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Construction Program
Potomac River Bridge
Section Design Consultant: Parsons Transportation Group
The Potomac River Bridge project involves the construction of twin 6-lane replacement bridges for the existing Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The new bridges include double leaf bascule spans over the main navigation channel, close to the Virginia shore. The staging for the project requires that the new Outer Loop (southern) bridge be completed first. Once it is open to bi-directional traffic, the existing bridge would be demolished and then the new Inner Loop (northern) bridge completed. It is anticipated that the Outer Loop bridge will be open to traffic by the end of 2004 and the Inner Loop by the end of 2006.
The first contract involved dredging approximately 340,000 CY of material for an east-west construction channel through a submerged aquatic mitigation (SAV) bed in the middle of the river. Dredging in open water was allowed from October 16 to February 14 (year-round dredging is permissible from within a cofferdam). The dredged material was barged down the river to the Chesapeake Bay and then up the James River. The material was off-loaded at the Port Tobacco at Weanack placement site in Charles City County, Virginia where it will be used to reclaim land that had been previously mined for sand and gravel. This was accomplished between October 20, 2000 and February 14, 2001.
The second contract will involve the majority of foundations for the bridge as well as site grading and bulkhead improvements in Jones Point Park. The foundations include steel pipe piles ranging in diameter from 48 to 72 inches for the river piers and Pier V-2, the first pier on the Virginia shore. The other Virginia piers will include 24 - foot square prestressed concrete piles. The length of the piles will vary from about 40 feet for the concrete piles to about 200 feet for the larger steel pipe piles. A concrete pile cap will also be included in this contract.
The third contract has been split up into three separate contracts. This will include the remainder of the construction for the Potomac River. This work includes prestressed segmental concrete V-piers, steel box girders, concrete deck, operator's house, machinery, electrical controls, signing and roadway and aesthetic lighting. This contract will also include a few foundations that overlap the existing bridge which would not be accessible in the previous foundation contract. Demolition of the existing bridge is also included.
