Enjoy your access to the South Capitol Street/Douglass Bridge today, because that's it until August. As I've mentioned ad infinitum here, it's closing tonight (12:01 am Friday July 6) so that the portion of the viaduct north of Potomac Avenue can be demolished and the rest of the northern approach lowered so that the bridge comes to ground level at Potomac Avenue. Here's
my page with the graphics, links and photos explaining it all. Dr. Gridlock addresses it
today in his Get There blog, and there are short blurbs out today by
WJLA and
Fox 5. While the plans are for the bridge to be closed through the end of August, the contractor can receive up to $1 million in incentives by finishing sooner.
And we'll see what happens with tomorrow's rush hour; officials are warning commuters to add 30 minutes to their normal expected commute time while the bridge is closed. Feel free to
send me your Day 1 traffic experience.
Links for Today's Ballpark and Beyond Column
Jul 5, 2007 10:24 AM
If you wandered over here from today's Ballpark and Beyond column in the Post's District Extra, here are a few links you might want to follow for additional background: Capitol Hill Tower is the home of the dry cleaners that had the bad first day of business; my Capitol Quarter page has lots of photos and details on the mixed-income townhouse development replacing Capper/Carrollsburg that has generated so much camping activity; I've got plenty of recent exterior and interior photos of the Nationals ballpark and renderings of what it's supposed to look like when it finishes next spring; my 1111 New Jersey Ave. page has details on the Donohoe office building project that will now be expanded after their purchase of the Navy Yard Metro station east entrance; and my Upcoming Events Calendar has links for the pile of meetings and hearings scheduled for next week.
Stadium Topping Out Stories
Jul 5, 2007 9:24 AM
I've already written almost exactly the same story, but for people who can't bear to miss anything, there's a brief Associated Press piece out this morning mentioning that the ballpark's structural steel and concrete work is almost complete, and that the "Topping Out" party has been scheduled for July 11. (This WTOP rewrite of the piece jumps the gun a little--the work isn't done just yet; but there is a fun picture of a worker installing the seats in the right field upper deck.) And, as mentioned before, they need to get the construction equipment out of the infield so that digging for the drainage system can begin; the turf will be put down in October. (UPDATE: In fact, the AP piece sounds a lot like my DC Extra blurb today on the topping out.) And just to clarify, the steel and concrete work probably won't be 100% finished on the day of the party, but will likely be finished by the end of July.
