Record of Determination for Temporary Closure of the Clara Barton Parkway during Permitted Special Event

W22 GWMP, CLBA PWY Closure Order # 22-013

Pursuant to 36 CFR Section 1.5, the National Park Service is imposing a temporary closure to the Clara Barton Parkway from the Chain Bridge to the 495 interchange (for both the north and south bound lanes). The date of the closure is October 22, 2022 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Unauthorized entry or activity is prohibited in this area while it is closed.

This closure is due to a permitted special event 22-0363: Bellringer Bike Ride. The George Washington Memorial Parkway’s Superintendent’s Compendium states that special bike or pedestrian events may occur on the Clara Barton Parkway between Labor Day Weekend and Memorial Day Weekend, provided that the Parkway is reopened to traffic by 9:30 a.m. This bike ride, therefore, falls within the Compendium’s guidelines.

Given the safety protections necessary for the cyclists in the permitted event to safely ride on the Parkway, less restrictive measures will not suffice. There are an estimated 2,000 cyclists participating in this ride, and the Parkway cannot be safely shared with public vehicles for this volume of cyclists. US Park Police vehicles and other heavy blocking vehicles will mark closed areas.

Nothing in this order is intended to prevent the National Park Service, its employees, volunteers, partners, contractors, subcontractors or designees from access and fulfilling their administrative duties and responsibilities.

This temporary activity restriction is not of a nature, magnitude, or duration that will result in a significant alteration in the park’s public use pattern; will not adversely affect the park’s natural, aesthetic, scenic, or cultural values; will not require significant modification to the park’s resource management objectives; and is not of a highly controversial nature. Accordingly, the National Park Service has determined that publication of this temporary restriction as rulemaking in the Federal Register is not required under 36 CFR 1.5(c). This determination is consistent with hundreds of earlier partial or temporary closures, the legal opinion of the Office of the Solicitor, and judicial adjudications that have upheld other NPS closures and public use limitations. Spiegel v. Babbitt, 855 F. Supp. 402 (D.D.C. 1994) affd in part w/o op. 56 F. 3d 1531 (D.C. Cir. 1995), reported in full, 1995 US App. Lexis 15200 (D.C. Cir. May 31, 1995); ANSWER Coalition v. Norton, No. 05-0071, (D.D.C. January 18, 2005), Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02-1715 (D.D.C. August 22, 2002), plaintiff’s emergency motion for appeal for injunction pending appealed denied Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02-5275 (D.C. Cir. September 9, 2002) (per curium); Picciotto v. United States, No. 99-2113 (D.D.C. August 6, 1999); Picciotto v. Lujan, No. 90-1261 (D.D.C. May 30, 1990) Picciotto v. Hodel, No. 87-3290 (D.D.C. December 7, 1987).


This order is effective at 6:00a.m. on October 22, 2022 and will remain in effect until 9:30a.m. on October 22, 2022. Pursuant to 36 CFR Section 1.7, notice of this temporary closure will be made through the posting of US Park Police and National Park Service vehicles at locations in the affected park area, and through information available on our public nps.gov webpages. Finally, pursuant to 36 CFR Section (1.5), this determination is available to the public upon request.

Approval: Charles Cuvelier, Superintendent
Date: October 21, 2022