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 were near maximum life expectancy. DDOT and the FHWA issued notices to proceed with further assessments in September 2005, a draft
environmental impact assessment was published in July 2006, a final environmental assessment was 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. The entire replacement project was expected to cost $365 million. and construction was 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. 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. 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. Traffic was rerouted along the existing Good Hope Road on-ramp through the end of 2011, The renaming was honorary, and did not formally change the names of these bridges, highways, and streets. 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. 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.
Southeast Boulevard Since the cancellation of the Inner Loop Expressway, motorists wanting to access the
Baltimore–Washington Parkway or
U.S. Route 50 in Maryland (the John Hanson Highway) would often travel Interstate 695 to Barney Circle, wait at the traffic light there, use
Pennsylvania Avenue to cross the nearby
Sousa Bridge, wait at a traffic light on the southwestern terminus of the bridge, and make a left turn against oncoming traffic to access a narrow and dangerous ramp that led to northbound
D.C. Route 295 (the Anacostia Freeway). The combination of traffic lights, left turn, and mixing of both through-traffic and local traffic created extensive traffic congestion on the Sousa Bridge during evening
rush hour. After the DDOT began the replacement of the 11th Street Bridges in 2009, it closed the westbound segment of Interstate 695 from the 11th Street Bridges to Barney Circle in late November 2012, and the eastbound lanes in early 2013. The unfinished "mixing bowl" exchange on the southern terminus of the 11th Street Bridges was also altered. Local traffic was separated from through-traffic by the construction of a bridge dedicated for local traffic only, and ramps connecting the bridge to D.C. Route 295 were created. Construction of the new ramps began in May 2012, The decommissioned portion of Interstate 695 began to be transformed into a
boulevard named "Southeast Boulevard". By 2014, DDOT's plan involved possible reconstructing of Barney Circle into an
intermodal transportation hub as well. DDOT planners said that construction on this project might begin as early as 2016.
Streetcar lane The local span of the new 11th Street Bridges was designed to accommodate a lane for the trolley cars of the city's emerging
DC Streetcar tram system. The Anacostia Line of the streetcar system was originally intended to travel north from the
Anacostia Metro station to a streetcar station at the southern foot of the local span before connecting with the
Navy Yard – Ballpark and
Waterfront Metro stations. Design changes were made in the 11th Street Bridges to permit the streetcar tracks. In 2009, however, DDOT said the trolley cars would not travel down M Street SE/SW but rather proceed up 8th Street SE/NE to link with DC Streetcar's H Street Line. To help fund construction of the Anacostia Line, DDOT proposed transferring $10 million from demolition of the 11th Street Bridges, but put that plan on hold due to delays in the streetcar project. For reasons which remain unclear, DDOT shuttered construction of the Anacostia line in August 2010. Funding for the Anacostia Line over the 11th Street Bridges subsequently fell through as well. DDOT had applied for an $18 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the
United States Department of Transportation to build the trolley bed and lay tracks along the local span, but the federal agency denied the application in October 2010. Three days later, DDOT released a new DC Streetcar map showing the Anacostia Line terminating at the Anacostia Metro station. However, in October 2009, construction began on the new
United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters on what used to be the west campus of
St. Elizabeths Hospital. As the first DHS headquarters building neared completion, the need for a streetcar line to move DHS workers from the Anacostia and Congressional Heights Metro lines into the heart of Anacostia became urgent. Federal and city officials also wanted to find a way to link the
8th Street Marine Corps Barracks and
United States Navy facilities at the Washington Navy Yard to the DHS campus. DDOT and the
Federal Transit Administration began holding a series of public meetings to determine how to link the 11th Street Bridges with DHS. By June 2011, three public meetings had been held, in which 10 alternate routes for the streetcar line had been identified. In January 2012 the fourth public meeting narrowed the routes down to four alternatives for linking the Anacostia Metro station to the bridges.
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 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. 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. ==See also==