Jackson Street Pedestrian Bridge to close for upgrade

The bike/pedestrian bridge over Arlington Boulevard just east of Glebe (here) will close for about four months starting around Memorial Day for upgrades. It's being shut down in the summer because it's used by school children and they want to minimize their disruption.

Board members approved a contract of just over $514,000 to renovate the overhead bridge, which connects North Arlington and South Arlington at Jackson Street.

The bridge is considered “structurally safe,” Department of Environmental Services officials said in a memo to County Board members, but the repairs are necessary to maintain its structural integrity.

During the construction, those who use the bridge will have a number of alternatives: crossing Arlington Boulevard at Glebe Road to the west, or Irving Street to the east, of the existing bridge, or using the underground tunnel to the west, near the Arlington Red Cross building.

The Jackson Street pedestrian bridge, in fact, was built after a girl was killed while trying to cross Arlington Boulevard at Irving Street in the 1970s.

The project will include new lighting, a new fence, new roofing, new handrails and painting. The project will be overseen by the county government, but will require assistance of the Virginia Department of Transportation, which controls Arlington Boulevard.

Geez, for half a mil I'd think you could get a whole new bridge.  I've ridden across this one and I don't care for it. Sharp turns, narrow, metal surface, steep inclines. It definitely needs an upgrade. I wonder how much the Award Winning Freedie Mac Pedestrian Bridge (pictured) cost?

Here's more:

Renovation Will Close Jackson Street Bridge Over Arlington Boulevard for Summer 2008

Sidewalk Improvements to Follow

By Nancy Van Doren

The County Board committed to make the alternate crossing at Irving St. as safe as possible during this time.  County Board members also urged staff to coordinate the bridge renovation project with a Walk Arlington initiative to build a sidewalk from the bridge landing to 1st Place North.

According to the staff proposal, the three goals of the renovation are: 

    1) to comply with Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations,

    2) to provide features for improved safety and usefulness for pedestrians and cyclists, and     3) to reduce the effects of weather on the durability of the bridge. 

The need for the work was found as a result of a biennial bridge inspection recently completed.  Major work items will include repairs and installation of new sections of the existing structural steel handrail, replacement of non-slip galvanized metal decking, painting of the entire existing structure, replacement of the security fence on the sides of the bridge,
concrete repairs, installation of a new bridge roof dome, and other miscellaneous repairs.

The County description of the project can be found at
http://arlington.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=104&meta_id=41165.

Up next, hopefully within the next year, will be a much-awaited (originally planned in 1954)
sidewalk running along the East side of North Jackson Street from 1st Place North to the bridge steps just feet from Arlington Boulevard.  This has been a dangerous intersection for some time as often fast and inattentive drivers turn off Arlington Boulevard onto North Jackson.  Pedestrians step directly into Jackson Street with no sidewalk upon exiting the bridge stairs.

Comments

[Ren]

Yeah, that bridge is unpleasant. Wonder what improvements they will make for 500K...

Another cool thing about the FRE bridge is that they have giant loaner umbrellas on either side.