The District of Columbia's Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced a new grant for one the city’s busiest — and most dangerous — streets.

Benning road connects Washington, DC and Prince George’s County in Maryland. Just past the Anacostia River, the street intersects with Minnesota Avenue Northeast, which has “one of the District’s highest crash rates and frequency,” according to Acting DDOT Director Everett Lott. 

“With so much pedestrian and vehicular activity in this corridor, we are elated to have this additional funding that will add to Mayor Bowser’s FY21 and FY22 budget commitment to help make the area safer for all our roadway users,” Lott said.

The funding for various improvements comes from USDOT’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, or RAISE, program. The money will go to the Benning Road Bridges and Transportation Improvement Project which is in the final design phase and covers two miles of the 3.9-mile road, so more than half. 

“The project includes reconstructing bridges in need of repair, enhancing pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and extending streetcar transit service eastwards to the Benning Road Metrorail station,” the project website states.

More specifically, the structurally-deficient bridge over DC-295 (Anacostia Freeway) and CX’s freight rail tracks will be fixed, access and safety enhancements will be added at DC-295/Benning Road interchange, and enhancements for pedestrian and bicycle routes over the Ethel Kennedy Memorial Bridge and the Benning ROad Bridge over Kingman Lake are also on the agenda.

An interactive map of the work that will be conducted is viewable here.