Benning Rd
Benning Road is a major traveled street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland.
The street's western terminus is at the "Starburst intersection" in the northeast quadrant of the city at Bladensburg Road, Florida Avenue, Maryland Avenue, H Street and 15th Street. It passed over the Anacostia River via the Benning Bridge into the neighborhood of Benning. It continues southeast across East Capitol Street into the southeast quadrant, crossing Southern Avenue and the D.C.-Maryland boundary into Maryland, ending at an intersection with Marlboro Pike (a former alignment of Maryland Route 4).
In the late 18th century, "Captain" William Benning came from Virginia and purchased 330 acres (1.3 km2) in the area. Around 1830 (though not all sources agree on the date), he bought what was then known as the Anacosita Bridge or the Upper Bridge as a toll bridge, one of the earliest crossings over the Anacostia River. The bridge would later be known as "Benning Bridge." "Benning's Road" appears on maps as far back as 1861, and the bridge was an important eastern route in and out of the District. An 1886 U.S. Geological Survey map shows Benning's Road ending at "Bowen Road", which was later named Marlboro Pike in Maryland (and routed as Maryland Route 4 through about 1960).
Benning Road was long bisected by railroad lines owned by the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad and the B&O Railroad. In 1917 work began on the Benning Road Viaduct and Bridge that would carry the road over the tracks. That work was completed in 1920.
In 2007, the District Council voted to rename the Benning Road Viaduct and Bridge (By then called the "Benning Road Bridge) over the railroad tracks between 34th Street, N. E., and Minnesota Avenue, N. E. the Lorraine H. Whitlock Memorial Bridge; and in 2008, they renamed the Benning Road Bridge over the Anacostia the Ethel Kennedy Bridge after the widow of the late Robert F. Kennedy, for whom a nearby stadium was named. In a May 20, 2014 ceremony, the bridge was officially renamed the Ethel Kennedy Bridge to honor her for her devotion to many social and environmental causes during her later years, especially in the neighborhoods along and near the Anacostia River.
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