Rock Creek Park Road System, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

Significance: Rock Creek Park was created in 1890 to preserve a large section of the wooded valley formed by Rock Creek as a "public park and pleasuring ground" for the nation's capital. Rock Creek Park is one of the largest "natural" urban parks in the United States and the only one owned and maintained by the federal government. The park road system was developed to afford access to the park's scenery and recreational areas and to provide opportunities for recreational driving. Rock Creek Park and its road system embody the classic principles of park development and park road design that played a prominent role in the development of the American urban landscape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Several of the park's bridges are historically significant as pioneering American engineering accomplishments and outstanding examples of civic art. The park road system maintains a high degree of historical integrity despite considerable pressure to construct an express thoroughfare through the park in the 1950s.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N741
Survey number: HAER DC-55
Building/structure dates: 1897-1912 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1933-1938 Subsequent Work