Rock Creek Parkway shutdown for Kennedy Center work to affect rush hours

Part of Rock Creek Parkway will be closed for all of Friday and Monday’s rush hours, as well as the weekend.

Work to place a pedestrian bridge connecting the Kennedy Center expansion to the riverfront trail will shut down the parkway and trail there from 8 p.m. Thursday to as late as 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 14, the Kennedy Center and National Park Service said.

The closure Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday will stretch from Virginia Avenue Northwest to near the volleyball courts by the Lincoln Memorial.

People driving, biking, running or walking will be diverted along Virginia Avenue Northwest and 23rd Street Northwest, or along the ramps to Interstate 66/Potomac River Freeway.

The closure is expected to cause significant delays for some trips, particularly locking up traffic during rush hours Friday and Monday in parts of Foggy Bottom, the West End and Georgetown.

Anyone attending Kennedy Center events should build in more time to avoid missing any part of a show, the D.C. police said.

There have also been other full closures of the parkway, but those were only during weekends.

The pedestrian bridge being placed this weekend is scheduled to open to the public Sept. 7, when Kennedy Center construction is completed.