The rehabilitation of the Arlington Memorial Bridge received funding late last year with major construction to start in the fall of 2018. The new bridge will not, however, have protected bike lanes as WABA advocated for back in 2016. The project will, by design, return the bridge to the state of good repair it was in prior to the current deterioration with efforts made to match the current look. The deterioration has caused NPS to put in temporary structures at points.
The bridge’s sidewalks show de-lamination and spalling of the concrete surface, and displacement of the granite curbs. Aluminum structures have already been placed across sections of the bridge’s sidewalks to protect pedestrians from falling at deteriorated areas.
Since no bike facilities will be added, the only thing of relevance to cyclists are the sidewalks. There, the rehabilitation is going to consist of removing and replacing the sidewalks with exposed aggregate finish to match the existing exposed aggregate finish in texture and color. Personally, I don't care for aggregate finish. I think it makes for a rough and, when wet, slippery ride. I would have preferred dividing the sidewalk into two parts, with an asphalt section for cyclists, but that's not happening.
The other relevant part to cyclists who use the bridge is closures. The project will result in the removal of the center bascule, and rehabilitation of the other sections. This will result in either closures of one side of the bridge or the other for 490 days and closure of the whole bridge for 70 days; or closures of one side of the bridge or the other for 560 days.
Total construction will take a year and a half.
On the one hand, not turning some of the wildly overbuilt road space into bicycle/multimodal space is horribly stupid and backwards, and on the other, it won't be worse than it is now, so in the world of bikes I guess it's not as bad a loss as usual.
Posted by: Ampersand | April 04, 2018 at 11:28 PM
Maybe they'll consider accommodating cyclists when they re-rebuild it in 75 years.
Posted by: Ampersand | April 04, 2018 at 11:29 PM
One of my scariest bike moments occurred on that bridge. Was trying to pass a wide line of spread-out tourists close to the road, had a clothing malfunction, and started to fall into the travel lane. Wish I could be optimistic that they will not take the sidewalk during construction.
Posted by: Ren | April 05, 2018 at 09:13 AM
Memorial bridge can go on a road diet, a bike lane would be helpful to avoid tourists as others have pointed out, and for ebike riders who need a legal way to cross at least one of the Potomac bridges legally and safely. NPS needs to revisit their casual dismissal when WABA last asked for a bike lane.
Posted by: Dewey | April 05, 2018 at 11:51 AM
NPS proves again that it is terrible at working int he urban environment. All land and facilities controlled by NPS that is not of obvious national significance (basically everything except the Mall, monuments, and capitol grounds) should be given back to the government of DC, where it can be properly managed and maintained in a way that respects the urban context.
Posted by: Uptowner | April 05, 2018 at 01:31 PM
uptowner is right. the nps has stood and continues to stand in the way of sanity, and transportation and aesthetic progress. what a disaster.
Posted by: jmr | April 07, 2018 at 12:48 AM
Having returned from a tour of the Big 5 Utah National Parks over spring break, I can report that they are not great when it comes to the rural environments either. If you want to drive somewhere in the parks, you are a winner. Everyone else is on their own
Posted by: fongfong | April 09, 2018 at 01:45 PM