While Interstate 695 and I-295 are on either side of the Anacostia River, the two have never met. As a result, more than 100,000 daily vehicles must squeeze over the river across the pair of 11th Street bridges into the streets of District of Columbia neighborhoods.

But a reconstruction project, including three new bridges and a complex new network of connecting ramps, is now under way to change that. With limited funds, the District Dept. of Transportation took a "design-build to budget" approach.