When asked just how bad the delays will be this weekend as the first lanes of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge open to the public, officials say it all comes down to percentages.
“If we can keep 60 percent of the typical weekend traffic off the road, it will be about a mile backup with a one-hour delay,” said project spokesman John Undeland. “But for every percentage point, it quickly goes downhill.”
If 50 percent of typical traffic arrives, delays could be as long as four hours and stretch for nearly 15 miles, Undeland said.
“This is not a joke,” he said. “Don’t give into the curiosity — just wait until Monday.”
A series of lane closures and detours to shift traffic from the old bridge to the new span will begin tonight at 8 and last until 5 a.m. Monday, officials said. The closures will give construction workers time to shift lanes in both directions to the new span.
The Outer Loop of the Beltway in Virginia will be squeezed to a single lane and drivers on Interstate 95 will be rerouted to the western portion of the Beltway or up Interstate 395, officials said.
Ramps from the Outer Loop to Interstate 295 and to Route 210 in Maryland will close tonight but are expected to reopen by Saturday afternoon. The ramp from Route 1 to the Outer Loop will also close tonight but will not reopen until Monday morning.
The new six-lane span is the first of two that will replace the rusty, decades-old Wilson Bridge. The second span is expected to open in 2008.
Notice
» A second weekend of traffic-clogging closures is scheduled for July 14 to 16, when Inner Loop traffic moves over to the new bridge.
