Dry Run

Hybrid Wayside Exhibit:
17^th Street Levee Closure
738 words / Total Audio Description: 4 minutes, 6 seconds

Site Information
183 words / 1 minute, 1 second

This is an audio description of an interpretive sign titled Dry Run. The sign is divided into 2 parts. On the left is an angled graphic panel measuring 3 feet (1 meter) wide by 2 feet (0.5 meters) tall. On the right is a table-like surface measuring 16” x 16” square. An audio speaker with push buttons and two solar panels separates the graphic panel from the table. All parts are set within an angled black metal frame with two legs that raise the sign 3 feet (1 meter) off the ground. Beyond the sign is one end of the gray, fabricated stone levee floodwall. The other end is directly across 17th Street NW. The floodwall ends closest to the street are 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall by 3 feet (0.9 meters) thick at the base and 2 feet (0.6 meters) thick at the top. A 1-foot (0.3 meters) wide vertical groove is centered on side of the wall facing the street. The floodwall ends are 150 feet (45.7 meters) long and curve to the right as they connect to the grassy hillside.

Exhibit Panel Content
493 words / 2 minutes, 44 seconds

The title reads Dry Run.This sign features a contemporary photograph of an installed levee closure, taken from street level. Five rusty vertical beams hold in place stacks of three grey, horizontal panels.

On a blue background, white text at the top of the sign reads:

Most of downtown DC is at risk of flooding. The danger zone includes the museums, federal offices, residential buildings, and the spot where you’re standing. The Army Corps of Engineers built a levee (raised mounds of earth that stop flood waters) around the National Mall in 1939. They left one gap at 17th Street for transportation. For over 70 years workers closed the gap with sandbags when flood waters rose. In 2014 local and federal government agencies worked together to install a modern post and panel levee closure. Once a year, the National Park Service tests this system that can close that gap within hours. As of 2024, the 17th Street levee closure system hasn’t been used in a flood, but rising sea levels due to climate change make a flood event more likely each year.

A small map, showing downtown Washington, DC, is color coded to shows the city’s flooding potential. The orange areas closest to the river are at highest risk, while the red zones surround significant landmarks in the National Mall.

An image caption in white text reads:

This map shows the flood zone around downtown DC. The levee system prevents the areas in red from flooding.

At the bottom of the sign, a series of photographs show how the levee is installed. On the far left, the first image shows two workers in neon yellow reflective safety jackets. The workers are standing in front of a series of rusty beams, each labelled with an alphabetical letter, such as B, C, D, and E.

An image caption in white text reads:

Steel beams are put in place across 17th Street. You can see metal plates in the sidewalk and across 17th Street covering the anchors for these beams. In the bottom center of the sign, the second photograph in the series shows the tall, dark arm of a crane projecting into the bright blue sky. The crane is lifting a section of the levee closure into place.

An image caption in white text reads:

A crane lifts each aluminum panel and lowers it carefully into place between the steel beams.In the bottom right of the sign, the third and final photograph in the series workers installing the final sections of the levee closure. One worker in the background, wearing a neon yellow reflective safety jacket and balancing atop a ladder, helps the crane operator maneuver a section of the levee closure into place. In the foreground, two workers in safety jackets are watching the installation, their backs facing the camera.

An image caption in white text reads:

When all 27 panels are in place, the system creates a watertight barrier that completes the levee system.

Tactile Model
62 words / 20 seconds

On the right side of the sign, a long, slender bronze tactile, about 12” wide by 6” deep (30.4 cm long by 15.2 cm wide), represents the levee closure. Feel the downward slope in the center of the tactile. This represents the gap in the earthen levee where 17^th Street lies. Water would flow through this gap if flooding occurred. You can also feel the vertical beams and panel of the levee closure which stands perpendicular to the road.

[End of description.]