The National Park Service shouldn't be on the hook for basic roadway infrastructure in the Washington Metropolitan Area

Because Washington, DC is the National Capital, and because of various federal government initiatives over the past hundred years concerned with augmenting the aesthetic elements of the National Capital Region, the National Park Service, operator of such national parks as Yosemite National Park in California or Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming/Montana, is also responsible for a number of roadways that act as fundamental elements of the area's transportation system including:

- the George Washington Parkway and Mount Vernon Parkway in Virginia
- Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Maryland
- Clara Barton Parkway and Suitland Parkway in Maryland and the District of Columbia
- Rock Creek Parkway in the District of Columbia; and
- the Arlington Memorial Bridge which crosses the Potomac River and connects the National Mall in DC to Arlington National Cemetery.

For a few years it's been known that the Arlington Memorial Bridge needs significant repairs.

The bridge is in the news today (WTOP radio,"DC's Arlington Memorial Bridge could close in 5 years") because NPS announced that if the bridge isn't repaired within 5 years, it will have to be closed to vehicular traffic.  It's estimated that the repairs will cost $250 million.

It happens that this year is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the system has been underfunded for decades, with estimates of a repair backlog totalling $11 billion or more ("National Park Service delayed $11 billion in maintenance," Post).

It'd be best for NPS money to be spent on parks, and transportation monies separate from NPS funding should be spent on local roads.

I would argue that NPS should not be financially responsible for maintaining what are for the most part, locally-serving roads, and instead, operational and financial responsibility should be devolved to the local jurisdictions in which these roadways are located.

Note that already the State of Maryland handles maintenance for most of the B-W Parkway.

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Added note: one of the problems of the borders of DC--that is to the west bank of the Potomac River--creates for DC and the transportation system is that the cost of the bridges are fully DC's financial responsibility, even though they serve Virginia equally.