Feds To Appeal I-95 Bridge Delay
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater announced June 14 that the Department of Transportation would appeal a federal court ruling that could delay the rebuilding of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, and unveiled a new funding plan for the $1.89 billion project.
When U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin ordered a further environmental review of the plans for a new span at Interstate 95’s crossing of the Potomac River, DOT said the delay would eventually force trucks to be banned from the deteriorating structures. However, opponents of the proposed 12-lane bridge say that’s not so
udy McVay, co-chair of the Coalition For A Sensible Bridge, disputed claims that the bridge is in such bad shape that truck traffic will be prohibited in 2004.
Slater asked Congress to approve an extra $600 million to build the new bridge in addition to the $900 million appropriated in last year’s transportation bill. Maryland and Virginia would have to cover the rest of the cost.
He also said DOT will appeal parts of Sporkin’s April decision, which supported a motion by local activists who argued that federal officials had not complied with several laws in approving the project to replace the 38-year-old, six-lane bridge with a 12-lane span.
“We’re going to argue that we did meet our [environmental] requirements with the first review,” said Slater.
He said DOT would go ahead with the planning process on two tracks. The department will conduct studies required to move the 12-lane design forward. In case its appeals are denied, DOT also will proceed with the additional environmental reviews of 10-lane options ordered by Sporkin.
The Wilson Bridge, which spans the Potomac between Virginia and Maryland outside of Washington, D.C., is a major connector for commerce on the Eastern Seaboard. More than 1.3% of the total gross national product crosses the bridge, hauled by the 14,000 trucks that travel it each day.
John Undeland, a spokesman for the Wilson Bridge Project, said engineers had begun complying with Sporkin’s ruling “because we don’t have a year or two to waste.”
Undeland said officials have been making interim repairs on the bridge based on the premise that a new span will be completed by 2004. He warned that if legal delays throw off the schedule much beyond then, the span may deteriorate to the point that it could not support the weight of big trucks. If the bridge reached that point, truck traffic would have to be diverted to other routes through the already crowded roads in the area.
“Obviously, it would create enormous public havoc to have to reroute 14,000 trucks off the bridge each day,” said Undeland.
McVay’s local opposition group says a 10-lane bridge would be a better choice than the 12-lane project favored by federal officials. It says the larger bridge will cost $1 billion more, take longer to build and create more traffic problems than it solves.
