Ethel Kennedy Bridge

The Ethel Kennedy Bridge is a beam bridge built in 2004 that carries Benning Road over the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. It is an eight-lane bridge with pedestrian lanes on both sides. A separate Washington Metro bridge carrying the Blue, Orange and Silver lines crosses over the bridge near its western terminus, and parallels the bridge on the north. A third bridge in the area carries Benning Road over Kingman Lake.[3]

Ethel Kennedy Bridge
The Ethel Kennedy Bridge from the south in October 2018, with the Metro bridge visible behind and above it
Coordinates38.897195°N 76.963649°W / 38.897195; -76.963649
CarriesMotor vehicles, pedestrians
CrossesAnacostia River, Kingman Island
LocaleWashington, D.C., U.S.
Other name(s)Benning Road Bridge
Named forEthel Kennedy
OwnerDistrict Department of Transportation
Preceded byWashington Metro bridge
Followed byWhitney Young Memorial Bridge
Characteristics
DesignPlate girder bridge
Total length548 feet (167 m)[1]
No. of spans5
History
Construction start2002
Construction end2004
Statistics
Daily traffic68,400 vehicles per day (1990)[2]
TollFree both ways
Location

History

Stoddert's Bridge

In 1797, the state of Maryland (which then controlled the area which would later become the District of Columbia) issued a charter to Benjamin Stoddert, Thomas Law, and John Templeman to build a bridge across the Anacostia River.[4][5] Stoddert owned land (known as "Long Meadows") on the eastern shore of the Anacostia River, and a bridge would have helped him develop him land.[4] The right to build a bridge was not exercised until 1805, when Chain Bridge was swept away during floods.[4][5] Stoddert then formed the Anacostia Bridge Co., and that same year erected a $20,000 wooden bridge known as Stoddert's Bridge in this location.[4][5] In the 1790s, "Captain" William Benning came from Virginia and purchased 330 acres (1.3 km2) of land on the western end of Stoddert's Bridge.[6] The site was one of the first crossings over the Anacostia River.[7] The bridge and "Benning's Road" were important eastern routes in and out of the District.[7][8][9]

By 1814, the bridge—now also known as "Upper Bridge"—was in disrepair.[10] During the War of 1812, the U.S. military commander of the Military District of Washington burned Stoddert's Bridge in an attempt to stop the British from invading the city of Washington.[11][12][13] On March 3, 1815, the United States Congress passed legislation reimbursing the Anacostia Bridge Co. for the destruction of its bridge.[14]

Ewell's Bridge
The Bridge across the Eastern Branch (Anacostia River) in April 1865

The bridge was rebuilt in 1815 by Dr. Thomas Ewell, who renamed it Ewell's Bridge (although it was also known as the "Anacostia Bridge").[15] In 1825, Ewell sold the bridge to Benning, who renamed it Benning's Bridge.[15]

Benning's Bridge

Benning built a new bridge at the site in the 1830s (although not all sources agree on the exact date).[16]

After a major flood in 1840, the bridge was repaired.[13] It was purchased in August 1848 by the federal government and the toll removed.[17] In disrepair due to the large amount of traffic over the span, it was almost completely rebuilt in 1868.[18]

1892 Bridge

Ewell's Bridge was replaced with a steel bridge in 1892.[19][20]

Benning Road Bridge
Photo of the Benning Road Bridge constructed in 1934

Work on a replacement to that bridge began in January 1933 and cost $450,000 at the time. The 8-span bridge made of steel beams encased in concrete on simple spans opened on December 18, 1934. It was 586 feet long, 106 feet wide with 8' sidewalks on each side.[13][21] In 1975, the west bound deck was replaced.[22]

Ethel Kennedy Bridge
The Metro and road bridges side-by-side

In the late 1990s an analysis of the existing bridge showed that the bridge was unsuitable for rehabilitation and that it needed to be replaced. The replacement was broken into two bridges, with one over Kingman Lake and the other over the Anacostia. The bridge over Kingman Lake was built in 2000.

In 2002-2003, the Benning Road Reconstruction Project replaced the 586-foot bridge built in 1934 with a 548-foot, 8-lane, 5-span, continuous, multi-girder bridge with steel elements masked by concrete panels to closely resemble the 1934 span.[23][1][24][25] The new bridge, like the one it replaced, carries water, gas, electricity and phone lines. It also included wide sidewalks, a new pedestrian gateway to Kingman Island and connections to the RiverParks on both sides of the river.[26][27]

In 2008, the District Council voted to rename the Benning Road Bridge after Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late Robert F. Kennedy, for whom a nearby stadium was named. In a May 20, 2014, ceremony, the bridge was officially renamed the Ethel Kennedy Bridge to honor her for her devotion to many social and environmental causes during her later years, especially in the neighborhoods along and near the Anacostia River.[28]

The Bridge was inspected by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) in 2014, and found to be structurally sound.[29]

References
  1. "Benning Road Bridge Replacement over the Anacostia River". volkertengineering.com. Volkert Engineering, P.C. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  2. "2009 Data. National Bridge Inventory". Federal Highway Administration. United States Department of Transportation. 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  3. "Benning Road Bridges" (PDF). DDOT. September 2019.
  4. Bryan, Wilhelmus Bogart (1914). A History of the National Capital From Its Foundation Through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. Vol. 1. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 492 – via Internet Archive.
  5. Croggon, James (August 17, 1906). "When City Was Young". The Washington Evening Star – via Bytes of History.
  6. Deanwood History Committee (2008). Washington, D.C.'s Deanwood. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 9780738553504.
  7. Lapp, Joe (February 2006). "Kenilworth: A D.C. Neighborhood by the Anacostia River" (PDF). Humanities Council of Washington D.C. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 27, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  8. Lapp, Joe (November 2005). "Kenilworth: A Northeast Neighborhood by the Anacostia River" (PDF). East of the River. Capital Community News, Inc. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  9. Upper Marlboro-East Washington, DC Quadrangle, Northwest Quadrant, USGS (1886)("Benning's Road" appears on 1886 USGS Map) Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Lord, Walter (1994). The Dawn's Early Light. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 93. ISBN 9781421405476.
  11. Lord, The Dawn's Early Light, 1994, p. 96
  12. Muller, Charles Geoffrey. The Darkest Day—1814: The Washington-Baltimore Campaign. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003, p. 111.
  13. Wheeler, Linda (October 25, 1997). "Benning Heights' Twists and Turns". The Washington Post.
  14. Maggie Houston. Report No. 587. Committee on War Claims. U.S. House of Representatives. 52d Cong., 2d Sess. March 14, 1894, p. 6.
  15. Bryan, Wilhelmus Bogart. A History of the National Capital From Its Foundation Through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. Vol. 2. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916, p. 98-99.
  16. "Local roads scholars give streets'history". The Washington Times. June 25, 1992. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  17. Turnpike Roads in District of Columbia. Minority Report. Committee on the District of Columbia. U.S. House of Representatives. Report No. 410. 35th Cong., 1st Sess. May 24, 1858, p. 2.
  18. Letter of the Secretary of War, March 22, 1869. Exec. Doc. No. 100. United States Senate. 41st Cong., 1st Sess. June 20, 1870, p. 2.
  19. Wasserman, Paul & Hausrath, Don. Washington, D.C. From A to Z, p.33 (2003) (ISBN 978-1931868075)
  20. Scott, Pamela. Capital Engineers: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Development of Washington, D.C., 1790–2004. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2007, p. 124.
  21. "New Benning Bridge Complete". The Evening Star. December 18, 1934.
  22. Feaver, Douglas B. (September 15, 1975). "Four Bridges to Be Restored: Resurfacing Set For Four Bridges". The Washington Post.
  23. Ramstack, Tom (May 8, 2002). "Bridge work - D.C. spans ranked most deficient". The Washington Times.
  24. "Benning Road Bridge Replacement | Volkert". volkert.com. Volkert, Inc. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  25. District of Columbia Appropriations for 2005: Justifications. U.S. Government Printing Office. 2004. p. 1579.
  26. District of Columbia Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2003. U.S. Government Printing Office. 2003. p. 278. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  27. The Anacostia Waterfront Framework Plan. District of Columbia, Office of Planning. 2003. p. 55. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  28. DeBonis, Mike (May 21, 2014). "Ethel Kennedy Bridge is dedicated, at long last". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  29. Dildine, Dave (June 25, 2015). "DDOT details area's structurally deficient bridges". WTOP. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
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