The Northbound side of the 14th Street Bridge on I-395 will get a major overhaul.

Elvert Barnes / Flickr

The U.S. Department of Transportation will chip in $72 million to rehabilitate part of the Interstate 395 bridge between the District and Virginia, a $90 million project that will also be funded in part by the D.C. government. 

The project will happen on the northbound I-395 bridge connecting D.C. and Arlington — officially called the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge or the “14th Street Bridge.” Vice President Kamala Harris announced the grant along with eight others around the U.S. today at the site of the D.C. bridge.

“I think between D.C. and Virginia, there’s a great case to be made about what an important artery this is,” Deputy Secretary of The U.S. Department of Transportation Polly Trottenberg told WAMU/DCist.

The Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge is a four-lane, half-mile bridge that supports 88,000 vehicles crossing the Potomac River every day — one of the highest volume bridges in D.C. Currently, several bridge components are significantly deteriorated and require constant maintenance, according to a press release. The shoulder of the bridge is closed due to the poor condition of the bridge barriers and part of the bridge that used to be a drawbridge.

The project will replace that piece of the bridge that used to open as a drawbridge with a fixed span, replace its steel barriers, and upgrade its fenders, which prevent vessels from hitting the bridge’s supports.  The goal of the rehabilitation is to bring the roadway shoulder back into use to improve travel time, relieve traffic congestion, provide safety for drivers and save millions of dollars in reduced maintenance costs, according to a press release. 

“We know that more than 630,000 jobs are located within 3 miles of either side of this bridge, and 88,000 commuters use it daily, so bringing it to good repair is incredibly important for our region,” District Department of Transportation Director Everett Lott said in a statement.

Preliminary engineering and the environmental review for the project would start this spring, with the preliminary design to be completed this fall. Construction is estimated to take two years.

The $72 million grant is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which included $300 million for nine projects announced Thursday.  The grant process was competitive, with 24 contending applicants. D.C. received one of the two largest grants, along with a project at the Lafayette Bascule Bridge over the Saginaw River in Michigan. Other projects are in California, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin. 

This post has been updated to include comments from the District Department of Transportation and construction timeline.

Filed Under: general assignment, I-395, transportation,