DDOT began work on Monday, April 20th on a reconstructed 9th Street NE Bridge. The 9th Street bridge currently represents the only north-south route suitable for cyclists (and drivers) between Montana Avenue NE and Eckington Place NE - a distance of over a1.5 miles. In addition the bridge crosses over New York Avenue, and DC has long term plans to add an Active Transportation Lane along the north side of this street.
The project fact sheet, while somewhat limited, does give an idea of some of the improvements this new bridge will bring to cyclists. It will replace a highway-like interchange with a grid-friendly set of intersections; add new sidewalks to connect New York Avenue to 9th Street; widen the sidewalks on the bridge; add other sidewalk improvements like better lighting, curb ramps, median openings and crosswalk signals and increase the span length of the bridge over New York Avenue to provide space for the future New York Avenue Trail (which you can see in the anamation below).
In the meantime the bridge will be narrowed down to one lane in each direction. Construction should be complete in late Spring 2011.
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