Vehicles were making their way across three lanes of the first new span of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge by 7:45 a.m. Sunday ? more than 21 hours before the Monday morning deadline, officials said.
“We never got more than a mile backup. Our goal was to get 60 percent [traffic] diversion, which would give us a peak of a four-mile backup,” said John Undeland, a project spokesman.
Project officials warned drivers to find alternate routes around town instead of using the bridge and closed the ramp from the Springfield Interchange to the Outer Loop to help divert traffic.
“We avoided it because we knew it was going to be a mess,” said Clay Wilson, 59, of Alexandria, as he filled up his motorcycle at a Fort Washington Shell station.
Wilson and his wife, Aleta, took the 14th Street Bridge to visit some friends in Maryland on Sunday morning.
Although the new span is not going to stop the congestion that occurs every day around the bridge, the new wide shoulders will provide an area for disabled vehicles and a route for emergency responders. That will keep the three lanes open to full traffic, cutting back delays, Undeland said.
The new span also is 20 feet higher than the old bridge, resulting in fewer stoppages to open the drawbridge, he said.
Jeff Grissett, 39 of Falls Church, was impressed by the speed of construction, but said the true test of the new bridge will come when he and his colleagues start the workweek, serving heating and cooling pumps and engines around the region.
Inner Loop traffic will be moved to the new span between July 14 and 17. While local ramps will be closed,detouring Inner Loop drivers, southbound traffic on Interstate 95 cannot be blocked, Undeland said.
“What we are concerned about a little bit is people will see that there was only a mile backup and they won?t be concerned [next time],” he said. “The next switch is more likely to have traffic congestion.”
Woodrow Wilson Bridge timeline
» 2000: Construction begins on the new bridge.
» 8 p.m. Friday: Three eastbound lanes narrow to one.
» 9:42 p.m. Saturday: Traffic stopped for four minutes to switch drivers from the old bridge to the new span.
» 7:45 a.m. Sunday: All three lanes open on the new span.
» July 14-17: Inner Loop drivers switch to new span.
» 2008: All 12 lanes open.
