fort Drive, Washington, D.C.” report 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.