Media Contact:  Karyn Le Blanc, DDOT (202) 671-3490;  John Lisle, DDOT (202) 671-2004;  Jack Pfeiffer, EOM (202) 727-1751

(Washington, DC) Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Gabe Klein announced the significant work that is set to begin on the 9th Street Bridge (NE) and the 11th Street Bridges (SE) projects.

“These projects are a huge undertaking that will provide safer and more efficient roads for local and commuter traffic,” said Mayor Fenty. “The results will spur economic development opportunities in Brentwood and along the Anacostia River, supporting and enhancing the vision of our neighborhoods being world class destinations.”

“These new bridges are replacing out-dated, deficient infrastructure in high traffic areas that hundreds of thousands of people rely on every day,” said DDOT Director Klein. “Ultimately these new bridges will increase the traffic safety and relieve congestion.”

11th Street Bridge SE Project

Mayor Fenty announced the contractor selected for the work on the 11th Street Bridges project is Skanska/Facchina. Skanska/Facchina have offices in the District and Maryland and are well-respected leaders in the construction industry.

The $300 million initiative is the largest construction job in DDOT history. The project will allow better regional connections and provide drivers with easy accessibility to neighborhoods like Historic Anacostia, Capitol Hill, Navy Yard as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue and Anacostia Park. The freeway bridges will connect the Anacostia Freeway and the Southeast Freeway, providing the missing movement from the north to the east and the east to the north.

Currently, southbound motorists on the Anacostia Freeway cannot access the bridges; and motorists on the bridges are currently restricted from going north onto the Freeway. Two separate bridges for arterial local traffic and freeway traffic will reduce congestion and improve the mobility of traffic.

The 11th Street Bridge project will add a third bridge dedicated to local traffic, which will feature bicycle and pedestrian accommodations along with streetcar tracks for improved transit accommodations.

The new bridges will replace deficient infrastructure and will increase the traffic safety providing alternative evacuation routes in and out of the nation’s capital.

The District is using an innovative procurement approach called Design-Build-to-Budget. This type of design and construction is performed by a construction contractor and designer (design-build team). The design-build represents 90 percent of the original scope as it was laid out in the preferred alternative which was estimated to cost up to $459 million.

Additional information on the 11th Street Bridges Project may be found at
http://www.theanacostiawaterfront.com/11thstreet.jsp.

9th Street Bridge NE Project

This bridge project requires critical infrastructure improvements, constructing an entirely new bridge to replace the current span built in 1941. The bridge connects New York and Rhode Island Avenues over railroad tracks and provides access to the Brentwood Shopping Center and other businesses along Brentwood Road.

Over the next two years, DDOT will build a completely new bridge to safely carry the 26,000 cars and trucks that travel it every day. Construction will occur in phases to accommodate residents and business that rely on this bridge route. Half of the existing bridge will remain open while the new structure is built parallel to it.

The entirely new 4-lane structure will be constructed to the west of the existing bridge and the approach roadways will be re-aligned. Once construction is complete next year, traffic will shift onto the new bridge and the existing structure will be torn down.

This work requires the closing of the two southbound lanes on the bridge, beginning today. To maintain two-way traffic, the two existing northbound lanes have been split into one northbound lane and one southbound lane until the new bridge is completed.

That lane shift also requires closing off access from Brentwood Parkway northbound onto the 9th Street Bridge. Also, the ramp from the southbound 9th Street Bridge to westbound New York Avenue is now closed. Motorists will be directed to marked detours.

For more information, or to see a map of the closures and detours, please visit the project website at www.9thstreetbridge.org.