New aerial rendering of the Environmental Education Center, the Bridge Park trail entrance, and the hub is located right on the Anacostia River, where you can see solar panels covering a triangle-shaped roof.
Source: Credit to the OMA+OLIN
| Project Name | The Bridge Park, The 11th Street Bridge Park, District of Columbia |
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| Location | On the piers of the old 11th Street Bridge, DC |
| Project Sponsor / Borrower | The 11th Street Bridge Park & the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) |
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| Value Capture Techniques | Asset Recycling, Joint Development (Private Sector & Communities), Private Contributions |
| Mode | Bridge Park over the Anacostia River |
| Description | The 11th Street Bridge Park will be Washington, D.C.’s first elevated public park and a new venue for healthy recreation, environmental education, and the arts. The park is located on the piers of the old 11th Street Bridge spanning the Anacostia River with overarching goals for the park being:
The 11th Street Bridge Park will span the capital’s cityscape and include community generated programming including outdoor performance spaces, playgrounds, urban agriculture, an Environmental Education Center with classrooms to teach students about river systems, public art that tells the rich history of the region, and kayak and canoe launches. Bound by the Washington Navy Yard on one side and the National Park Service’s Anacostia Park on the other, the Bridge Park will be a destination for some, a pedestrian or bicycle route for others, and an iconic architectural symbol across the Anacostia River for the city. Background: The 11th street bridge built in the 1960s reached the end of its lifespan a decade ago. Then Mayor Vince Gray and others saw an opportunity to “save part of the bridge, its precious pilings,” to create a new bridge park that would bring both sides of Washington, D.C. together. The idea behind the 11th Street Bridge Park was to utilize abandoned infrastructure—a set of piers from a now-defunct vehicular bridge—to create a pedestrian link between east and west. As its name implies, the park would be at once a thoroughfare across the river and a gathering place over it. The 11th Street Bridge Park would connect the majority-Black and historically disenfranchised neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River to the rest of the district, potentially drawing as many as 1.2 million visitors a year. The park will be owned by the D.C. city government and managed by Building Bridges Across the River. The Environmental Education Center and kayak / canoe launches will be run by the nonprofit organization Anacostia Watershed Society. After two years of extensive community outreach (over 200 meetings) and a seven-month design competition, the winning team of OMA+OLIN was selected to design the 11th Street Bridge Park in October 2014. |
| Cost | $139 million secured $123.6 million towards this goal |
| Funding Sources | half expenses from the District government and half covered by Building Bridges from: corporations / foundations / individuals; federal grants and New Market Tax Credits.
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| Project Delivery / Contract Method | Design-Bid-Build
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| Private Partner | The park is a collaboration between the D.C. government and the Ward 8 nonprofit Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR) Corporate sponsors including JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, and Exelon. |
| Project Advisors / Consultants | N/A |
| Lenders | N/A |
| Duration / Status | Breaking ground early 2023 and anticipate 24 months of construction, opening the park in early 2025. |
| Financial Status/Financial Performance | The city has committed $38.25 million, and the rest of the money is coming through fundraising. |
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| Contacts | Anna-Jane Tabler, Grant & Project Manager Vaughn Perry, director of equity for Building Bridges Across the River, Scott Kratz, Senior Vice President of Building Bridges Across the River |
Washington, D.C.’s 11th Street Bridge Park over the Anacostia River. The hub is located right on the Anacostia River, where you can see solar panels covering a triangle-shaped roof.
Source: Credit to OMA & OLIN Design Team
Walking into the Amphitheater on the east side of 11th Street Bridge Park
Source: Credit to OMA & OLIN Design Team
View from the lookout facing west at 11th Street Bridge Park. Either ends of the upper levels of the X-shaped park will offer lookouts to both Capitol Hill and Anacostia communities. In between the great lawns on these upper levels is a central plaza where the upper levels join the lower levels.
Source: Credit to the OMA+OLIN Design Team
A rendering of “Anacostia’s Sunrise/Sunset Portals” by DC-based artists Martha Jackson Jarvis and Njena Surae Jarvis of Jackson Jarvis Studio. Series of 11 multi-colored arches to welcome visitors into the park
Source: Credit to Jackson Jarvis Studio/OLIN + OMA Design Team
East bank of the Anacostia River. The 11th Street Bridge Park will be built on the original pillars of the old road bridge crossing the Anacostia River between wards 6 and 8.
