Payback Time! Commuter to take revenge on Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, completed in 1961, spans the Potomac River, connecting Alexandria, VA with Prince George's County, MD. At the time, it was designed to handle 75,000 vehicles a day for the next 20 years, but reality didn't exactly cooperate. It saw that volume level in just eight years, and by the late 1990s was handling three times as much every day.
The eight-lane Capital Beltway had to squeeze itself down to six lanes when it got to the bridge, creating a traffic bottleneck that routinely contributed to nightmarish commutes for area residents.
Recently, a new, modernized Woodrow Wilson Bridge was completed adjacent to the original, which will be ceremoniously demolished later this month. Showing that they really do understand the hardships commuters had been dealing with for the last 40-odd years, the bridge project heirarchy has decided to hold a "Toughest Bridge Commute" contest to determine the one person who has suffered through the most arduous Wilson Bridge commute over time.
The prize? That individual gets to exact sweet, sweet revenge as he or she triggers the charges that will send a half-mile portion of the structure to Bridge Heaven.
Win the contest. Blow up the bridge. It doesn't get much better than that.
[Source: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bill 5:16PM (8/10/2006)
If only it was permanent in order to keep PG County residents out of Alexandria.
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DC_1 5:23PM (8/10/2006)
Yeah Bill you know how unsafe RT 1 in Alexandria could be. I would not want us PG county residents to get raped or killed over there.
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Bill 5:27PM (8/10/2006)
Alex,
Your write up misses some very important information.
"The eight-lane Capital Beltway had to squeeze itself down to six lanes when it got to the bridge, creating a traffic bottleneck that routinely contributed to nightmarish commutes for area residents."
It's also one of the weakest links in the I-95 North/South corridor. Sure it sucks for local commuters, but millions of East Coast travellers have also experienced this he11 too.
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Bill 5:27PM (8/10/2006)
Rt 1 is in Fairfax County.
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ducksauce 5:40PM (8/10/2006)
Bill, Im pretty sure more people want to keep out Virginians than anyone else. keep your bigoted comments off autoblog please
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Corey W. 5:46PM (8/10/2006)
Why do they have to demolish the first bridge?
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jk 5:47PM (8/10/2006)
haha, the old MD/VA rivalry is fun. As far as Rt. 1 is concerned, it runs right through Old Town ... I don't see how it could be just Fairfax county.
Also, only one span of the new WWB is completed. The second will be completed sometime in the distant future.
It's still an improvement though since the number of times that the bridge will be open has been reduced by like 3/4 and the new span has room for cars to move off to the side in the case of an accident. Plus, it's in a decent state of repair so it's less freaky to drive on.
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jk 5:48PM (8/10/2006)
The first bridge is in the way of the second span of the new bridge.
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Rob 5:59PM (8/10/2006)
bill, really, keep your bigoted comments to yourself. i'm a fairfax resident (always have been!) but love my PG buddies across the river. now, i would never live there myself (bad schools, too much crime) but there is nothing wrong with the people from there.
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Karl Chase 8:50PM (8/10/2006)
Like there is no crime in Va. Give me a break.
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Phong 8:52PM (8/10/2006)
Damn right, sometimes you would get stuck for 3-4 hours on that bridge. What pisses you off is that the place where you have to be is just a few miles away. Amagine geting stuck 5 miles from your home for 3-4 hours.
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flambo 10:34PM (8/10/2006)
Uh ... you forgot to mention that the Wilson Bridge is also a draw bridge ... if the bridge is drawn, all traffic on both sides have to stop.
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Todd 7:07AM (8/11/2006)
WW Bridge is horrible, after being stuck on there soo many times I refuse to take a job that requires go over it, I now work in bethesda and for all the headaches 495 can bring it is still 10 times better that dealing with that hellspawn they call a bridge
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Matt 8:31AM (8/11/2006)
Everyone's in a hurry to live in PG County....What? Your county is a disaster folks.
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Paul 11:10AM (8/11/2006)
Let me simplify this argument- all of the DC area is a disaster. This is a car blog and it is clear that your constant discussion of which county is better is simply a coping mechinisim for knowing that you are all from some place terrible.
Back to cars/transportation please
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Rob 12:38PM (8/11/2006)
Paul,
just some friendly back-and-forth between VA/MD. we love each other, we really do.
traffic wise, DC is a disaster, but standard-of-living wise, nobody can say Fairfax county is a "disaster".
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Bonita 1:16PM (8/11/2006)
Just hope that there's no "genuine GM parts" in the new bridge, or it'll be breaking down every other day!
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