DC DOT announces $15 million federal grant to improve Benning Road

© Shutterstock

The District of Columbia’s District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced Saturday that it had received $15 million in federal grants for infrastructure improvements to Benning Road.

The funds would help improve pedestrian and cycling connections, and to accommodate future expansion of the DC Streetcar. The improvements would address safety and operational issues along the two-mile stretch of road.

“The intersection of Benning Road and Minnesota Avenue NE has one of the District’s highest crash rates and frequency,” Acting DDOT Director Everett Lott said. “With so much pedestrian and vehicular activity in this corridor, we are elated to have this additional funding that will add to Mayor Bowser’s FY21 and FY22 budget commitment to help make the area safer for all our roadway users.”

The grant is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, which supports road, rail, transit and port projects.

Stretching from Oklahoma Avenue NE to East Capitol Street, the Benning Road Bridges and Transportation Improvements Project will include replacing the structurally-deficient bridge over DC-295, the Anacostia Freeway, and CSX’s freight rail tracks; improving safety and access at the DC-295/Benning Road interchange; and enhancing pedestrian and bicycle routes over the Ethel Kennedy Memorial Bridge and the Benning Road Bridge over Kingman Lake.

The project will also prepare the road for future extensions of the existing DC Streetcar line from its current terminus at Oklahoma Avenue NE to the Benning Road Metrorail station.