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Transportation officials are urging motorists to avoid the area around the Woodrow Wilson Bridge this weekend as they shift Inner Loop traffic onto the bridge's newly completed span.
Traffic will be limited to one lane along southbound Interstate 95, which is also the inner loop of the Capitol Beltway, until noon on Sunday. Several ramps in Maryland and Virginia will close as crews pave and stripe connections toward the bridge.
Among those most impacted:
- In Maryland, drivers on the ramp from 295 to the Inner Loop will be detoured
- Cars taking ramps to and from the National Harbor, connecting with the Inner Loop, will be detoured
- In Virginia, ramps from the Inner Loop to Route One will be diverted to the Telegraph Road interchange
During a similar operation in 2006 motorists heeded officials warnings to avoid the area, but there were still delays of up to 90 minutes.
The $2.5 billion project is designed to relieve a major bottleneck on the I-95 corridor. By the end of the year, authorities plan to have five lanes open in each direction, including three local lanes and two express lanes. The old bridge was three lanes in each direction.
"So, five in each direction and that's when things will flow a little easier on the bridge," said project spokesman John Undeland. "We still have a good bit more to do landside, particularly at Telegraph Road, and that's going to stay down to a six lane condition for the next couple years here."
Commuters hope the end result is worth the wait.
"It looks like it's going to be a good end result," said motorist Fonz Allen. "Hopefully it's going be worth it. But there's an awful lot of concrete, overpasses, underpasses, and they're still not done. It's just crazy."
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On the Web: The Wilson Bridge Project
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