Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge, DC

Posted on January 8, 2026 by Carolyn Ristau

Knowing that wandering at will and walking as many bridges as possible was no longer a feasible option for me, my brother and I identified two must-see bridges for my weekend in DC: the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge and the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge.

Not to be confused with Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge links Georgetown, DC, to the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, VA.

The Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge is a curvilinear arch bridge carrying a six-lane highway with wide sidewalks on both sides over the Potomac River. It was built in 1917-1924. The width made it easy and comfortable to walk despite a high number of other pedestrians, bikes, and scooters on the sidewalk, and the speed of cars racing across.

We walked along the downriver side, which provides ever changing views of downtown DC, the Kennedy Center, and the Washington Monument, thanks to the forested Theodore Roosevelt Island and nearly 90 degree bend in the river. This gave me plenty of excuses to pause, hydrate, rest, and take a photo.

Georgetown and Rosslyn both sit high above the river, which meant the bridge is also elevated far above the river. It is high enough that an elevated freeway sits comfortably halfway between the bridge and the riverside ground level on the Georgetown side.

The goals of urbantraipsing and pacing for Long COVID were a delicate balance as we walked across the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. There were several important decision points along the way. Option 1 was to walk only half-way across the bridge. I don’t like doing that for urbantraipsing and there was a coffee shop on the far end that was a good option for refilling my water bottle and taking a short rest. So we walked all the way across.

As we approached the Georgetown side, I was very tempted to climb down to the park near the level of the water. I could tell that this would be a great spot to get an establishing shot for the bridge, but the effort of climbing down and back up from there did not seem worth it . . . until I saw that in doing so, we would walk across a C&O Canal bridge. Adding another bridge to my collection along with the fact that we could sit by the riverside and rest before climbing back up tipped the balance of pros and cons in favor of going down.

Due to the placement of Metro stations, the only choice for getting back to the Metro and on to our next stop was to retrace our steps back across the bridge. By the time we did all that, it was lunchtime and I had nearly reached my daily step count.

Frederick Douglass Bridge, DC

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Carolyn Ristau

For years, even before I started urbantraipsing, I thought nothing of walking from transit stop to transit stop, bridge to bridge, as I explore and encounter the expected and unexpected nooks and crannies of a city. That way of life came crashing to a devastating halt in the fall of 2023 when I developed Long COVID.

Six months passed.

And then a year.

The return to “normal” my doctors promised seemed increasingly unlikely. But a return to functional seemed within reach. The question remained: did urbantraipsing fall within this new functionality?

After a few local test excursions, I felt physically and mentally strong enough to test travel. In April 2025, I took a long-overdue trip to visit my brother in Washington, DC. On this trip, I encountered some great bridges and learned that, much like other activities, with modification and accommodation urbantraipsing is a way of life I can continue.

The open, through-arch Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge was one of our expected encounters. I probably would have been ecstatic about the unexpected benches in the lookouts between the arches under previous circumstances. After all, it isn’t every day that you find a bench on a bridge. However, in the past, I probably would have just said “that’s cool,” photographed them, and moved on. Instead, I took full advantage of these seats for one of my rest and rehydration breaks. This slow down is the reason I spotted the Yard Park Bridge, a bridge I definitely needed to add to my collection.

Perhaps slowing down and being more intentional to accommodate my Long COVID needs will continue to add depth to my urbantraipsing experiences.

Anacostia River Canals

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Carolyn Ristau

The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail crosses over the openings of several canal channels within a short distance from the Frederick Douglass Bridge in Washington, DC. The first canal opening that I walked over, I had no idea that I was walking on a bridge…like when I walked over the Grosvenor Canal in London. It wasn’t until I was checking out the views from the Frederick Douglass Bridge that I saw the opening for the canal underneath the path I had just walked. (First picture in the slide show below.)

The bridge pictured above appears to have been over a canal that fed into or out of (or both?) the old O Street Pumping Station. This bridge was clearly visible as we walked passed it on our way to the Frederick Douglass. I was tempted to cross it (as a bridge walker, it is hard to walk passed a bridge and not over it), but I was tired and trying to conserve energy. However, once on the Frederick Douglass Bridge, I spotted another pedestrian bridge just beyond this one that I could not pass up the opportunity to walk, no matter how tired I was.

The Yard Park Bridge is a highly photogenic bridge, perhaps rivalling London’s Millennium Bridge. It crosses over what I think are the remnants of the Washington City Canal, most of which has been paved over. The paved portion visible from the Yard Park Bridge reminded me of the portions of the Erie Canal in Buffalo paved over for a skating rink and other recreational purposes.