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Contact: Jaime Boyle, 202-438-9674
McLean, Va. – On Saturday, March 20, 2021, the National Park Service (NPS) will close both northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway to remove two abandoned vehicles that are below the road near the Potomac River. The NPS expects to close the lanes between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. from Spout Run Parkway to Chain Bridge Road, VA 123. The southbound lanes will remain open. The NPS will also temporarily close parts of the Potomac Heritage Trail near the vehicles for up to half an hour at a time while the work is happening.
The abandoned vehicles are located below the parkway next to the Potomac River near Windy Run and Overlook 1, respectively. The cars left the road during separate incidents in June 2020 and Jan. 2021. United States Park Police investigations found that one car left the road when its driver lost control while speeding and the other driver lost control during cold, wet weather. Neither of the drivers was seriously injured. Both accidents were unusual, and the US Park Police report that only one other car has left the road in the last five years.
The George Washington Memorial parkway is a scenic roadway and memorial to the first president of the United States. When the NPS completed the northern part of the parkway in 1962, the NPS used the most up-to-date road engineering methods by integrating a wide, gently curving roadway with a grassy median, low stone guide walls and soaring steel-and-concrete arched bridges. Today the George Washington Memorial Parkway facilitates travel for more than 33 million vehicles per year, with the northern section seeing the heaviest traffic of about 85,000 daily users.
As a critical link in the national capital region's transportation network, closing the parkway is never a decision the NPS makes lightly. While the northbound lanes are closed, we will post updates at www.nps.gov/GWMP.
-NPS-
Last updated: March 18, 2021