WASHINGTON — D.C.’s mayor renewed her calls for the federal government to get serious about fixing its roads and bridges during her State of the District address Thursday.
“We call on the president and Congress to fix their bridge across the Potomac River,” Mayor Muriel Bowser stated during her address at the University of the District of Columbia.
“The Memorial Bridge without immediate help could literally fall into the Potomac.”
The city has been trying for years to get the federal government to make the big investment needed to fix the span that connects the Arlington National Cemetery with D.C. and the Lincoln Memorial.
The mayor even used this past inauguration to draw attention to the issues that plague the aging bridge.
“It is in (real) disrepair,” City Administrator Rashad Young told WTOP.
“If you go to the bridge today, there’s a sign that says ‘Please don’t salt the bridge.'”
He called the bridge a major regional connection that is not only used by thousands of commuters every day, but tourists who come to the city to look at all of the monuments and memorials.
“There’s infrastructure projects like this across the country, but certainly we are focused on this one in D.C. because we’ve got to move people,” Young said.
The mayor and Young say they are hopeful the new administration will keep its word that infrastructure is a top priority and believe the Arlington Memorial Bridge is a prime example of an improvement the federal government itself can make.
Watch Bowser’s full State of the District address:
