11th Street Bridges - 2009 Rebuilding

2009 Rebuilding

The District of Columbia assessed the bridges in 2002. The Welsh Memorial Bridge was rated "satisfactory" (superstructure rating of 6; substructure rating of 6) while the 11th Street Bridge was rated "fair to poor" (superstructure rating of 5; substructure rating of 4). Both superstructures are near maximum life expectancy. Without improvements to traffic patterns across the Anacostia River, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) estimated in 2005 that traffic over the 11th Street Bridges would significantly expand to 105,100 vehicles per day by 2030, an increase of 22.2 percent over 2004 and more than 40.3 percent higher than the next-busiest bridge (Sousa Bridge). DDOT undertook a major study of the bridges in 2004 which concluded that both bridges should be replaced.

DDOT and the FHWA issued notices to proceed with further assessments in September 2005, a draft environmental impact assessment published in July 2006, a final environmental assessment published in September 2007, and a decision to proceed promulgated in July 2008. Public hearings were held in September 2005, December 2005, and July 2006. Because of design changes, the environmental impact study was re-evaluated in July 2009 and found to still be sufficient. The goals of the project are:

• to reduce traffic congestion on the both the 11th Street Bridges and on local streets;
• to increase the safety of all types of traffic on local streets;
• to replace the current bridges;
• to provide an improved emergency evacuation route for the nation's capital; and
• to provide routes for security personnel in and out of the nation's capital.

The project also includes a pedestrian walkway to provide foot traffic access across the bridges as well.

The entire replacement project is expected to cost $365 million. Demolition of a portion of the bridges began in July 2009 (a portion of M Street SE and I-295 access ramp at 12th Street SE were closed for two weekends to permit demolition of bridge ramps), and construction is scheduled to end in 2013.

On-ramps from Anacostia to the northbound span of the 11th Street Bridges were closed on December 20, 2009, for five and a half hours after heavy snow blocked the approaches during the North American blizzard of 2009, with the snow removal disrupting automobile traffic and forcing the temporary closure of several Metrobus routes which use the bridge.

Lane closures on the bridges, as well lane closures and other traffic restrictions on nearby local roads and on- and off-ramps, began October 26, 2010, as the construction moved from the middle of the Anacostia River toward the shore. City engineers estimated that the project was 25 percent complete by late October 2010. The project was on track for completion in 2013. On November 5, 2010, construction crews began driving piles east of the bridge on its northern side to begin construction of the ramp connecting the new bridge to east-bound Southeast Freeway.

DDOT officials said in January 2011 that they expected a new connection with southbound I-295 to open during the spring, for construction on the two freeway spans to be complete by fall, and for the local span to open in 2013. Lane closures on the 11th Street Bridges, small segments of Southeast-Southwest Freeway, I-295, and local streets began on March 23, 2011, and continued through June.

The bridges' construction sparked some controversy. On March 22, a citizens group named "D.C. Jobs or Else" organized a protest of about 50 individuals on the 11th Street Bridges. Joined by D.C. Council member Marion Barry, the protesters said too few individuals from the Anacostia area (which suffers from a 30 percent unemployment rate) had been considered for employment or hired by Skanska/Facchina, the joint-venture construction company building the bridges. Skanska/Facchina vice president Brook Brookshire denied the accusations, noting that 51 percent of the new hires were D.C. residents, the company had engaged in extensive outreach to the unemployed, and that the company had worked with local jobs organizations, the D.C. Department of Employment Services, and the D.C. Department of Transportation to find workers for the project. Brookshire also said the company had provided training to unskilled workers to enable them to work on the project and find careers in the construction industry.

In May 2011, DDOT closed the off-ramp from the bridges to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. The agency said the closure would create a larger work area and speed up construction of the new bridges and approaches. Traffic was rerouted along the existing Good Hope Road on-ramp through the end of 2011, although this meant the ramp now carried two-way traffic in a single lane each way. Significant afternoon rush-hour delays occurred in the area due to the rerouting.

In August 2011, the D.C. City Council designated the 11th Street Bridges, a portion of Southeast/Southwest Freeway, Maine Avenue SW, and Independence Avenue SW "Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue" in honor of the slain civil rights leader. The dedication came in time for the planned dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. The renaming was honorary, and did not formally change the names of these bridges, highways, and streets.

The non-local spans were finished months ahead of schedule, and D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 16, 2011, to open the two bridges connecting I-295 with the Anacostia Freeway. The two spans were projected to carry 180,000 automobiles per day by 2032. The inbound I-295 span opened on Monday, December 19, 2011. The span carried both I-295 traffic as well as traffic coming up from neighborhood streets in Anacostia until the separate Anacostia-only span opened in 2013. Officials in December 2011 predicted the local-only span, which was intended to carry not only automobiles but also include bicycle and pedestrian lanes, would open in the summer of 2012.

Before the opening of the spans, DDOT received permission from the U.S. Department of Transportation to extend the designation of I-695 to the interchange with I-295.

The opening of the new spans eliminated a dangerous portion of I-295 where motorists moving right to access the 11th Street Bridges mixed with motorists moving left as they entered the freeway from Firth Sterling Avenue SE. However, to allow local traffic access to the rest of the city, a set of temporary on- and off-ramps were made to give Anacostia residents access to the bridges. In March 2012, DDOT also closed the ramp leading from I-695 to the 11th Street Bridges so that new approaches and connections to the new spans could be constructed. Ten Metrobus routes were rerouted due to the span closure, adding significant travel times for Anacostia commuters. Motorists attempting to reach Anacostia were forced to use one of three time-consuming alternative routes: exit I-395 at the Sixth Street SE ramp, travel through local streets, and use an on-ramp next to the Washington Navy Yard to access the undemolished old outbound bridge; continue onto I-295 and exit at Howard Road SE; exit onto South Capitol Street and take the Frederick Douglass Bridge; or continue east to the John Philip Sousa Bridge.

In January 2012, DDOT officials said that even when the third span opened in the summer of 2012, it would not be complete. DDOT said that one of the outbound traffic lanes would not be complete, nor would the pedestrian/bike lane. DDOT also admitted that Anacostia residents traveling into the city would not have direct access to M Street as originally planned. Instead, motorists would confront a dead-end and be forced to take a detour east onto O Street SE, travel north on 12th Street NE, and then make a left to reach M Street SE. DDOT said the final outbound lane to Anacostia as well as the bicycle/pedestrian lane would not be completed until the fall of 2012.

DDOT announced in April 2012 that it was on schedule to open the new ramp from the bridge to northbound Anacostia Freeway in June, and the new inbound-ramp on the north side of the bridge (connecting with I-395) in September.