Dr. Gridlock's
Get There blog has an entry about the upcoming work on the
South Capitol Street/Frederick Douglass Bridge, confirming that
as expected the bridge will be closed in July and August to demolish the
existing viaduct between Potomac Avenue and O Street, so that drivers coming off the bridge will arrive at street level three blocks further south than they now do. This will give
South Capitol Street a much nicer appearance, and will mean that the new Nationals ballpark won't have
an ancient bridge ramp rubbing up against its western facade (right now at O Street the viaduct is not much more than about 20 feet from the edge of the stadium). There will also be new signals at some of the intersections. The blog post also mentions the first of the weekend closures of the bridge coming up this weekend, with the inbound lanes closing between 10 am Friday and 4 am Monday, detouring traffic to the 11th Street Bridges. (But alas, the demolishing of the viaduct will take with it
two of my favorite stadium photo perches, though at least by summer most of the exterior work should be completed.)
UPDATE: Here's a
short piece from WTOP about the plans for the bridge.