Proposed 11th Street Bridges Recreation Project
DDOT originally planned to tear down the spans of the existing 11th Street Bridges, but leave the piers standing. The agency planned to connect the bicycle/pedestrian lane on the new local-only span with two of the piers left over from the demolition of the downstream span. Pedestrian observation platforms would be built on the piers. At both ends of the local-only span, the city also proposed building fishing piers, which would extend into the Anacostia River. The overlooks and fishing piers were expected to be completed in the fall of 2012 or the spring of 2013.
However, in March 2012 the Office of Planning within the D.C. Mayor's office proposed retaining the downstream span and turning it into a recreational destination. The inspiration for the concept came from New York City's High Line, a linear park and aerial greenway built on a section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur. The Office of Planning's initial concept proposed building a new 925-foot (282 m) superstructure on the piers, complete with utilities (electricity, natural gas, sewage, fresh water). A self-sustaining public-private partnership would develop parks, restaurants, and outdoor entertainment features on the span. City planners argued the concept would connect parks and trails along both sides of the Anacostia River, provide a "destination attraction" in the city's improverished Southeast which could enhance retail sales as well as economic development in the area, and provide badly needed outdoor recreational facilities to residents of the Anacostia neighborhood. The cost of building a new span was estimated at between $25 and $35 million.
The city made its planning proposal about 45 to 60 days before demolition was to have begun on the existing span. It said it would hold a national design competition in the summer of 2012.
Reaction to the plan was mixed. Attendees at the city's meeting were reported to be highly enthusiastic. But Beth Purcell, president of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, called the plan "bizarre" and argued that the city should not delay construction of the overlooks and fishing piers in favor of an unstudied design proposal with no funding. David Alpert, of the prominent local blog Greater Greater Washington, was more muted in his criticism. Writing for the Washington Post, he pointed out that the "recreation bridge" connected two neighborhoods of only moderate population density, and was not easily accessed from either side of the river. He argued that the space would have to have enough activity and importance to make it a "destination" space day and night. He cautioned that the space could easily turn into a dead zone or encourage crime, and that the space would have to be connected to the 11th Street Bridges local-only span's bicycle/pedestrian lanes. He also suggested that one or more DC Streetcar stops be created along the bridge.
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