National Harbor is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located along the Potomac River near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and just south of Washington, D.C.

[citation needed] In the fall of 1997, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Army Corps of Engineers approved new developer permits, granted for the PortAmerica project in 1988.

The Sierra Club voiced strong objections in 1999 saying that construction of National Harbor would "prevent forever the completion of the Potomac Heritage Trail".

[1] The Walt Disney Company had announced that it would build a new resort hotel at National Harbor, but backed out of the project in November 2011.

[13] In 2011, Bonnie Bick, a member of the Campaign to Reinvest in the Heart of Oxon Hill suggested preserving the remaining plantation building, and making it a part of a proposed historical loop of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, as a draw for the development.

The site includes a beachfront walking path and a connection to a bike trail on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge that crosses into Alexandria, Virginia.

Commuters traveling via Indian Head Highway may access National Harbor by utilizing the Oxon Hill Road exits.

[30] A water taxi line run by the Potomac Riverboat Company connects the National Harbor to Alexandria, Virginia.

However, local civic groups dropped a lawsuit against National Harbor's developer in exchange for assurances of greater investment in the surrounding community and better access to mass transit.

[32] The new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which forms part of the Capital Beltway near National Harbor, was built to allow capacity for a future Washington Metro line.

Instead, the state of Maryland pays the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority $312,000 annually to operate the NH1 bus line to National Harbor from the Southern Avenue Metro station.

[34] In 2011, Metro began considering the possibility of building a rail extension to National Harbor off the Green Line as part of its long-term plan.