The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Project

Rich CarmonaMichael Francis

• Completed 1964• Total Length –1798m• Width – 33.5m• 6 Lanes of Traffic• Height – 50 ft• Designed to carry

75,000 vehicles per day

• $15 Million

The Original Bridge

Current Conditions In Washington D.C.

• Approximately 200,000 vehicles per day• Estimated to grow to 295,000 per day by 2020• Trucks will have to be prohibited in 2004

• Cost of rehabilitation is equal to the cost of a new bridge

• Structural damage caused by dynamic vibrations from overloading

New Bridge

• Total Length –1829m• Width – 72.3m• 12 Lanes• Height – 70 ft• 18 Spans• Box-girder

construction• Cost – $492 million

Bascule Span Bridge

• 17th Street Bridge (completed 2001)

• Total Length – 582m• Width - 32.6m• 4 Lanes• Height – 55 ft• Variable depth

segmental construction • Cost - $65 million

Parsons Transportation

• New Tacoma Narrows Bridge (completed 2007)

• Total Length – 1645m • Main Span – 853m• Width – 20.1m• 3 Lanes• Deck stiffened suspension• $615 Million

Cost Comparison

$0.00

$500.00

$1,000.00

$1,500.00

$2,000.00

cost/sqft

New Wilson

17th Street

Tacoma

Narrows

• Both bascule spans are much cheaper per square foot

• Slightly higher costs of the new Wilson Bridge can be attributed to its greater height

Scientific

Social Impact

• Traffic Lanes will increase from 6 to 12• Eventually there will be mass transit over the

bridge

Bridge Openings

• The new bridge is taller to allow for fewer openings of the drawbridge which means less standstills.

• The backups are regularly miles long in both directions as eight lanes of beltway squeeze into six.

Social Impact• Alternatives was to reroute trucks to I-395, I-

295 and Route 301.• About 20,000 trucks a day could be diverted

from the Beltway. $58 Billion of trucked GDP crossed the bridge in 1993.

• The diversion of traffic from I-95 would have bad effects on the economy

Symbolic

• Symbolic of the politics and red tape of D.C.• Looking towards the past • Will increase the suburbanization of

Washington D.C.

Symbolic

• In D.C. it had the opportunity to be a memorable structure-identifying mark of the region

Structural Art• Does our bridge “qualify” as structural art?

Structural Art

• Park within a structure?• Is the bridge honest with us?• Does it accurately convey the forces of the

bridge?

Does it Matter?

• Utilitarian purpose of a bridge- to get people and goods from here to there, in cars, trucks, bicycles or whatever.

• Aesthetic and symbolic- to make these crossings meaningful to participants and also to distant observers in boats, on river embankments, in neighboring buildings

“Change is not worthwhile unless it shows improvement”

-President Woodrow Wilson