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The pedestrian bridge over D.C. 295 was declared safe after it was struck by the load of a truck, littering steel debris and closing the roadway for several hours.
The District Department of Transportation’s chief engineer led the inspection and declared the bridge near Douglas Street Northeast not seriously damaged.
It was around 11 a.m. Wednesday that the top of a truck scraped the bridge and then continued driving, D.C. Fire and EMS said. No appeared hurt, they said.
A portion of both the northbound and southbound lanes shut down, with traffic diverted to nearby roadways while engineers checked out the damage.
All lanes reopened by 2:45 p.m. just as the afternoon commute got started.
Traffic is moving again on DC 295 sb and nb. The truck that struck and damaged the pedestrian bridge at Douglas St NE in sub lanes left the scene of the late morning crash but left behind a twisted mass of steel debris from the truck’s topside @WTOP @WTOPtraffic pic.twitter.com/3601D6x4Cx
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) October 18, 2023
The bridge that was hit Wednesday is about a mile north of the pedestrian bridge at Lane Place over D.C. 295 that was struck in a similar way more than two years ago.
The Lane Plane Pedestrian Bridge was demolished after it was struck by a truck in June 2021 and construction was set to begin earlier this year.
Below is the area where Wednesday’s crash happened.
WTOP’s Dick Uliano, who reported from Northeast D.C., contributed to this report.
