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14th Street Bridge (Washington, D.C.)
Encyclopedia
The 14th Street Bridge is a complex of five bridge
s across the Potomac River
, connecting Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Three of the spans are each four-lane automobile bridges—one northbound, one southbound, and one with two general purpose lanes in each direction—that carry Interstate 395 and U.S. Route 1
traffic. Adjacent to the automobile bridges are two bridges for rail traffic, one for the Yellow Line
of the Washington Metro
and the other for a CSX Transportation
rail line, the only mainline rail crossing of the Potomac River in Virginia. The bridge was the location of the Air Florida Flight 90
airplane crash on January 13, 1982.
At the north end of the bridge, in East Potomac Park
, the three roadways merge and split into two two-way bridges over the Washington Channel
into downtown Washington, one carrying traffic (including northbound US 1) north onto 14th Street, and the other carrying I-395 (and southbound US 1) traffic onto the Southwest Freeway. The Metro line enters a tunnel in the East Potomac Park, and the main line railroad from the Long Bridge passes over I-395 and runs over the Washington Channel just downstream of the 14th Street approach before turning northeast along the line of Maryland Avenue. The original bridge ran to the junction of 14th Street and Maryland Avenue, with access to either for cars.
opened on May 20, 1809, by the Washington Bridge Company. It was the second bridge to cross the Potomac in the District of Columbia, following a 1797 span at a narrower crossing near Little Falls, upstream of Georgetown, at the site of the present Chain Bridge.
British forces leaving the Battle of Bladensburg
during the War of 1812
set fire to the north end of the Long Bridge on August 25, 1814, and American troops burned the south end. The bridge was rebuilt by 1816.
The western portion was carried away by an ice freshet on February 23, 1831, and Congress decided to purchase the franchise of the Washington Bridge Company on July 14, 1832. A ferry
carried traffic across the river until the bridge was reopened by President Andrew Jackson
on October 30, 1835. Another freshet closed the bridge from February 10, 1840 to 1843.
The Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road
had served Washington from the north since 1835. The Alexandria and Washington Railway, allied with the B&O, was chartered in 1855 to connect the B&O in Washington to other railroads in Alexandria, by then part of Virginia. A Washington ordinance passed July 27, 1855, authorized the A&W to build tracks from the Long Bridge along Maryland Avenue towards the United States Capitol
and up First Street to connect with the B&O. The line in Washington was completed to the north end of the Long Bridge in December, but never opened due to local opposition and the inability to get tracks on the bridge. On November 25, 1856, the rest of the A&W was completed, from the south end of the bridge to downtown Alexandria. To reach Washington and the B&O, freight and passengers had to use an omnibus
connection over the bridge. The bridge was again washed out by a flood in February 1857, but was reopened by the end of the year, as revenue service on the A&W with connecting service over the bridge began December 21, 1857.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War
in 1861, the bridge became militarily important. Union troops occupied the bridge May 24, and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad
soon became a major center for the United States Military Railroad Construction Corps. Rails were placed on the bridge, and the new connection opened February 9, 1862. Due to weight restrictions, horse power had to be used over the bridge. A new stronger bridge was completed about 100 feet (30 m) downriver July 23, 1864 and opened February 21, 1865. The new bridge carried only railroad traffic, and the old one was kept for other traffic. On November 15, 1865, with the end of the war, the U.S. Military Railroad gave the old bridge to the U.S. Department of the Interior; the new bridge became part of the Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown Railroad, leased by the B&O.
In 1872 the Pennsylvania Railroad
obtained control of the bridge and railroad through its Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. On July 2, the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway opened, providing the first direct all-rail connection between the north and Richmond, Virginia
. The B&O regained its link to the south on March 10, 1874 with a car float
between Shepherds Point in Washington and the Washington City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern Railway in Alexandria. (The temporary Shepherd's Landing Bridge would be built there during World War II
.)
By June 6, 1896, an interurban streetcar line—the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington Railway—also crossed the bridge. A new railroad-only bridge opened August 25, 1904, about 150 feet (45 m) upriver from the old one, providing two tracks across the river. The railroad bridge contained girders recycled from the PRR's Lower Trenton Bridge
across the Delaware River.
In 1901, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
, a bridge line
owned equally by six companies including the Pennsylvania Railroad and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (which obtained trackage rights
over the PRR to reach the bridge July 1, 1904), obtained trackage rights
over the bridge. The RF&P was merged into CSX Transportation
in 1991, and in 1998, with the Conrail breakup, CSX acquired the bridge.
A new swing-span through-truss bridge called the Highway Bridge, 500 feet (150 m) upriver from that bridge, opened February 12, 1906 to serve non-railroad traffic including streetcars.
On November 9, 1943, a replacement to the railroad bridge (keeping the old 1903 draw span) was opened.
A new northbound highway bridge opened May 9, 1950, halfway between the other two bridges, named the Rochambeau Bridge. The new George Mason Memorial Bridge opened in 1962, replacing the old Highway Bridge (then southbound only). The Highway Bridge was finally removed from the site in 1967, and was moved to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division for bombing practice. In 1972, a third bridge opened, just downriver from the southbound (Mason) bridge, carrying two express lanes in each direction. Over time, the lanes were reserved as high-occupancy vehicle lanes. The final bridge, the Charles R. Fenwick Bridge, carrying the Yellow Line
, opened April 30, 1983.
The 1950 and 1962 spans incorporated draw spans
whose control houses are still visible, complementing the railroad bridge swing bridge
downstream and the Arlington Memorial Bridge
upstream. Later bridges did not incorporate this feature and the draw mechanisms were abandoned.
The northbound I-395 span was damaged by the Air Florida Flight 90
disaster on January 13, 1982. The Boeing 737
-222 had become bogged down by ice during a delay, and was unable to ascend after takeoff, quickly stalling and falling on the bridge before tipping over and slamming into the iced-over Potomac River
, killing 73 passengers and crew instantly and four in cars on the bridge. The repaired span was rededicated the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge. It was named for one of the six survivors of the crash, who sacrificed his life by passing the lifeline on to the other five survivors before permitting himself to be rescued. He died when he succumbed to hypothermia
and drowned
while rescuers dealt with difficulties rescuing the last of the survivors he passed the line to. The name of Rochambeau Bridge was placed on the previously unnamed express-lane bridge at the same time.
On July 25, 1989, the 14th Street Bridge gained national notoriety when police officers, frustrated by inability to clean up the prostitution
problem in D.C.'s 14th Street red-light district
, ordered a group of scantily clad women to march from the Thomas Circle
area, down 14th Street to Virginia
. As the parade passed the Washington Monument about 1:30 in the morning, Washington Post reporter Bill Dedman
happened by in a taxi on his way home from the Post newsroom, and began interviewing police officers and the women. He then ran to the Agriculture Department building across the Mall to use a pay phone to ask the Post metro desk to send a photographer. Before a photographer could be sent, Post photographer Stephen Jaffe also happened by on his way home from another assignment. He began taking photos, causing the police officers to flee. The women never crossed the bridge, but because they were on the approach ramp it's clear that the police officers' intent was to make them march into Virginia. After the police left, the women were driven back to Thomas Circle by men in vans, which had been following the parade at a distance, and were back on street corners within half an hour. The next day, after politician
s from Virginia complained, others noted that Virginia police had sent homeless people
across bridges into D.C.
In addition to the Air Florida Flight 90 disaster, another incident occurred at the 14th Street Bridge in 1994. Abubakar Sadiq Ibrahim, an unemployed journalist, who said he wanted to see the daughter who lived with his estranged wife, crashed his Mercedes-Benz
into a retaining wall
on the span and threatened to explode a bomb
. A black canvas bag on his front seat turned out to contain books and clothes.
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s across the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, connecting Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Three of the spans are each four-lane automobile bridges—one northbound, one southbound, and one with two general purpose lanes in each direction—that carry Interstate 395 and U.S. Route 1
U.S. Route 1
U.S. Route 1 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,377 miles from Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border south to Key West, Florida. U.S. 1 generally parallels Interstate 95, though it is significantly farther west between...
traffic. Adjacent to the automobile bridges are two bridges for rail traffic, one for the Yellow Line
Yellow Line (Washington Metro)
The Yellow Line of the Washington Metro consists of 17 rapid transit stations from Huntington to Fort Totten. The line terminates at the Mount Vernon Square station during peak hours.Peak hours are 5 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Service is extended to the Green Line stations during...
of the Washington Metro
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
and the other for a CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
rail line, the only mainline rail crossing of the Potomac River in Virginia. The bridge was the location of the Air Florida Flight 90
Air Florida Flight 90
Air Florida Flight 90 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia, to Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a stopover at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida...
airplane crash on January 13, 1982.
At the north end of the bridge, in East Potomac Park
East Potomac Park
East Potomac Park is a section of Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., located south of the Jefferson Memorial and the 14th Street Bridge. Located between the Washington Channel and the Potomac River, the park is home to the East Potomac Park Golf Course, a miniature golf course, a public swimming...
, the three roadways merge and split into two two-way bridges over the Washington Channel
Washington Channel
The Washington Channel is a channel that parallels the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It is located between the Southwest Waterfront on the east side and East Potomac Park on the west side. The channel is two miles long, receives outflow from the Tidal Basin at its north end, and empties into...
into downtown Washington, one carrying traffic (including northbound US 1) north onto 14th Street, and the other carrying I-395 (and southbound US 1) traffic onto the Southwest Freeway. The Metro line enters a tunnel in the East Potomac Park, and the main line railroad from the Long Bridge passes over I-395 and runs over the Washington Channel just downstream of the 14th Street approach before turning northeast along the line of Maryland Avenue. The original bridge ran to the junction of 14th Street and Maryland Avenue, with access to either for cars.
Naming
The complex as a whole is named for the street that feeds into it on the D.C. end (carrying northbound US 1 off the bridge), 14th Street. Each of the five separate bridge spans also has its own name. From south to north, the bridges are named as follows:- The 1903 (rebuilt 1943) Long Bridge carries CSXCSX TransportationCSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
, AmtrakAmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
and Virginia Railway ExpressVirginia Railway ExpressThe Virginia Railway Express is a regional/ commuter rail service that connects the Northern Virginia suburbs to Union Station in Washington, D.C., via two lines: the Fredericksburg Line from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the Manassas Line from Broad Run/Airport station in Bristow,...
rail traffic over the river. - The 1983 Charles R. Fenwick Bridge—named for Virginia state senator, Charles R. FenwickCharles R. FenwickCharles Rogers Fenwick was a Virginia Democratic politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate representing Arlington County.-Early life and education:...
, who played a critical role in the creation of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit AuthorityWashington Metropolitan Area Transit AuthorityThe Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including the Metrorail, Metrobus and MetroAccess...
—carries the Yellow LineYellow Line (Washington Metro)The Yellow Line of the Washington Metro consists of 17 rapid transit stations from Huntington to Fort Totten. The line terminates at the Mount Vernon Square station during peak hours.Peak hours are 5 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Service is extended to the Green Line stations during...
of the Washington MetroWashington MetroThe Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
across the river. - The northbound span, which opened in 1950, was originally named the Rochambeau Bridge, and was renamed the Arland D. Williams Jr.Arland D. Williams Jr.Arland Dean Williams Jr. was a passenger aboard Air Florida Flight 90, which crashed on take-off in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1982, killing 78 people. He was among the six people to initially survive the crash...
Memorial Bridge in 1983 for a passenger of Air Florida Flight 90Air Florida Flight 90Air Florida Flight 90 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia, to Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a stopover at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida...
who died while saving others from the freezing water the previous year. - At that time, the Rochambeau Bridge name was moved to the previously unnamed center bridge, which opened in 1972 and carries traffic in both directions.
- The southbound span, opened in 1962, is named the George MasonGeorge MasonGeorge Mason IV was an American Patriot, statesman and a delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention...
Memorial Bridge. A footpath is located on the upstream side of the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.
History
The first bridge at the site was the Long Bridge, a wooden toll bridgeToll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
opened on May 20, 1809, by the Washington Bridge Company. It was the second bridge to cross the Potomac in the District of Columbia, following a 1797 span at a narrower crossing near Little Falls, upstream of Georgetown, at the site of the present Chain Bridge.
British forces leaving the Battle of Bladensburg
Battle of Bladensburg
The Battle of Bladensburg took place during the War of 1812. The defeat of the American forces there allowed the British to capture and burn the public buildings of Washington, D.C...
during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
set fire to the north end of the Long Bridge on August 25, 1814, and American troops burned the south end. The bridge was rebuilt by 1816.
The western portion was carried away by an ice freshet on February 23, 1831, and Congress decided to purchase the franchise of the Washington Bridge Company on July 14, 1832. A ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
carried traffic across the river until the bridge was reopened by President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
on October 30, 1835. Another freshet closed the bridge from February 10, 1840 to 1843.
The Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road
Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road
The Capital Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The line runs from near Baltimore, Maryland southwest to Washington, D.C. along the former Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Washington Branch...
had served Washington from the north since 1835. The Alexandria and Washington Railway, allied with the B&O, was chartered in 1855 to connect the B&O in Washington to other railroads in Alexandria, by then part of Virginia. A Washington ordinance passed July 27, 1855, authorized the A&W to build tracks from the Long Bridge along Maryland Avenue towards the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and up First Street to connect with the B&O. The line in Washington was completed to the north end of the Long Bridge in December, but never opened due to local opposition and the inability to get tracks on the bridge. On November 25, 1856, the rest of the A&W was completed, from the south end of the bridge to downtown Alexandria. To reach Washington and the B&O, freight and passengers had to use an omnibus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
connection over the bridge. The bridge was again washed out by a flood in February 1857, but was reopened by the end of the year, as revenue service on the A&W with connecting service over the bridge began December 21, 1857.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in 1861, the bridge became militarily important. Union troops occupied the bridge May 24, and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad
Orange and Alexandria Railroad
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad was an intrastate railroad in Virginia, United States. It extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg...
soon became a major center for the United States Military Railroad Construction Corps. Rails were placed on the bridge, and the new connection opened February 9, 1862. Due to weight restrictions, horse power had to be used over the bridge. A new stronger bridge was completed about 100 feet (30 m) downriver July 23, 1864 and opened February 21, 1865. The new bridge carried only railroad traffic, and the old one was kept for other traffic. On November 15, 1865, with the end of the war, the U.S. Military Railroad gave the old bridge to the U.S. Department of the Interior; the new bridge became part of the Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown Railroad, leased by the B&O.
In 1872 the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
obtained control of the bridge and railroad through its Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. On July 2, the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway opened, providing the first direct all-rail connection between the north and Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. The B&O regained its link to the south on March 10, 1874 with a car float
Car float
A railroad car float or rail barge is an unpowered barge with rail tracks mounted on its deck. It is used to move railroad cars across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go, and is pushed by a towboat or towed by a tugboat...
between Shepherds Point in Washington and the Washington City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern Railway in Alexandria. (The temporary Shepherd's Landing Bridge would be built there during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.)
By June 6, 1896, an interurban streetcar line—the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington Railway—also crossed the bridge. A new railroad-only bridge opened August 25, 1904, about 150 feet (45 m) upriver from the old one, providing two tracks across the river. The railroad bridge contained girders recycled from the PRR's Lower Trenton Bridge
Lower Trenton Bridge
The Lower Trenton Toll Supported Bridge, commonly called the Lower Free Bridge, Warren Street Bridge or Trenton Makes Bridge, is a two-lane through truss bridge over the Delaware River between Trenton, New Jersey and Morrisville, Pennsylvania, owned by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission...
across the Delaware River.
In 1901, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. It is now a portion of the CSX Transportation system....
, a bridge line
Bridge line
A bridge line or bridge route is a rail carrier tasked primarily with moving traffic from one major carrier to another . Bridge lines often were located between two major cities, connecting rail carriers that served those cities and interchanging their cars...
owned equally by six companies including the Pennsylvania Railroad and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (which obtained trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
over the PRR to reach the bridge July 1, 1904), obtained trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
over the bridge. The RF&P was merged into CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
in 1991, and in 1998, with the Conrail breakup, CSX acquired the bridge.
On November 9, 1943, a replacement to the railroad bridge (keeping the old 1903 draw span) was opened.
A new northbound highway bridge opened May 9, 1950, halfway between the other two bridges, named the Rochambeau Bridge. The new George Mason Memorial Bridge opened in 1962, replacing the old Highway Bridge (then southbound only). The Highway Bridge was finally removed from the site in 1967, and was moved to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division for bombing practice. In 1972, a third bridge opened, just downriver from the southbound (Mason) bridge, carrying two express lanes in each direction. Over time, the lanes were reserved as high-occupancy vehicle lanes. The final bridge, the Charles R. Fenwick Bridge, carrying the Yellow Line
Yellow Line (Washington Metro)
The Yellow Line of the Washington Metro consists of 17 rapid transit stations from Huntington to Fort Totten. The line terminates at the Mount Vernon Square station during peak hours.Peak hours are 5 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Service is extended to the Green Line stations during...
, opened April 30, 1983.
The 1950 and 1962 spans incorporated draw spans
Bascule bridge
A bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or "leaf," throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic....
whose control houses are still visible, complementing the railroad bridge swing bridge
Swing bridge
A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...
downstream and the Arlington Memorial Bridge
Arlington Memorial Bridge
The Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C. crosses the Potomac River, connecting the Lincoln Memorial and Columbia Island. The northeastern end of the bridge marks the western edge of the National Mall...
upstream. Later bridges did not incorporate this feature and the draw mechanisms were abandoned.
The northbound I-395 span was damaged by the Air Florida Flight 90
Air Florida Flight 90
Air Florida Flight 90 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia, to Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a stopover at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida...
disaster on January 13, 1982. The Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
-222 had become bogged down by ice during a delay, and was unable to ascend after takeoff, quickly stalling and falling on the bridge before tipping over and slamming into the iced-over Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, killing 73 passengers and crew instantly and four in cars on the bridge. The repaired span was rededicated the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge. It was named for one of the six survivors of the crash, who sacrificed his life by passing the lifeline on to the other five survivors before permitting himself to be rescued. He died when he succumbed to hypothermia
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
and drowned
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
while rescuers dealt with difficulties rescuing the last of the survivors he passed the line to. The name of Rochambeau Bridge was placed on the previously unnamed express-lane bridge at the same time.
On July 25, 1989, the 14th Street Bridge gained national notoriety when police officers, frustrated by inability to clean up the prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
problem in D.C.'s 14th Street red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
, ordered a group of scantily clad women to march from the Thomas Circle
Thomas Circle
Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Vermont Avenue, 14th Street, and M Street, N.W.The through lanes of Massachusetts Avenue pass under Thomas Circle...
area, down 14th Street to Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. As the parade passed the Washington Monument about 1:30 in the morning, Washington Post reporter Bill Dedman
Bill Dedman
Bill Dedman, an American journalist, is an investigative reporter for news site msnbc.com and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting....
happened by in a taxi on his way home from the Post newsroom, and began interviewing police officers and the women. He then ran to the Agriculture Department building across the Mall to use a pay phone to ask the Post metro desk to send a photographer. Before a photographer could be sent, Post photographer Stephen Jaffe also happened by on his way home from another assignment. He began taking photos, causing the police officers to flee. The women never crossed the bridge, but because they were on the approach ramp it's clear that the police officers' intent was to make them march into Virginia. After the police left, the women were driven back to Thomas Circle by men in vans, which had been following the parade at a distance, and were back on street corners within half an hour. The next day, after politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s from Virginia complained, others noted that Virginia police had sent homeless people
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
across bridges into D.C.
In addition to the Air Florida Flight 90 disaster, another incident occurred at the 14th Street Bridge in 1994. Abubakar Sadiq Ibrahim, an unemployed journalist, who said he wanted to see the daughter who lived with his estranged wife, crashed his Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
into a retaining wall
Retaining wall
Retaining walls are built in order to hold back earth which would otherwise move downwards. Their purpose is to stabilize slopes and provide useful areas at different elevations, e.g...
on the span and threatened to explode a bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
. A black canvas bag on his front seat turned out to contain books and clothes.