D.C. is set to kick off a two-day celebration for the opening of the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, including a ribbon-cutting ceremony with family members of the bridge’s iconic namesake.
The event will begin on Labor Day (Sept. 6) with a 5K and community celebration with food, live entertainment, and fun for residents of all ages, the mayor’s office said.
The following day, Mayor Muriel Bowser will join federal partners, members of the Douglass family and other invited guests and dignitaries for the ribbon-cutting.
“It is only fitting that we come together to celebrate a bridge that will connect our city and pay tribute to a great Washingtonian,” Bowser said. “The Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge is the biggest infrastructure project in the history of Washington, D.C., and it represents the best of our city’s past and future.”
The new bridge will open to traffic next week, roughly 3½ years after the city’s transportation department broke ground on the project to replace the existing Douglass bridge, which was built in 1950 and named after the famed abolitionist in 1965.
