Charles Co. Cardin Urges Governor to Fulfill Commitment to Include Bike and Pedestrian Lanes on Nice Replacement Bridge In Chas. Co.

[officeguy]

Is the Navy Yard anything more than a crappy office space for NAVSEA and the Naval District - home to another Admiral and his staff.

Yup. And that is why the new South Capitol Street Bridge wont have a draw-span and looking back they could have built the Wilson Bridge without one. There is simply no more military or commercial traffic going up the Potomac (and Anacostia) that requires the 135ft clearance the Nice Bridge accomodates. Abandoning the requirement to build the bridge for 'big ship' traffic (reducing the freespan to 250ft, clearance to 105ft, shifting the navigation channel) will save about 100mil (in 2018 money).

 

[nutz]

I think you missed the point, Cardin wants a bike / pedestrian lane(s) added back to the bridge design.
I think most people see that as wasteful spending, catering to a very small minority that would want to ride or walk across the bridge.

I’m not missing any points here. All government projects turn into wasteful spending items based on the buddy system.

 

[TPD]

My only comment is am I the only one disgusted with all of these taxpayer-funded structures being named after politicians? Thomas “Mac” Middleton isn't even dead. If he was a humble man, he would say, oh hell no, you aren't naming anything after me.

No you are not - I agree with you on this. What a waste of money naming a road or bridge after a politician, who we owe nothing too because they usually get rich on our taxpayer money.

 

[1stGenSMIB]

A bike path on the Nice bridge makes no sense...
If they drop the Johnson bridge to something more reasonable like 75 feet and added a bike path, I WOULD ride my bicycle across that. But you still would not catch me on Rt 235 during rush hour on a bicycle.

 

[RPMDAD]

The new bridge is supposed to be steeper. How many people can physically peddle/walk across it. If the intention is to add it for federal funding, then when it is not used make it a lane or something great...just infer it a little better. Acting like no bike lane will hurt the local community is immediatly ignorant to anyone who has been to that area and knows it is not reasonably bikeable or walkable. And the new bridge isn't gonna magically spur development that one that has been there for 70 years has not.

Why is it suppose to be steeper?

 

[ltown81]

It says at the end of the article here that it will be steeper-

Nice Bridge widening wins key approval; could lose pedestrian path - WTOP News

The widening of the Nice Bridge in southern Maryland will move forward after getting a key approval, but may no longer include a path residents wanted.

wtop.com

The Maryland Department of Transportation and Maryland Transportation Authority promised to continue to look at the possibility of adding the bike path back into the plan, but would not promise anything.

The state will report back by the end of the year.

The project is scheduled to widen the bridge from one highway lane each way today to two lanes each way on a new bridge that will be steeper than the current one.

Construction could start next year and be completed by the mid-2020s.

Why is it suppose to be steeper?

 

[officeguy]

It says at the end of the article here that it will be steeper-

Nice Bridge widening wins key approval; could lose pedestrian path - WTOP News

The widening of the Nice Bridge in southern Maryland will move forward after getting a key approval, but may no longer include a path residents wanted.

wtop.com

The article is wrong.

The new bridge is 30ft lower than the old one and the ramps start climbing on the Virginia and MD shore rather than the steep 'hump' for the shipping span on the current bridge. Making for a shallower climb for the trucks is one of the main objectives for the new bridge.

 

[stgislander]

This notice is published in the weekly Local Notice to Mariners.

Potomac River – Governor Harry Nice Memorial Bridge – Fixed replacement bridge Preliminary Navigation Clearance Determination (PNCD) issued on March 2, 2018; vertical clearance of 135 feet above mean high water and a horizontal clearance of 250 feet. The center of the main navigation span of the bridge may be shifted up to 585 feet to the west of the current navigation span. (KB)