What's the deal with the Roosevelt Bridge?

If you've ever biked or walked across the Theodore Roosevelt bridge, you've probably wondered how the hell we ended up with such a weird bridge sidewalk. I'm here to tell you the story and it's a bit crazy. 

First of all, for those unfamiliar, the Roosevelt Bridge has a 6 ft. wide sidewalk on each side. The north side sidewalk is the usable one, as it connects the Kennedy Center to the Mt. Vernon Trail, while the south side one connects to the E Street Expressway (and then via a substandard sidewalk the intersection of 23rd and Constitution Ave) in DC with...well nothing. It just dead-ends on the Virginia side (though a desire path seems to indicate that SOMEONE is using it).

The most obvious question is

Why doesn't the downstream walk connect to anything on the Virginia side?

To answer that question we have to talk about how the bridge ended up with sidewalks. 

The design presented to the Fine Arts Commission in 1959 included sidewalks on both sides. These sidewalks ended at stairs that would lead down to Little Island (the southern part of Roosevelt Island) on the downstream and Roosevelt Island on the upstream. This would create a pedestrian connection from DC to the Islands where the Monument would go, which DC's Bureau of Roads wanted. The DC Department of Highways, on the other hand, didn't want them included, fearing they would encourage people to run across the highway. Furthermore, sidewalks weren't allowed on Interstates. The two struck a deal to include only the upstream sidewalk and a 2'4" wide maintenance walk on the downstream side. The purpose of the maintenance walk was for workers to get on the bridge or drivers of broken down cars to walk off. It wasn't really for transportation. The upstream sidewalk was preferred as a connection because it would give access to Roosevelt Island, though some preferred the downstream walk for the views, but upstream won out. Planners were able to get a waiver to include sidewalks along an interstate and they resubmitted the design to the FAC.

But the Fine Arts Commission overruled them arguing that the bridge would look lopsided without equal sized sidewalks (same reason for this sidewalk). They forced them to widen the maintenance walk but not to expand its purpose.  Highway officials reluctantly relented. In retrospect, it would have been better if they'd ignored symmetry and forced them to widen the upstream sidewalk to 9 feet. 

FAC also recommended that once the Roosevelt Bridge was opened, that the Memorial Bridge should be closed to commuter traffic. [Oh, what could have been.]

Anyway, that's why the downstream doesn't connect to VA. It wasn't meant to be a transportation path. It was meant to be a way to evacuate or access the bridge. If we ever connect it, as has been planned for decades, it won't be the realization of some long ago plan, it will be an opportunist kluge of a fortuitous aesthetic choice. 

Why are the sidewalks so narrow?

For one, that was kind of the standard of the day when cars were king. In 1955 they narrowed the sidewalks on the Key Bridge to 5'5" to make room for more car lanes and DC was increasing the number of lanes across the Potomac from 12 to 22 because they were going to fix traffic congestion. A plan that worked so well that only a few years later, Nixon's Secretary of Transportation John Volpe and a DC Council Chairman Gilbert Hahn took Nixon on a helicopter tour at rush hour to show him how bad traffic was and to convince him to fund the subway. [Hahn at other times said he'd like to ban all-day parking in the city to increase transit use. Oh, what could have been.]

But also they just expected them to be very lightly used, and not by cyclists. This was before either the MVT or the Rock Creek Trail after all. The only place they thought people would go was to Roosevelt Island - and the bridge across for that across Little River was at the north end of the Island back then making for a long walk. After the bridge opened, they were surprised to find people walking to work at the State Department from River Place (then known as Arlington Towers) in Rosslyn. Frankly, I am too as that required more than a few dangerous road crossings. Not just on the VA side, but on the DC side it required crossing a ramp from I-66 to the Rock Creek Parkway that wasn't removed until sometime after 1980. 

OK, but what about those weird barriers?

The low barriers - you can see them in the photo at top - were not included on the bridge originally.  Those were added in the late 1960's after a driver drove off the bridge and died. They exist to protect drivers from driving off the road, not to protect sidewalk users. Again, no one thought about how they'd feel for cyclists. 

The upstream path wouldn't be connected to the Mt Vernon Trail until 1988, around the same time the bridge to TR Island moved and the trail overpass to Rosslyn was built. Prior to that there was just a simple path along the Parkway which you can kind of see in this photo.

Anyway, all things considered cyclists and pedestrians got lucky. The TR Bridge might not have had any sidewalks had the highway people gotten their way. They might not have connected to VA if the plan for stairs had been retained. We wouldn't have the downstream walk - which I still think we'll utilize some day - if some bureaucrats hadn't found the unsymmetrical bridge wonky (my term).

But it would've been nice if the walks had been wider. And had a barrier like the one on the Mason Bridge. And maybe the stairs would've been a nice addition to what they did. And a little thought into how that downstream sidewalk could've connected would have made that investment better. I have ideas: 

Comments

[George Kirschbaum]

Back in the 90's when they did an overhaul of Key Bridge they widened the sidewalks to the comfortable width they are now. Maybe the next revamp of TR could do the same for the upstream side of TR Bridge? That would be awesome. I feel awkward whenever I ride across the bridge now and often avoid it if I can. It feels like I'm riding perched on a penny farthing above those railings.

[Ed]

Interesting timing for this Article since DDOT is making a presentation to ANC 2A on rehabilitation of the TR bridge, including the sidewalks. It is on Nov. 20, West End Library at 7pm.

[Craig]

What I don’t get is why there isn’t a sign or swing gate on the DC side of the South sidewalk warning people that there is nothing at the other end. Countless times I’ve seen what I assume are tourists at the Arlington end stuck and having to walk all the way back or brave the traffic in an unknown situation. A small gate would do wonders to stop this and still allow people who need access to still have access.

[washcycle]

That's a great idea. I'll bring it up with DDOT.

[NeilB]

The low barrier between the sidewalk and the vehicle lanes is by far the worst thing about crossing TR on a bike. It scares the crap out of me. It feels like it's exactly at the right height to allow you to flip over it and land in the road.

I crossed it a couple of years ago piloting a triplet (three seat tandem) with my daughter and her friend in the two other seats. We were going into DC, with the low barrier on our right. As we started across I warned them not to move or squirm or do anything weird until we got across. We rode right down the middle of the sidewalk. When we encountered oncoming bikes coming towards us, I stopped, pulled as far to the right as I could, and put both feet down until they were gone. I didn't want to attempt to ride past them. We made it without incident, but I have never crossed that bridge on the triplet again.

[huskerdont]

Good to know the reason why the downstream side just ends.

I use the upstream side in the afternoons, and it feels much more comfortable going west. You still have to be careful not to have a handlebar strike when a cyclist comes the other way, but the low guardrail at least isn't an issue.

[Mike]

I think I found some of the people using that desire path...
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8888783,-77.0638695,3a,62.2y,339.86h,91.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNa9TP9Wm2e3N4OM4DHHuYg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Agree with Craig that there should be some sort of gate on the south side. These poor guys (probably tourists from the CaBi's) ended up stuck between a bunch of highway roads on the VA side.