Two years and $27 million will be dedicated to a makeover of the 14th Street Bridge, according to a joint announcement by Mayor Adrian Fenty and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Gabe Klein. The decades old structure will be repaired and painted, and extensive resurfacing will be completed. The project will disrupt traffic, mostly during the first year of the project, and the mayor made no bones about it: "There is no good time to perform major work on busy bridges."The project was begun today.
According to DDOT, during the next year, the 200,000 daily northbound bridge travelers can expect:
- Changing Traffic Patterns: Phase One will take approximately three months but lanes will shift approximately every month thereafter to accommodate construction. During several phases of the construction, lanes will be split and traffic will be routed on both sides of construction barriers.
- Shorter Merging Distances: When the center lanes of the bridge are under construction, motorists will have significantly shorter distances to move across lanes to get to their exits. This will particularly affect those entering from northbound George Washington Parkway and exiting onto 14th Street.
- Narrower Lanes: Lanes will be narrowed (from 12 ft. to 11 ft.) to maintain four lanes.
- Elimination of Shoulders: The two shoulders will be taken away during construction. A tow truck will be onsite at all times to immediately clear vehicles blocking traffic.
- Off-Peak Lane Closures: On weekdays, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm, the contractor may impose a single lane closure. On weekends, from 5:00 am Saturday to 5:00 am. Monday, the contractor may impose multiple lane closures.
- Distractions: Barriers will border travel lanes and construction involving jack hammering, large machinery, milling and construction workers will be in close proximity to traffic. In addition to visual distractions, periodic loud noise, vibration and dust also may distract drivers.
Check DDOT's website for up to date information on the project.
Photo: Southbound Span, Pier No. 4 (March 23, 1961). From DDOT website.
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3 comments:
Wow! Big news. As a SW resident I use it all the time to go back & forth to VA. Thanks for the update.
You think this will affect the bike lane at all? It's on the south bound side which doesn't sound like it'll have as much work. But, for, I guess, that reason there's not as much info on what they will be doing there.
Announced effects on the bike and pedestrian lane--From the DDOT website:
"Impact to Cyclists & Pedestrians
The Mount Vernon Trail that passes underneath the south end of the northbound and southbound bridges will remain open except for temporary closures from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am to string cables, paint and for construction set-up and tear-down."
And from the Mayor's announcement:
"Cyclists and pedestrians will experience some temporary closures primarily due to construction and staging activities. More details will be provided when schedules are confirmed."
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