The D.C. government will soon embark on a two-year effort to renovate the 14th Street Bridge spans carrying vehicular traffic in both directions, a project that promises pain for those Virginia drivers who do not change their commuting patterns.
Expect “major traffic impacts” during the extensive $27-million rehabilitation project, Mayor Adrian Fenty said Thursday during a morning news conference on Hains Point beneath the bridge spans.
Most affected once work begins in mid-May will be drivers crossing the 59-year-old northbound span, the Virginia side of which was recently ranked the region’s worst traffic bottleneck. Less intensive work on the southbound and High Occupancy Vehicle spans, completed in 1962 and 1972, respectively, will take place mostly during nights and weekends.
“There’s never a good time to do some of these projects,” said D.C. Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein.
The five 14th Street Bridge spans comprise the busiest route in and out of D.C., carrying roughly 200,000 vehicles a day. Three bridges carry vehicular traffic, one carries Metrorail and the fifth carries freight rail.
Wear and tear on the bridge spans has taken a toll over several decades, officials said. The bridge suffers from “surface distress,” which includes potholes, as well as degradation of the piers and bascules driven into the Potomac River.
Work northbound is slated to take place between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays, at nights and on weekends. D.C. leaders pledged to maintain four lanes of traffic during the morning and evening rush hours, but lanes will be narrowed, merging distances will be shortened and there will be no shoulders — measures likely to slow already congested traffic to a crawl.
What to do? D.C. leaders recommended carpooling, taking rail or other transit, or finding another route.
“You can adjust your work schedule,” Fenty said. “That’s always a good idea.”
Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the rehabilitation effort is much needed, but the District has not provided commuters enough notice to change their patterns.
“There needs to be a major, major information effort,” Anderson said. “Today was a good start, but it might be late.”
DDOT is funding 20 percent of the project, while the Federal Highway Administration picks up the other 80 percent.
