The Whitney M. Young Memorial Bridge, a.k.a the East Capitol Street Bridge, carries East Capitol Street across Kingman Lake, Kingman Island and the Anacostia. It has bike lanes on both sides of the bridge, but that's about all that can be said for it. This bridge needs work in a lot of areas (but not a lot of work).
The approaches on the west side have been rebuilt as part of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail work that finished up this past fall, and future phases of trail work should fix the other side. Still here's what the bridge needs (map).
1. When coming across the bridge from the west side, the only way to get across Kenilworth Ave/295 and the railroad tracks is to go up to Benning Road (unless you want to ride on East Capitol, which rides a lot like a highway). Some connection, either at East Capitol Street itself (preferable) or from the River Terrace neighborhood, is needed.
2. The east side of the downstream lane dumps riders off at a dead end with woods on one side and 295 on the other. A connection to the future ART is needed here.
3. The east side of the upstream lane forces cyclists to ride far from the river and then squeeze through a small opening to get onto the street. An earlier connection to E. Capitol Street NE and a better one at the existing location are needed.
4. The bridge passes over Kingman Island, but there is no legal way to get to it. With that portion of the Island set to be turned into a nature park, a set of stairs from the bridge to ground level - with a bike trough and parking at the bottom - would be a good addition (and useful for pedestrians too).
5. The lanes are narrow. Why they built 2 5 foot wide lanes instead of one 10 foot one, I'll never know. Just as the Mason Bridge can be retrofitted with a wider lane, so can the Young.
6. Better lighting and signage are needed.
And, though it's not related to cycling per se, some sort of marker letting people know who Whitney M. Young is and why there's a bridge named for him would be nice. Some historical context...
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