NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Woodrow Wilson Bridge

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia and Prince George's County, Maryland. The bridge carries Interstate 95 and Interstate 495 (the Capital Beltway). The drawbridge on the original bridge opened approximately 260 times a year, disrupting traffic on the beltway, which carries approximately 250,000 cars each day.^[1] As a result, a new taller, wider span, which will need to be opened less often, is scheduled for completion in 2008. Part of this reconstruction (the outer loop span) is complete and open for traffic. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1011 KB) Summary New span of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, opened to traffic on June 10, 2006. ... Interstate 95 (abbreviated I-95) is an Interstate highway that runs 1,927 miles (3,101 kilometers) north-south along the east coast of the United States. ... The Capital Beltway (in green) The Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) is an expressway-class interstate highway which circles the Washington, DC area. ... The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States (USA). ... Location in Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia Founded 1718 Mayor William D. Euille Area - City 39. ... Fort Washington, Maryland is a census-designated place in Prince Georges County, Maryland in the suburbs of the capital city of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., southwest of the downtown district. ... Salmon Bay Bridge, Seattle, USA; a single leaf through truss with an above-deck counterweight A bascule bridge is a drawbridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or leaf, throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic. ... A foot (plural: feet) is any of several old units of distance or length, measuring around a quarter to a third of a meter. ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... AADT - Annual Average Daily Traffic flow - is a term used mainly in transportation planning, but increasingly for websites. ... December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 29 is the 241st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (242nd in leap years), with 124 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Interstate 395 (abbreviated I-395) in Virginia is a 13 mile (21 km) long spur route that begins at a junction with Interstate 95 in Springfield, Virginia and ends in downtown Washington, District of Columbia. ... Salmon Bay Bridge, Seattle, USA; a single leaf through truss with an above-deck counterweight A bascule bridge is a drawbridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or leaf, throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic. ... The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States (USA). ... An independent city is a city that does not form part of another local government entity. ... Location in Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia Founded 1718 Mayor William D. Euille Area - City 39. ... Prince Georges County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland immediately north, east, and south of Washington, D.C. It is home to the United States Department of Agricultures Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations Goddard Space Flight... Interstate 95 (abbreviated I-95) is an Interstate highway that runs 1,927 miles (3,101 kilometers) north-south along the east coast of the United States. ... The Capital Beltway (in green) Interstate 495 (abbreviated I-495) is a freeway-class interstate highway which circles Washington, D.C. and its inner suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge was planned and built as part of the Interstate Highway System created by the U.S. Congress in 1956. Construction of the bridge was begun in the late 1950s, and it opened to traffic on December 28, 1961. Coincidentally, President Wilson's widow, Edith, died that very morning; she was supposed to have been the guest of honor at the bridge's dedication ceremony.^[2] The bridge has its west abutment in Virginia, and the remaining majority of the bridge is within Maryland jurisdiction since the Potomac River is within Maryland's borders, with about 300 feet (90 m) of the western mid-span portion of the bridge crossing the tip of the southernmost corner of the District of Columbia. As originally built, the bridge had 6 traffic lanes, and was 5,900 feet (1,798 m) long. The structure was built as a bascule bridge to allow large, ocean-going vessels access to the port facilities of Washington, D.C. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (4594x1777, 863 KB) This is a crop of a 1994 photo of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, looking northeast from Virginia towards the District of Columbia. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (4594x1777, 863 KB) This is a crop of a 1994 photo of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, looking northeast from Virginia towards the District of Columbia. ... The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the Interstate Highway System, is a network of freeways in the United States. ... The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ... December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... White House portrait Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (October 15, 1872–December 28, 1961), second wife of Woodrow Wilson, was First Lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921. ... ... Salmon Bay Bridge, Seattle, USA; a single leaf through truss with an above-deck counterweight A bascule bridge is a drawbridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or leaf, throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ...

President Woodrow Wilson

The bridge is named in honor of the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), who when elected in 1912 was serving as the Governor of New Jersey, but who had been a native of Staunton, Virginia. While he was President, Mr. Wilson reportedly spent an average of two hours per day riding in his automobile to relax, or to "loosen his mind from the problems before him." The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 â€“ February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States. ... The Governor of New Jersey is the chief executive of the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... West Beverley Street in downtown Staunton Staunton is an independent city within the confines of Augusta County in the commonwealth of Virginia. ...

President Wilson was an advocate of automobile and highway improvements in the United States. In 1916, he stated "My interest in good roads is... to bind communities together and open their intercourse, so that it will flow with absolute freedom and facility." Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile (or motor car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ...

Capacity and maintenance

Due to unanticipated circumstances, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge has—out of necessity—exceeded all expectations of the highway planners. The bridge was originally designed to handle 75,000 vehicles a day. Due to substantial growth in and around the Washington metropolitan area, travel demand across the bridge has grown to 200,000 vehicles per day, more than twice its original design capacity. The bridge has serious and well-documented maintenance problems and has undergone continuous patchwork maintenance since the 1970s. It was completely re-decked in 1983. The bridge remains in distress, in part because of the large volume of traffic that passes over it daily. Image File history File links Woodrow_Wilson_Bridge_Locationf_450x500. ... Image File history File links Woodrow_Wilson_Bridge_Locationf_450x500. ...

One of the reasons for the excess traffic of the bridge is that the eastern half of the Capital Beltway carries I-95 traffic between points south of Washington and points north of Washington. It was originally planned in the 1960s and 1970s that some of the north-to-south traffic from outside the Washington area would travel through the city on the proposed North Central Freeway. Construction of this urban freeway was subject to considerable neighborhood and political dispute, and the project was ultimately canceled (see I-395). This resulted in the main route of I-95 being forced to combine with that of I-495 over the bridge and had the effect of more than doubling the forecasted bridge traffic. The Capital Beltway (in green) The Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) is an expressway-class interstate highway which circles the Washington, DC area. ... Interstate 395 (abbreviated I-395) in Virginia is a 13 mile (21 km) long spur route that begins at a junction with Interstate 95 in Springfield, Virginia and ends in downtown Washington, District of Columbia. ...

Two particular incidents demonstrated the bottleneck status of the Wilson Bridge. On Veterans' Day 1987, a snowstorm shook up traffic so badly that many commuters ran out of gas and ended up spending the night in their cars on the Bridge. In November 1998, the bridge was closed for several hours during the afternoon rush when a suicidal man threw himself over the side after a seven-hour standoff with police. The man, Ivin L. Pointer, survived the fall from the Bridge.^[3] There are 24. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Replacement facilities

Maryland, Virginia, and federal highway officials have been confronting the problems and exploring alternatives for many years. After considerable study and public debate, it was determined that a plan doubling the capacity and increasing the height of the draw portion to reduce the frequencies of openings at the same location offered the best solutions. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Image File history File links Bridge_drawing. ... A log bridge in the French Alps near Vallorcine. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Image File history File links Wilsonbridge1. ... Image File history File links Wilsonbridge1. ...

Construction began on the replacement facilities and approaches in 1999. The existing Wilson Bridge is being replaced by two new side-by-side drawbridges with a total of 12 lanes and 70 feet of vertical navigational clearance at the draw span. The first new six-lane Potomac River bridge opened for northbound Outer Loop traffic on June 10, 2006, with only minor delays (the lane striping of the bridge and approach did not match up initially). The first car to cross was a Toyota Corolla.^[4]^[5] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Bascule bridge. ... June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This page is about the auto sedan Corolla manufactured by Toyota. ...

The Inner Loop of the Beltway was transitioned onto the future outer loop express lanes for a two-year interim basis on July 16, 2006, at midnight. The original 1961 bridge was originally to be demolished at 11:59 p.m. local time, on August 28, 2006, to make room for completion of the second six-lane bridge (the future permanent home of the Inner Loop) located between the original bridge and the new Outer Loop span. Local commuter Daniel Ruefly was given the honor of initiating the detonation, after he won a contest where he was judged the driver to have suffered the most from the bridge's congestion^[6]. The detonation was later delayed to 12:15 a.m., and again to 12:25. Finally, the bridge was demolished at around 12:35. The air space above the bridge, and the Beltway in both directions, were both closed during the detonation. The second bridge span is expected to be completed by May 2008, with the majority of the highway project completed by 2009, and the upgraded Telegraph Road interchange by 2011. July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ...

The new spans are 20 feet (6 meters) higher, which is tall enough to allow most boats to pass underneath without having to raise the bridge, thus eliminating the large traffic tie-ups that opening the span causes, though quite tall ships will still requite the opening of the bridge. It is hoped that the number of openings will be reduced from about 260 per year to about 65 per year, according to FHWA, which must cooperate with the US Coast Guard about bridge openings. The enormous bridge replacement project also includes an extensive redesign and reconstruction of the Capital Beltway as it approaches the new bridge from both the Maryland and Virginia sides. The new bridge will also have a pedestrian/bicycle trail.^[5]^[7] The entire cost of the project is estimated at $2.5 billion.

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is one of only a handful of drawbridges on the U.S. Interstate Highway System. For the most part, the Interstate Highway System in the United States is a connected system, with most roads completed. ... The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the Interstate Highway System, is a network of freeways in the United States. ...

References

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 5 is the 217th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (218th in leap years), with 148 days remaining. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. ... June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The current BBC News logo BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporations newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 29 is the 241st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (242nd in leap years), with 124 days remaining. ... August 5 is the 217th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (218th in leap years), with 148 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Categories: Bridges under construction | Current events | Future roads | Bascule bridges | Bridges completed in 1961 | Bridges in Maryland | Bridges in Virginia | Bridges in Washington, D.C. | Interstate 95 | Interstate Highways in the District of Columbia | Movable bridges on the Interstate Highway System Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Image File history File links Wikinews-logo. ... Wikinews is a free-content news source and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. ... The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States (USA). ... (Redirected from 14th Street Bridge) The 14th Street Bridge carries Interstate 395 and U.S. Highway 1 traffic across the Potomac River, connecting Arlington, Virginia and Washington DC. The bridge is also known for being the location of the Air Florida Flight 90 airplane crash on January 13, 1982. ... Image File history File links I-395. ... Image File history File links US_1. ... Categories: Companies traded on NYSE | Railway companies of the United States | Alabama railroads | Connecticut railroads | Delaware railroads | Florida current railroads | Georgia railroads | Illinois railroads | Indiana railroads | Kentucky railroads | Louisiana railroads | Maryland railroads | Massachusetts railroads | Michigan railroads | Mississippi railroads | New Jersey railroads | New York railroads | North Carolina railroads | Ohio railroads | Pennsylvania... Image File history File links I-95. ... Image File history File links I-495. ... Opened in December 1940, the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge is located on US 301 and extends 1. ... Image File history File links US_301. ... I-95 south coming off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Interstate 95 runs 179 miles through Virginia. ... Interstate 95 (abbreviated I-95) is an Interstate highway that runs 1,927 miles (3,101 kilometers) north-south along the east coast of the United States. ... Routes junctioned Termini are bolded Highways in Maryland Numbered highways - State highways - Minor state highways In Maryland, Interstate 95 runs diagonally from the border with Delaware in northeast to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge before entering Virginia. ... Subcategories There are 3 subcategories to this category. ...

Contents

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