William Howard Taft Memorial Bridge Pedestrian Railing Improvement Project Public Meeting

February 10 @ 11:00am – 1:00pm

Oyster-Adams Bilingual School – 2801 Calvert Street NW

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT), with active support from the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) and the Executive Office of the Mayor (EOM), is proposing the Connecticut Avenue NW/ William Howard Taft Memorial Bridge (Taft Bridge) Pedestrian Railing Improvement Project. Data from the District of Columbia’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office indicates that 13 (50%) of the 26 bridge-related fatalities recorded in the District of Columbia between January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2022, occurred from the Taft Bridge. The presence of an effective barrier system will reduce the potential for such incidents. The project proposes a new pedestrian railing design that incorporates the existing features of the Taft Bridge to minimize impact on the historic fabric of the bridge and is compatible with the aesthetics of the bridge and its setting.

The project team is engaged in ongoing consultation with the District of Columbia State Historic Preservation Office (DCSHPO), the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), National Park Service (NPS), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and other stakeholders.

The objective of this meeting is to gather valuable input from the community on the concept design of the William Howard Taft Memorial Bridge Pedestrian railing improvement project.