Arlington Ridge, Virginia - Arlington Ridge Road

Arlington Ridge Road

Formerly the Alexandria-Georgetown Road, Arlington Ridge Road currently extends from South Glebe Road to Army Navy Drive, which itself was formerly known as Old Georgetown Road. Prior to the construction of The Pentagon and Shirley Highway (later re-designated Interstate 395), Arlington Ridge Road was a major county thoroughfare that extended through to Rosslyn.

From the 1890s until the 1920s, the Northern Virginia electric railway operated trolleys in Arlington. One of the lines that made up this system, the East Arlington Branch Line, traveled along most of its route along a section of Arlington Ridge Road that is now within Arlington National Cemetery.

In January 1934 the Commissioner of Public Roads prepared a report on the situation for the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission. This report resulted in a plan for a system of arterial highways in the area that would, among other things, allow expansion and protection of the Arlington National Cemetery by elimination of the adjacent segment of Arlington Ridge Road, which at that time, constituted the eastern boundary of the Arlington National Cemetery. Although approved by the Commission in 1934, little was done to realize the plan.

In March 1941, a revised general layout was prepared that was largely the same but also included a new route to the south, later known as the Shirley Highway. The section of Shirley Highway from VA-7 to the beginning of the Pentagon Road Network at Arlington Ridge Road, started out as a Virginia Department of Highways project. Development accelerated as the U.S. entered World War II, and the fate of Arlington Ridge Road was sealed when it was shortened to its present length.

A final reduction change came about in the 1980s when the remaining stretch of Arlington Ridge Road was reduced from four lanes to two, accompanied by installation of standard 4-foot sidewalks and grass easements.