News Release

Construction will narrow paved multi-use trail in Rock Creek Park near National Zoo

Date: February 11, 2019
Contact: Jonathan Shafer, [phone]

WASHINGTON— The National Park Service (NPS) will temporarily narrow parts of the Rock Creek Park paved multi-use trail from Monday, February 25 to late-March. The change is to accommodate maintenance work between the Beach Drive, National Zoo tunnel and the Klingle Road NW overpass from 9:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Monday- Saturdays.

Trail users should expect to see workers, signs, fencing or equipment on the trail until the project is complete. The work may slow travel for park visitors who need to pass each other on the narrowed parts of the trail.

The NPS is installing a barrier in the ground between the Rock Creek Trail and the bamboo growing in the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo. This barrier will prevent the bamboo from growing through the asphalt and from damaging the trail. The NPS is coordinating with staff from the National Zoo on this project.

The trail will not close, but park visitors can use alternate routes to go around the work area by taking Porter Street NW to Connecticut Avenue NW and by taking Connecticut Avenue NW to Shoreham Drive NW if they want to avoid it. The NPS reminds visitors that the National Zoo does not allow dogs or bike riding on their grounds. The NPS discourages trail users from using Beach Drive along the paved multi-use trail as an alternative route. Entering the road is extremely dangerous.

The NPS scheduled this work to happen during the winter to minimize public impacts. The NPS also worked to limit inconvenience by maintaining trail access. You can learn more about this work online at https://go.nps.gov/RockCreekTrailWork. NPS will post updates on our progress using the website.