West-Side Design JD's Photos News Items
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( click to enlarge) At left, you can see the current configuration of the Southeast Freeway and the various ramps and flyovers at 11th Street, some of which lead in small flyovers to and from the two 11th Street Bridges spans, while the bulk of the travel lanes continue east in a sunken path toward Barney Circle at Pennsylvania Avenue.
In the new design (right), the main lanes of the freeway curve at 11th Street to carry the freeway traffic to and from the upstream bridge span, with new single-lane ramps to and from 11th Street. The sunken freeway to Barney Circle is to eventually be replaced with a "Southeast Freeway Boulevard," with access to and from 11th Street. The ramps currently on N Street would be moved to M Street, with access to both the freeway and local spans of the bridges.
See the 11th Street Bridges EIS for much more detail on the new configurations and plans for bridges, beyond just what's happening in Near Southeast.
The lane configuration of the reconstructed bridges, looking from Anacostia toward Near Southeast. Four lanes each of in-bound and out-bound freeway traffic would use the upstream/northern span, while local traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, and eventually streetcars would use the downstream southern span.
Another overhead view of the western side of the bridge approach, seen from Capitol Hill looking south.
At left is the current configuration; at right is the chosen design for the new bridges:
At bottom left, the ramps to and from RFK are gone, and the sunken portions of the freeway connection to Pennsylvania Avenue and Barney Circle have been replaced with an at-grade boulevard.
At bottom right, the two narrow flyovers connecting the Southeast Freeway to the 11th Street Bridges have been consolidated into a tighter (and wider) overhead freeway. There are also new ramps to allow entrances and exits to the freeway at 11th Street at Virginia Avenue and I Street.
At center is the new configuration for off- and on-ramps at M and N streets. To the left, the in-bound and out-bound freeway bridge traffic would enter and exit on new ramps at M Street (meaning that the in-bound ability to exit the freeway and turn left at N into the Navy Yard will be gone, and this traffic would no longer be dumped onto 12th Street). There would also be a new road connecting this northbound freeway exit-ramp traffic to Virginia Avenue and I Street.
The downstream/"local" bridge traffic would use new ramps on 11th Street south of M, while there would also still be a remnant of 11th Street running down to N and O Streets, as there is now.
See the 11th Street Bridges Environmental Impact Statement for much more detail on the new configurations and plans for bridges, beyond just what's happening in Near Southeast. It also, of course, contains reams and reams of data on the anticipated traffic/environmental impacts of the reconstruction.
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West-Side Design JD's Photos News Items
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