Route Description
SR 120 begins at an intersection with US 1 (Jefferson Davis Highway) at the south end of Crystal City, just north of the city of Alexandria. (Glebe Rd. actually continues three blocks east of US 1 where it ends at Potomac Ave.) The state highway heads west as a four-lane divided highway through the Arlington County sewage treatment facility. West of the facility, SR 120 parallels the Four Mile Run Trail and Four Mile Run, both to the south, and passes to the south of the Arlington Ridge community. At the point the old alignment of SR 120, also named Glebe Road, crosses Four Mile Run into Alexandria, the state highway veers northwest away from the stream and meets I-395 (Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway) at a partial cloverleaf interchange north of Shirlington. North of the freeway, SR 120 passes between the historic Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Army Navy Country Club. North of its oblique intersection with Walter Reed Drive, the state highway passes through the commercial center of Westmont, where the highway intersects SR 244 (Columbia Pike). North of Westmont, SR 120 has a partial cloverleaf interchange with US 50 (Arlington Boulevard) adjacent to the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More.
SR 120 continues north onto Ballston, where the highway expands to six lanes at Quincy Street. The state highway passes by Ballston Common Mall and the adjacent Kettler Capitals Iceplex, practice rink of the Washington Capitals. SR 120 veers north at Wilson Boulevard and passes by the Arlington Center of Northern Virginia Community College at Fairfax Drive, which heads east as SR 237 toward Clarendon and west as ramps to and from I-66 toward Falls Church. The state highway runs concurrently with SR 237 for two blocks north to Washington Boulevard, onto which SR 237 heads west toward Falls Church. Just north of Washington Boulevard, SR 120 has a partial interchange with I-66 that allows access to and from the direction of Washington and where the highway crosses the Custis Trail.
SR 120 leaves Ballston as a four-lane divided highway that passes by The Glebe and intersects US 29 (Lee Highway). The state highway has an oblique intersection with SR 309 (Old Dominion Drive) on an overpass of Yorktown Boulevard adjacent to Marymount University. At Williamsburg Boulevard, SR 120 veers northeast to parallel the Arlington–Fairfax county line. At the top of its descent to the Potomac River, the state highway has a partial cloverleaf interchange with Military Road, a residential street, and reduces to two lanes. The highway has a sweeping curve to the north and passes below the George Washington Memorial Parkway immediately before its northern terminus at SR 123 (Chain Bridge Road), which connects SR 120 with the Parkway. The road continues straight as SR 123 to the Chain Bridge, which crosses the Potomac River just below Little Falls to an intersection with Canal Road and the Clara Barton Parkway in Washington a short distance east of the District of Columbia – Maryland boundary.
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