Drivers warned to avoid Beltway

Transportation officials warned motorists yesterday to avoid the Woodrow Wilson Bridge this weekend.

“That’s our one message, ’Stay away if you can,’” said John Undeland, a spokesman for the bridge construction project.

Officials said they must close several lanes and ramps for a critical phase of the $2.44 billion project, shifting the Outer Loop lanes of the Capital Beltway to accommodate new spans and work on the Washington Street overpass.

The Outer Loop will be reduced to one lane from the Route 1 interchange to the bridge. The ramps from Route 1 to the Outer Loop also will be closed. Officials are closing an entrance ramp to the bridge at the Springfield Interchange, where the Beltway meets Interstate 95. Local traffic will be diverted to Interstate 395 and to the 14th Street Bridge. Through travelers will be routed to the American Legion Bridge.

The closings and detours will begin Friday at 8 p.m. and are expected to end Monday at 5 a.m.

Officials are telling motorists to avoid the roughly 7-mile stretch because they anticipate that even half the normal Saturday traffic will result in 10- to 15-mile backups and delays as long as 90 minutes.

Ronaldo “Nick” Nicholson of the Virginia Department of Transportation said numerous detour signs have been posted, including some as far south as Richmond.

Those who take the bridge route must reduce their speed in the area to no more than 50 mph.

During the 57-hour project, which is expected to create the worst backups in the 11-year bridge project, crews will lay as much as 24 inches of asphalt. Each 2-inch layer of 300-degree asphalt must cool before the next is applied.

Transportation officials in the District, Maryland and Virginia have helped plan the detours and alert motorists who use the Outer Loop and the bridge to cross the Potomac River from Virginia to Maryland.

Kellie Boulware, a Maryland State Highway Administration spokeswoman, said the agency is linking its Web site to www.wilsonbridge.com and is announcing advisories to motorists on its radio station, 1620 AM.

Maryland officials recommend drivers take the Inner Loop from Northern Virginia into Maryland, or take Route 301 from Richmond into the District.

The highway administration will increase its police patrols on the Beltway to ensure accidents are cleared quickly.

Alexandria is the closest city to the bridge and is expected to experience most of the problems. The city’s police department will put officers at high-traffic intersections such as Duke Street and Telegraph Road, which connects to Interstate 495.

“We’ve had increased congestion on Route 1 before, and every time there is something on the bridge that causes delay on the Beltway,” said Amy Bertsch, an Alexandria Police Department spokeswoman, who expects motorists will exit on Duke Street and Eisenhower Avenue.

Officials have spent thousands of dollars on a radio campaign to warn motorists and yesterday held a press event to help reporters inform the public.

The project is about 40 percent complete, said Marcelino Romero of Potomac Crossing Consultants.

Similar delays are expected in two to four weekends when crews begin similar work on the Beltway’s Inner Loop.

When the first new six-lane span is completed next spring, it will carry traffic in both directions until the summer of 2008, when the second six-lane span is to be completed.

The traffic delays and congestion eventually will pay off, said John Townsend, a spokesman with AAA Mid-Atlantic.

“I think that this is short-term pain for a long-term gain,” he said. “In the long run, this and the [Springfield] Mixing Bowl are the two most important transportation projects. When these things come on line, they are going to ease a lot of congestion.”

Mr. Undeland said the project is the second largest of its type in the country, exceeded only by one in Boston.