Rendering via DDOT

The District Department of Transportation released renderings of what the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge will look like at the completion of a $900 million multi-phase project to completely overhaul South Capitol Street and the surrounding roadways. The plans were unveiled at a DDOT meeting last night at the Capitol Skyline Hotel which drew about 130 attendees.

On either end of the new bridge, which carries South Capitol Street from Southwest D.C. near Nationals Park across the Anacostia River, will be large traffic ovals, according to images released yesterday. But since the earliest designs appeared in January, some road-watchers have been critical of the elliptical, three-lane roadways, comparing them to racetracks. That sentiment came up again last night, according to The Washington Post’s Robert Thomson:

But L’Enfant’s plan didn’t include traffic ovals like the one in the artist’s rendering at the top of this page. In the rendering, it looks like the planners think we may someday host the summer Olympics.

The games I’m worried about include lane-changing and traffic-dodging. There’s nothing like these traffic ovals in D.C., and it would certainly take a while for travelers to adjust to them — assuming they ever do.

While D.C. drivers might need to get used to the ovals, the new bridge in its entirety appears very promising for pedestrians and cyclists, with plans showing protected two-way tracks on either side of the bridge’s span, suggesting what would be the safest river crossing in town for non-motorists.

Rendering via DDOT

The Frederick Douglass Bridge was closed and upgraded in 2007, but even with those repairs, the swing bridge is 63 years old and needs to be replaced. DDOT recently sent out requests for qualifications to companies that might bid on the project. Replacing the bridge is expected to take at least two years and cost about $573 million of the $900 million total that the South Capitol Street Corridor project is estimated to require.

The larger project was also cited last week at the unveiling of plans by District officials and D.C. United to construct a stadium for the soccer team at Buzzard Point, which is currently served by broken, narrow, one-way, and otherwise inaccessible streets.

South Capitol Street Corridor Project: 7/30/13 Project Information Update Meeting Presentation