Don’t even think about trying to drive on the Capital Beltway’s Inner Loop near Telegraph Road this weekend, traffic officials warn.
Traffic on the highway will be reduced to just one lane from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday as crews make emergency repairs to a nearly 50-year-old overpass bridge. The Telegraph Road ramps onto the Inner Loop also will be closed, if the weather holds out for the road work.
» SINGLE LANE: Capital Beltway traffic will share a single lane starting after the Inner Loop exit for Pershing Avenue/northbound Telegraph Road until just before the Eisenhower Connector from Friday night until Monday morning.
» CLOSED: Telegraph Road South on ramp to the Inner Loop (I-95/495 South). DETOUR: From southbound Telegraph Road, take Mill Road to right on Eisenhower Avenue to left on the Eisenhower Avenue Connector to the on ramp to the Inner Loop.
» CLOSED: Telegraph Road North on ramp to the Inner Loop (I-95/495 South). DETOUR: From northbound Telegraph Road, take Pershing Avenue to right on Stovall Street to right on Eisenhower Avenue to left on the Eisenhower Avenue Connector to the on ramp to the Inner Loop.
SOURCE: WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE PROJECT
Backups are expected to be serious, reaching about 15 miles even if 40 percent of typical weekend drivers avoid the southbound lanes, according to traffic models.
The problem is an overpass bridge dating from 1961 that can’t be patched anymore, said Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project spokesman John Undeland.
The bridge is slated to be repaired later this year as part of the massive Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, but officials need to shore it up in the meantime because the underlying pavement is failing.
Crews need to tear out concrete and years of pothole patches and replace them with about 600 square feet of concrete.
But to do so, they need space — the lanes are a funnel for Interstate 95, connecting the two halves of the East Coast.
The area where the Wilson Bridge crosses the Potomac River is part of what has been a major bottleneck. For the past 10 years, crews have been replacing the bridge and redoing the ramps. Ten new lanes of traffic on the new drawbridge spans opened in December 2008, though other, minor work remains.
In the meantime, officials urge drivers to take the American Legion Bridge between Montgomery and Fairfax counties instead and use caution if they must head through the area. Other delays loom for Beltway drivers the rest of the week. Maryland transportation officials will be closing at least two lanes on northbound I-95/I-495 near the Kenilworth Avenue (MD 201) bridge starting at 10 p.m. Sunday and running until 5 a.m. each day until Friday morning.
