IT'S NOW EASIER to get onto the southbound Rock Creek Parkway from Dupont Circle and Georgetown, but officials have apparently kept that development close to their vests.

Leave it to The Post's meddling Dr. Gridlock to expose that the ramp from P Street NW to the southbound parkway, which had been closed for construction, is now wide open — an event that apparently came about without notice from the National Park Service or the Federal Highway Administration, which are in charge of the construction project. And they'd have gotten away with it, too...

That doesn't mean it's clear sailing on Rock Creek, though. Reports the good doctor, otherwise known as Robert Thomson, on washingtonpost.com's Get There blog:

I spotted two work zones: One at the P Street ramp, but the work was confined to the grassy little island where the ramp's on-lane and -off lane split. That wasn't interfering with traffic. The other work zone was the big deal. That takes up the center of the parkway between Virginia Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. ...

It's an unpleasant looking scene, and I felt lucky to be on foot. The trail beside the parkway is chewed up pretty badly — one of the things that remains to be fixed during the project — but Rock Creek, with its changing leaves is beautiful and so is the Potomac, visible south of Virginia Avenue. (But how would you know? In all that traffic, you're stuck admiring the license plate holder of the car in front.)

» "Rock Creek Ramp Open" [Get There/WaPo]
» "Traffic Advisory: Rock Creek Parkway" [Federal Highway Administration]

Photo by Robert Thomson/The Washington Post

Posted by Greg Barber at 7:17 AM on October 23, 2007
Tagged in Dupont Circle , Free Ride , Georgetown , News , The District , Top Stories , Transit