Whitehurst Freeway

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The Whitehurst Freeway as seen from the Key Bridge.
The Whitehurst Freeway as seen from the Key Bridge.

The Whitehurst Freeway is an elevated highway over K Street and Water Street in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was built in 1949 to allow traffic on U.S. Route 29 and Canal Road to bypass heavily congested Georgetown between the Key Bridge and K Street downtown. Prior to construction of the freeway, the Georgetown waterfront experienced periods of prosperity and decline.[1] The structure was built by African American engineer Archibald Alexander.[2] It was named after Herbert C. Whitehurst, an early director of the D.C. highway department.[3]

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[edit] Proposed demolition

As of 2008, the Georgetown waterfront is in the process of redevelopment. Though the freeway was last rebuilt in a project ending in 1998, the Government of the District of Columbia has proposed demolishing the Whitehurst Freeway and upgrading K Street to a 4- or 6-lane through street. One engineering difficulty in doing so is to connect K Street to Canal Road, which is about 60 feet above the waterfront. Another engineering difficulty is to connect K Street to the Key Bridge. To address the latter difficulty, architect Arthur Cotton Moore has proposed replacing the present ramp from the northbound Key Bridge to the eastbound Whitehurst Freeway with a spiral ramp that would loop under the Key Bridge before connecting to eastbound K Street.

[edit] Demolition study freeze

Mayor Adrian Fenty has halted plans for an environmental impact study for the proposed demolition, stating that his administration is "not going to be spending money on this particular issue. You do not have to worry."[4] The study would have cost nearly $1,000,000; the DC Department of Transportation spent more than $500,000 on a previous study that examined proposed alternatives to the highway.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Georgetown Historic District - National Register of Historic Places
  2. ^ Steve Anderson's DCroads.net: Whitehurst Freeway (US 29)
  3. ^ District Department of Transportation Historical Photo Archive
  4. ^ "Mayor Freezes Study on Whitehurst Future", The Northwest Current, 2007-07-04. 

[edit] External links

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