Bridge Study To Take Two Years

Federal transportation officials say a court-ordered environmental study of the plans to build a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge would take about two years to complete.

The news was a setback for bridge builders and trucking because highway officials have said the span's conditions will force trucks off the crucial East Coast commercial transportation artery unless a replacement can be finished before 2004.

The $1.8 billion reconstruction project was on schedule to meet that deadline until U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin ruled in favor of community activists, who had argued the environmental impact review of the planned replacement had been inadequate (4-26, p. 5). The original study was done for a 10-lane bridge, but the final design calls for a 12-lane span.

The ruling for the Alexandria Historic Restoration and Preservation Commission hurt 11-year-old efforts to replace the bridge, which was built in 1961.

Federal Highway Administration officials met with area congressmen on April 28 to give them an estimate on how long a new study would take. They also said that they were still consulting with Justice Department lawyers about whether a less extensive evaluation would satisfy the judge.

No decision has been made whether to appeal the ruling, but federal officials said they might ask the judge to reconsider his decision banning construction until environmental laws are met.

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