Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) D.C. officials are warning commuters to expect more crowded surface streets in Northwest as a major north-south artery, Beach Drive, gets shut down for major rehabilitation starting Thursday.
The work on the pothole-ridden road will include a complete rebuilding of the road bed and surface, rehabbing multiple bridges on the route, and re-paving the pedestrian path alongside the road.
National Parks Service officials said major road work was last done in 1991, and the patchwork repairs of potholes is no longer cost-effective.
“Construction is broken down into four segments, each projected to last six to eight months,” Rock Creek Park Deputy Superintendent Frank Young told reporters Monday. “Each segment of Beach Drive will be closed to all use 24-7 during all work.”
Young said they studied closing just one lane during work, allowing one direction of traffic to move through, but said the road wasn’t wide enough to safely accommodate construction equipment.
Officials expect major impacts to surrounding arteries like Connecticut Avenue NW, Massachusetts Avenue NW, 16 and 14th Streets NW during rush hours.
However, they’re advising drivers to avoid cutting through residential side streets.
“For people who are caught off guard by a change to their commute pattern, they will frequently get lost in neighborhood streets,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “And when they get lost, they try to make up time by speeding through neighborhood streets. We want to call their attention to it early so they’re not cutting though and speeding through neighborhood streets, because there can be consequences to that.”
Work is scheduled to move from south to north.
The first segment to be closed on Thursday starts at the southern end of Beach Drive at Rock Creek Parkway’s Connecticut Avenue exit, and extends north to Tilden Street NW.
Work will continue in three other segments to the Maryland line through 2019.
“If you normally use Beach Drive for your commute, you should think of alternate ways,” Bowser said. “Obviously, if everybody tries to come here and detour, we’re going to have a big problem.”
(photo: Wikimedia)
