The new Douglass Bridge, currently under construction, promises to significantly upgrade one of the Anacostia's few bicycle crossings. But what has been less celebrated is that it will result in a new place where cyclists and pedestrians can cross the DC-295/I-295 barrier. Though not as much of a bottleneck as the river, there are only a little more than a dozen places where one can cross 295 by bike in DC over a 5.5 mile stretch. And fewer when the railroad tracks are taken into account.
The crossing is part of the new I-295/Suitland parkway. The old interchange, built in the early 1960's had no sidewalks and there were none added in the 2011 South Capital Street FEIS.
But by 2013, the design included three alternatives, one with a 10' sidewalk, one with a 12' one and one with a 10' shared-use path separated by a small barrier, all on the west side.
The preferred alternative was a sidewalk. Later a shared-use path was added to the other side with an at-grade crossing of the ramp.
But in 2014, there was a Revised Preferred Alternative that changed the ramp and put the path through an underpass below "Ramp B". The path doesn't show up in this 2014 drawing.
By 2018, the plans clearly showed where the sidewalks and paths would be. A network of sidewalks and paths will connect the bridge and the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail to new sidewalks along Suitland Parkway and Firth Sterling; and existing sidewalks along Howard and S. Capitol Street will be replaced and improved.
Work on Ramp B and the tunnel is underway. Here's what it looked like in 2019.
And in 2020.
Unfortunately, this won't create a direct connection to the Suitland Parkway Trail. After passing through the tunnel and under 295, trail users will need to go east on Firth Sterling along the sidewalk and then south on Howard and Sheridan for about a half mile to get to the trail head. DDOT is working on a redesign of the trail (which is in shameful shape anyway) and maybe that will include a better connection.
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