Rail on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge

Spring 2000: DC, MD, VA, and federal government launch Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction; decision on rail deferred.
Summer 2005: Federal Transportation bill authorizes funding for engineering and planning for rail on bridge to connect Yellow Line in Virginia to Green Line in Maryland.
Fall 2005: Governors Erhlich and Warner announce a joint mobility study of the Beltway’s Potomac River bridges; Virginia will take the lead to examine options for new Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Spring-Fall 2006: The new bridge has been engineered for rail, but the inner lanes of each bridge span still await designation as HOV, Express Bus, or Rail Transit.
Today: Time to line up funding for preliminary engineering, plans for rail on WWB.

The Region Needs Rail on the Wilson Bridge

Rail on the Wilson Bridge would connect the Yellow Line in Virginia (at either the Eisenhower Ave or Huntington Metro Stations) to the Green Line in Maryland at the Branch Ave Metro Station.

Adding rail would double the capacity of the bridge. Two lanes of rail have at least the same capacity as an entire twelve lane highway.

Rail would provide local commuters more choices. 95,000 Prince George’s residents commute across the Wilson Bridge every day. Thousands of Virginians make the opposite trek. Adding highway lanes without rail transit leaves these commuters without a choice: they will all drive, further congesting our roadways.

Rail helps prepare for National Harbor traffic: Construction has begun on the National Harbor hotel/convention center complex. Rail is vital to accommodate increase traffic associated with the development’s planned 2,500 residential units, 4,000 hotel rooms, a convention center, and 1.5 million square feet of office, retail, dining, and entertainment.

Rail would help ease traffic burden on Old Town Alexandria: One highway lane from the new bridge will continue to dump its traffic directly onto Patrick Street (Route 1), which is already at capacity.

Rail helps prepare Eastern Fairfax County for Department of Defense realignments: With recent BRAC (Department of Defense) office realignments, thousands of federal and government contractor jobs will shift from Arlington south to Fort Belvoir, straining an already overburdened road network. Rail on the Wilson Bridge ties into proposed transit connections to Ft. Belvoir.

Bridge Construction Timeline

First span of bridge is projected to open in the summer of 2006 with six general purpose highway lanes; traffic from the six lanes of the old bridge will shift to the new span. The old bridge will then be demolished, allowing construction to begin on the second span.

Second span construction is expected to finish in the middle of 2008.

Engineering and Design: New Bridge is Rail-Ready

Designs for the new bridge feature twin parallel spans with six lanes each.

Total of ten automobile lanes: eight general purpose automobile lanes, matching the number of lanes on the Beltway, plus two merge/diverge lanes connecting the adjacent Maryland and Virginia interchanges.

Two lanes await a final designation as either HOV, Express Bus lanes, or rail transit lines.

New bridge spans engineered to accept rail, including the following critical elements:

Bridge deck is rail-ready; Minimal alteration of the concrete bridge surface would be needed.

Structural strength to support rail transit loads, as reflected in the large number and size of piles driven into riverbed to support the bridge deck.

Drawbridge technology selected for its compatibility with rail transit.

Wider space required for Metrorail's "footprint,” related equipment controls and operation of trains.

Space reserved in the drawbridge piers for future WMATA equipment

Conduit in the drawbridge piers for future train controls, communications and traction power systems.

Sources: Meeting with WWB Project Team, April 27; FAST FACTS September 2002, “New Woodrow Wilson Bridge & Adjacent Interchanges: Rail Ready & Transit Friendly” (Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project)

Regional and Federal Transportation Agencies Planning for Rail

WMATA includes proposed Metrorail expansion on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, connecting to existing Metrorail lines in Virginia and Maryland, in its Ten Year Capital Improvement Program (Sept, 2002).

The latest six-year Federal Transportation Bill authorizes funding for alternatives analysis and preliminary engineering of a transit route over the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. (2005)

Message for Public Officials:

The first of the two-phase Governor’s mobility study of the Wilson Bridge is about to begin. The study must include analysis of rail’s benefits, accounting for traffic from new development such as National Harbor and redevelopment at Oxon Hill, MD, as well as opportunities for Transit-Oriented Development in Alexandria.

We must line up funding to move forward with preliminary engineering and analysis of options for rail on the bridge.