An accident between a BMW and a Mercedes currently has traffic at a near–standstill approaching the 14th Street Bridge on northbound I-395.
Emergency responders from Arlington and DC are on the scene. Only one lane is getting by.
There’s no word on injuries at this time.
Update at 6:25 p.m. — All lanes are now getting by.
Update at 11:20 a.m. — Per DC Fire & EMS: The injured worker has been extricated and is being taken via fire boat to a waiting ambulance at the Columbia Island Marina. Most of the emergency vehicles on the bridge have cleared out, although the lane restrictions have not been lifted yet.
Update at 11:45 a.m. — All lanes on the bridge have reopened.
Arlington Alert and DC Fire & EMS are reporting that a rescue operation is underway on the outbound (southbound) side of the 14th Street Bridge. An injured construction worker is being evaluated by medics and will be lowered via roping and hoist to a DC fire boat below.
Traffic is down to one lane on the southbound span. The Washington Post’s Dr. Gridlock is reporting heavy traffic on the DC side as a result.
An accident in the center of the northbound span of the 14th Street Bridge is causing big traffic tie-ups for motorists heading into the District.
Emergency vehicles blocked all but the right-most lane on the bridge for 45 minutes this afternoon. Traffic backed up on I-395 past the Pentagon. There were also backups on Route 1 and Route 110 leading up to the ramps to I-395.
At least one injury was reported as a result of the accident. An ambulance just left the scene.
Update at 3:15 p.m. — On our Facebook page, Robert Cannon responds with another possible move: “Richmond announces its planning to relocate Arlington to the Soviet Union..”
It’s looking like a bleak day for south Arlington. First, Greater Greater Washington revealed that the 14th Street Bridge may be closed on nights and weekends to help plug the District’s budget gap. Now, in a press release, the Army said it’s looking to relocate the Pentagon to northwest Kansas.
The move, which is tentatively being planned for this August, will be one of the greatest undertakings ever attempted, according to the Wilbur Q. Johnson, who is a long-time Pentagon employee and who will also oversee the move.
“The move will take place in three primary phases,” said Johnson. “Initially we will use a giant crane to lift the building onto a barge in the Potomac River. From there we will float the barge down the Atlantic Coast and into the Gulf of Mexico. Then, we will sail the Pentagon up the Mississippi River to just south of St. Louis. In the final stage, we will place the building on large flat-bed trucks and drive it the rest of the way.”
It’s a lighthearted joke, of course, but it can also be described as a bit of dark, self-deprecating humor, considering arduous BRAC transition process the military is currently going through.
The transition has major implications for Arlington, as we described last week.
Although the military says they’re on track to relocate BRAC-affected facilities by the September 2011 deadline, we’ve heard from county leaders that the military is having trouble convincing skilled workers to move from Arlington to the far-flung military bases where many agencies are being relocated. The end result may be a major military brain drain over the next few years, we’re told.
That’s not a very funny thought, but we give the Army credit for trying to find humor in it.
An 80-foot barge carrying equipment for the 14th Street Bridge construction project broke loose from its anchoring on the Potomac River and rammed one of the bridge’s columns Monday morning.
There’s no sign of significant damage to either the bridge or the barge, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. 14th Street Bridge traffic was not interrupted, and no injuries or fuel leaks were reported.
Boats from the Coast Guard and D.C. police and fire responded to the incident, which occurred just before 11:00 a.m. Flood waters from recent heavy rains and snow melt caused the barge to break loose, according to the Coast Guard.
Photos courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.
