Crews began reconstruction plans around Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Northwest D.C. on Monday morning.
The changes come after legislation introduced by Republicans in Congress last week demanded the District remove the 35-foot-tall phrase that stretches for two blocks north of the White House or risk losing federal funding.
Afterward, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the phrase would be removed, but said plans were already underway to do just that. She said those street blocks on 16th street will be used by students and artists to “create new murals across all eight wards” celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.
The project to change the plaza is expected to cost $610,000, according to the District Department of Transportation.
District Department of Transportation workers started the process of removing the bollards on 16th Street at around 9 a.m. and closed one lane of traffic. Those bollards will not be brought back to the street.
A DDOT spokesperson told WTOP the reconstruction, which will take place on weekdays and weekends, is expected to happen “in phases” and last between six to eight weeks, weather permitting.
“DDOT will closely coordinate with local stakeholders to ensure a smooth process, and we appreciate the public’s patience as we work to enhance this important corridor,” the spokesperson said.
Next week, DDOT will work to remove cobblestones. That process should take about six weeks.
The middle lane will be resurfaced with asphalt and the outer travels lanes will be replaced with bonded stamped concrete.
Bowser dedicated the plaza to the memory of George Floyd in June 2020, after he was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis months earlier, launching nationwide racial justice protests.
But the pushback against the mural from Republicans comes at a time when Bowser has said she has other priorities top of mind: D.C.’s residents and the economy.
“We have bigger fish to fry than fights over what has been very important to us and to their history,” Bowser said last Wednesday while at a news conference on the myriad of federal workforce firings.
As construction equipment began tearing up the pavement some gathered to witness the moment Monday, The Associated Press reported.
“I needed to be here today. I can’t just let this go away,” said Starlette Thomas, a 45-year old Bowie, Maryland, resident who attended the 2020 Floyd protests. At the plaza, Thomas discretely secured a chunk of pavement and said holding it made her both happy and sad.
“For me to walk away with a piece of that means that it’s not gone,” she said. “It’s more than brick and mortar.”
About 40 members of the Eastern Province Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity gathered at Black Lives Matter Plaza Sunday to pray, sing and honor the significance of the mural.
“We stand here in solidarity because that’s what that mural means,” said fraternity president Richard Mattox, adding that “Black Lives Matter” is more than letters on the road, it’s a movement.
D.C. resident Keyonna Jones, one of the artists involved with painting the original mural, told WTOP: “It was a moment in time that can’t be taken away.”
Jones said she’s more than willing to help paint whatever comes next, too.
“When the paint is ready, call me,” Jones said. “This is my home. I’m born and raised in D.C. I’m an artist. This is my life. So anytime there’s paint and a brush that goes to the city. I am ready.”
The Associated Press as well as WTOP’s Luke Lukert, John Domen and Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
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