State Bridge Profile District of Columbia 2014

1. © 2015 The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of
ARTBA.
Highlights from FHWA’s 2014 National Bridge Inventory Data:
 Of the 253 bridges in the District, 14 bridges, or 6% are classified as structurally deficient. This
means one or more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure or
substructure, is considered to be in “poor” or worse condition.1
 There are 164 bridges, or 65% of all District bridges, classified as functionally obsolete. This
means the bridge does not meet design standards that are in line with current practice.
 Contract awards for bridge construction totaled $31.81 million over the past five years, 23
percent of highway and bridge contract awards, compared to a national average of 29 percent.
 Since 2004, 20 new bridges have been constructed in the District and 27 bridges have
undergone major reconstruction.
 The District estimates that it would cost approximately $315.2 million to fix a total of 127
bridges in the District.2
Bridge Inventory:
All Bridges Structurally deficient Bridges
Type of Bridge
Total
Number
Area (sq.
meters)
Daily
Crossings
Total
Number
Area (sq.
meters)
Daily
Crossings
Rural Bridges
Interstate 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other principal arterial 0 0 0 0 0 0
Minor arterial 1 768 12,500 0 0 0
Major collector 0 0 0 0 0 0
Minor collector 1 270 2,000 0 0 0
Local 0 0 0 0 0 0
Urban Bridges
Interstate 68 194,645 3,846,600 1 1,809 7,000
Other freeway 26 71,505 987,250 3 11,725 114,050
Principal arterial 53 147,980 2,060,500 2 843 35,100
Minor arterial 42 69,867 705,300 1 192 2,900
Collector 16 24,495 159,700 1 200 8,600
Rural 46 49,115 488,141 6 24,880 80,883
Total 253 558,645 8,261,991 14 39,649 248,533
1
According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a bridge is classified as structurally deficient if the condition rating for the deck,
superstructure, substructure or culvert and retaining walls is rated 4 or below or if the bridge receives an appraisal rating of 2 or less for
structural condition or waterway adequacy. During inspections, the condition of a variety of bridge elements are rated on a scale of 0 (failed
condition) to 9 (excellent condition). A rating of 4 is considered “poor” condition and the individual element displays signs of advanced section
loss, deterioration, spalling or scour.
2
This data is provided by bridge owners as part of the FHWA data and is required for any bridge eligible for the Highway Bridge Replacement
and Rehabilitation Program. However, for some states this amount is very low and likely not an accurate reflection of current costs.
State Bridge Profile
District of Columbia

2. © 2015 The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of
ARTBA.
Proposed bridge work:
Type of Work Number Cost (millions) Daily Crossings Area (sq. meters)
Bridge replacement 1 $20.3 14,300 16,525
Widening & rehabilitation 0 $0.0 0 0
Rehabilitation 15 $33.8 690,600 46,005
Deck rehabilitation/replacement 11 $29.9 374,600 10,849
Other work 100 $231.3 3,081,086 146,090
Top 10 Most Traveled Structurally Deficient Bridges in the District:
County
Year
Built
Daily
Crossings
Type of Bridge Location
District of
Columbia
1932 60,300 Urban local road
Memorial Avenue over The George Washington Memorial
Parkway WB and the Potomac River (Arlington Memorial
Bridge)
District of
Columbia
1963 58,000
Urban
freeway/expressway
Anacostia Freeway over Park Road Connection
District of
Columbia
1950 53,800
Urban
freeway/expressway
South Capitol Street over the Anacostia River (Frederick
Douglass Memorial Bridge)
District of
Columbia
1958 30,100
Urban other
principal arterial
16th Street, NW over Military Road
District of
Columbia
1934 13,383 Urban local road Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway over NPS Storage Area
District of
Columbia
1956 8,600 Urban collector 44th Street, NE over the Watts Branch
District of
Columbia
1964 7,000 Urban Interstate
Ramp 1 of the Whitehurst Freeway over I-66 to the
Whitehurst Freeway
District of
Columbia
1955 5,000
Urban other
principal arterial
Ramp from Benning Road over Kenilworth Avenue SB
District of
Columbia
1951 2,900 Urban minor arterial Division Avenue over the Watts Branch
District of
Columbia
1963 2,250
Urban
freeway/expressway
Ramp 6 over the Park Road Connection
Sources: All data is from the 2014 National Bridge Inventory, released by the Federal Highway Administration in January 2015.
Note that specific conditions on bridge may have changed as a result of recent work. Cost estimates of bridge work provided as
part of the data and have been adjusted to 2014$ for inflation and estimated project costs. Contract awards data is for state
and local government awards and comes from McGraw Hill. Note that additional bridge investment may be a part of other
contract awards if a smaller bridge project is included with a highway project, and that would not be accounted for in the total
in this profile.