page_title: 11th Street Bridges
section_title: The Inner Loop
hierarchical_section_title: 11th Street Bridges / Original bridges / The Inner Loop
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the southeast quadrant of Washington, D.C., looking northwest from above the Anacostia River. The 11th Street Bridges can be seen in the lower left corner of the image. Southeast Freeway runs diagonally through the center of the image. The two buildings of the Anacostia Community Boathouse can be seen between the two bridges. The vacant parcel of land to the right of the northbound (upstream) span is now occupied by the Maritime Plaza office buildings.
context_page_description: The 11th Street Bridges are a complex of three bridges across the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., United States. The bridges convey Interstate 695 across the Anacostia to its southern terminus at Interstate 295 and DC 295. The bridges also connect the neighborhood of Anacostia with the rest of the city of Washington.
  The first bridge at the site, constructed about 1800, played a role in the War of 1812. It burned in 1846, but was repaired. A second bridge was constructed in 1873, and replaced in 1907. A modern, four-lane bridge replaced the older bridge in 1965, and a second four-lane bridge added in 1969. In 2009, construction began on three spans to replace the 1965 and 1969 bridges. The northbound bridge opened to traffic in December 2011 while the southbound bridge open to traffic in January 2012. The new bridges include new ramps and new interchanges with I-295. The local bridge opened to traffic in May 2012. Portions of all three bridges and their approaches remain under construction as of April 2013. Phase 1 of the project was completed ahead of schedule and within budget in July 2013. The local bridge was fully complete by September 2013.
context_section_description: In 1956, federal and regional transportation planners proposed an Inner Loop Expressway, one of three circumferential beltways for the District of Columbia. The innermost beltway would have formed a flattened oval about a mile in radius centered on the White House. The middle beltway would have formed an arc along the northern portion of the city, running from the proposed Barney Circle Freeway terminus near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium to near 37th Street NW at the north end of Georgetown.
  Two decades of protest led to the cancellation of all but the I-395 and I-695 portions of the plan. The unbuilt portions of the project were finally cancelled in 1977. Several ramps allowing traffic on the 11th Street Bridges to access I-295/Anacostia Freeway and I-695 eastbound remained unbuilt because of these cancellations, creating severe traffic problems on both ends of the bridges.
caption: The north end of the original 11th Street Bridges in 1992.
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