Results tagged “streetbridge>”

>> The Senate might have to work all weekend, in advance of a possible vote on Sunday on whether to take up a $50 billion war funding bill that calls for a troop withdrawal from Iraq in 12 months, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned. Be prepared to hear all your Senate staffer friends complain about this at happy hour tonight. [The Hill] >> Foxhall Road will be closed to traffic between MacArthur Boulevard...

The folks over at Dulles Metro extension are breaking out the construction tools … and the credit cards. $900 million of the $2.83 billion price tag of the initial 11.6-mile leg is in that Transportation Department spending bill tied up in Congress and under threat of veto by President Bush. But with or without the money, officials plan to start work, reports The Examiner. Is it just us, or does this violate everything you ever...

After two long months of being shut completely for a major overhaul, the Frederick Douglass Bridge, aka the South Capitol Street Bridge, finally reopened to commuters this morning. DDOT actually reopened the Anacostia River crossing one week ahead of schedule overnight. When was the last time you remember a major construction project being finished early? Overall, it looks like the strategy to close the bridge completely, despite its inconveniences, was a good one. By...

David Beckham made his long-awaited MLS debut last night at RFK stadium, entering the game in the 72nd minute but unable to help his Los Angeles Galaxy overcome a 1-0 defeat to D.C. United. We will have a full post on the game later this morning, but in the meantime, how was your evening commute affected by the 46,686 soccer match attendees crowding into Metro? Police Move Not Really Canceled?: So says the Washington...

Anyone who's lived in D.C. for more than a minute or two knows that appearances are important in this town, but is it reasonable to suggest that the changing face of Metro will have an impact on ridership? Also this week, a fare hike fight gradually takes shape, and another area bridge is going out of commission. If you were one of the 500,000 or so passengers who took Metro to the Mall on...

We don't enjoy wallowing over desperately ironic turns of events in the Metro region here at Transit on Thursday. OK, that's a lie. But we do sympathize with the folks who it turns out may have gotten duped by the Great Virginia Commuter Compromise of 2006-2007. Also this week, new lanes approved for the Beltway, 95, and 66, while Maryland comes up a little short on its own transportation funds. Photo by el swifterino...

Good Morning, Washington. It looks like another fine spring day from our vantage point at DCist headquarters -- weather fit for a queen, as it were. Thanks to Flickr user Jon-Miles for sharing some of his shots with us from yesterday's press event with President Bush and Queen Elizabeth II. Today is the final day of the Queen's tour of the region. Before a private dinner with the Bushes, she'll spend it by visiting the...

While D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty officially pays tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today at the University of the District of Columbia, one question comes to mind -- how well has the District actually guarded and promoted King's legacy? Given the state of a library and an avenue named after the famed civil rights fighter, not too well. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library stands as a contradiction at the corner of Ninth...

When the new span of the Wilson Bridge was first opened, the Washington Post published an editorial asking, "What's next?" Given this area's staggering growth rate, we're all in serious trouble if another 35 years goes by without another new bridge. Yet there is no active planning for another Potomac crossing.That may be true for the Potomac, but when it comes to D.C.'s other river, plans are moving rapidly forward for reconstruction of the 11th...

The Washington Post reports today that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon Memorial, commemorating those that died on September 11th, has been scheduled for June 15. The design includes 184 benches, each one engraved with the name and birth year of someone who perished in the Pentagon or on Flight 77, cantilevered over small reflecting pools. Located at the building's southwest corner, the memorial will occupy 1.93 acres and cost approximately $17.5 million to build....

We've spent time talking about how great it would be if D.C. was a little more free WiFi-friendly than it is -- and thankfully, it soon may be. The Post is reporting this morning that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has asked companies to start bidding on a contract to build a free wireless internet network that would cover the majority of the city, including often underserved poorer neighborhoods. The network could become operational in...

Every time we crossed the 14th Street Bridge, we wondered what the rotating bar atop the Crystal City Doubletree was like. This week we decided to stop wondering, and hazard the post-urban tangle of freeways around Crystal City on foot to check it out. After some Googling we found out the hotel calls the bar the Skydome Lounge, and that it's a bar with light fare during the week and restaurant on weekends. At worst,...

We spend plenty of time complaining about the state of the region's public transit network, be it delays on Metrorail, unpredictable arrival times for Metrobuses, or just too much traffic along area roadways. But at least we don't have to hitchhike to work. Today the Post features an entertaining feature on John Schindel, a Stafford County man whose decade-old DUI conviction has left him at the mercy of fellow motorists to get him to and...

DCist has been sent some unsubstantiated celebrity sightings from this weekend. We put our fact checkers hot on the confirmation trail, but really, celebrity sightings are more intriguing gossip than serious journalistic news, so we've decided to go straight to you, our eyes and ears on the ground. So dish already. Here are the details as we know them right now: On Saturday, the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development hosted an open...

Mayor Williams got his wish. After planning to consolidate regional hearings in Baltimore, the Defense Department will hold Base Realignment and Closure Commission hearings in the District to look at the impact of the proposed closure or realignment of Defense Department facilities in D.C. From the mayor: “I am pleased that Secretary Rumsfeld and BRAC Chairman Principi have heeded my call to engage in a dialog with District residents on how closing Walter Reed will...

Good morning Washington, the weather will be in the 60s and sunny with the next 10 days "consistently average," says Capital Weather. This photo of the Hirshhorn is from Justin DC, posted in DCist Photos via Flickr. Serial Arsonist Caught: Authorities say that the serial arsonist who has plagued parts of the District, Virginia and Maryland has been caught. Read about this big story in the Post, W.Times and the Examiner. According to investigators, a...

Duck Watch Begins at Treasury: Remember the expectant duck nesting outside the Treasury Department that captured the heart of all America? Well, those eggs may be hatching this week, the AP, via WJLA, reports. We can already hear the ooohs and ahhhs coming from the area, but unfortunately, the view from the nearest DDOT camera, seen here at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, is turned away from the duck's security perimeter. If the world can...

Jane Yang is that all-too-rare breed in D.C.: a local. After growing up in Prince George's County, Jane studied Women's Studies and Government at the University of Maryland, College Park. Post graduation Jane moved to Atlanta, where she taught kindergarten through Teach For America. After three years in Atlanta, Jane moved back to D.C. to teach kindergarten at Two Rivers Public Charter School. She currently lives with her fiancé Chris on Capitol Hill. She was...

We would be remiss to not mention yesterday's anniversary of the January 1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the Potomac River shortly after taking off from National Airport. Brown Pau has a post on Metafilter pointing us to a whole host of good links about the disaster, which claimed 78 lives on board and on the 14th Street Bridge, where the plane had crashed into gridlocked traffic before sinking into the icy Potomac....

A long time ago, before the Beltway and the Interstate highway system, a web of U.S. highway routes crisscrossed the nation, connecting cities, towns and villages. These U.S. highways still exist, but now only form the backbone of the nation's secondary federal highway system. Route 1, which passes through D.C. via Rhode Island Avenue and the 14th Street Bridge, links Maine and Florida. Route 50, coming straight down Consitution Avenue, links Ocean City, Md., with...

When the Red Line was having trouble earlier this year and thousands of commuters were forced to walk downtown from the Van Ness-UDC station, WMATA said that public transit riders should have had an alternate plan to get from point A to point B. Then through a new communications strategy, it began stressing that fact more and more. As Washington is not only a terrorist target and particularly vulnerable to weather-related delays, WMATA has developed...

Inbound traffic from Virginia this morning has been slow-going because a key intersection, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, has been shut down for the police investigation of a fatal 6 a.m. car-pedestrian accident. Eastbound Constitution Avenue from the Memorial and Roosevelt bridges toward Federal Triangle and the Capitol is seeing major trouble, as is inbound I-395 via the 14th Street Bridge. Traffic reports indicate that with 14th Street shutdown, backups push back many miles toward...