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 Street Bridge. According to proponents, the $500 million dollar project would not only replace the aging structures, but also provide missing freeway connections between I-295 and the Southeast Freeway. This is expected to improve traffic flow on the highways, as well as discourage cut-through traffic in local neighborhoods. Finally, as part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative and the advent of the new stadium, officials expect the project to better link the two sides of the river.

However, some local groups including the D.C. chapter of the Sierra Club have come out in opposition to the project. Sierra Club representatives have pointed out that the four alternatives currently being evaluated by the District are not really very, well, alternative. Each of the four different plans involves different layouts of the same 8 lanes of traffic crossing the river. Each would require the conversion of about 12 acres of parkland. None would integrate transit lanes the way the new Wilson Bridge will. The draft environmental impact statement mentions that buses or street cars could be run over the bridge, but does not go into details beyond that. With 43% of households in the neighborhoods surrounding the bridge dependent exclusively on public transit (as compared to 37% in all of D.C.) it would be a shame to squander an opportunity to provide local residents with better transportation options.

Photo courtesy D.C. Office of Planning