Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project Photos

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Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project Photos - August 2006

The following photos show various views of the I-95/I-495 Woodrow Wilson Bridge (WWB) Project construction.

On August 29, 2006, 33 minutes after midnight, the Virginia approach to the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge was demolished by a series of explosive charges. All traffic on the segment of the Beltway was stopped for 30 minutes, for the detonation.

Just before Beltway traffic was stopped, photo taken by Trevor Wrayton of VDOT, from the roof of a Hunting Towers Apartment building. Click on the photo to get a large version of the photo.

The detonation at 12:33 AM. Five-second time lapse photo taken by Trevor Wrayton of VDOT, from the roof of a Hunting Towers Apartment building. Click on the photo to get a large version of the photo (354 kilobytes).

The WWB Project website has a video of the detonation:
'Toughest Bridge Commute' Contest / Old Wilson Bridge Demolition

"Wilson Bridge Span Demolition Clears Way for Final Construction", article by the Roads to the Future author in the Fall 2006 edition of the ASHE Scanner (excerpt in blue text):
In a year of major milestones for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (WWB) Project, another major milestone occurred at 12:33 AM on August 29, 2006, with the after-midnight demolition of the Virginia overland approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which was demolished in less than 10 seconds by a series of explosive demolition charges. The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project has been under construction since October 2000, to provide a new 12-lane Potomac River bridge and to overall upgrade 7.5 miles of the I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway in Maryland and Virginia, to a width of 10 to 12 lanes, including the reconstruction of four urban interchanges, with a total of all costs of $2.42 billion.

See the URL for the rest of the article (file is 97 kilobytes in size). The article has details about the demolition process. This article is in the Fall 2006 edition of the ASHE Scanner, on pages 12 and 13, and that full edition file is 2.4 megabytes in size. ASHE is the American Society of Highway Engineers. The detonation photo was taken by Trevor Wrayton of VDOT, and that photo was also published in Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine on December 25, 2006 as one of the "top images of the year" for 2006.

The following 40 photos were taken on August 14, 2006, by the Virginia Department of Transportation, and are posted here with their permission. Roads to the Future utilized PhotoDeluxe Business Edition to sharpen and brighten and to align all of the photos. Click on the photo to get a large version of the photo. In later versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer, you probably will need to use Full Screen mode (the F11 key can be utilized to swap back and forth between Full Screen and Regular) to see the full size of the large photo without browser-induced image shrinkage. The large photos have sizes ranging from 131 to 247 kilobytes, with most of them being under 191 kilobytes. With a broadband or network Internet connection each photo will download within seconds, but with a dial-up Internet connection it will be somewhat slower.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened (in June and July) approach roadways to the new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, which is currently configured to carry 3 Beltway Outer Loop lanes and 3 Beltway Inner Loop lanes.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished. Piles of demolished asphalt pavement are visible to the left, and they were from the Beltway temporary tie-in roadways between the original bridge and under the southern half of the Washington Street Urban Deck.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure, and the Virginia-side bascule leaf has already been removed from its bascule pier. Notice the raised drawspan of the original bridge. The under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge is to the left of the new Outer Loop bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened (in June and July) new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, which is currently configured to carry 3 Beltway Outer Loop lanes and 3 Beltway Inner Loop lanes. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat. The Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the new bridge is in the lower left corner of the photo.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat. Notice the raised drawspan of the original bridge.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, looking across the Beltway, notice the Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the original bridge, being demolished, in the upper middle part of the photo.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, looking across the Beltway, notice the Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the original bridge, being demolished, in the left of the photo. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in. Notice the new pylon with the name of the new bridge, carrying the same name as the original bridge, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, and carrying the same medallion of President Woodrow Wilson which was formerly on the side of the original bridge's drawspan control tower.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat. The Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the new bridge is visible in the foreground where the asphalt (dark) pavement meets the concrete (light brown) bridge roadway deck.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in. The Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is currently being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure, and the Virginia-side bascule leaf has already been removed from its bascule pier.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, looking across the Beltway, notice the Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the original bridge, being demolished, in the left of the photo. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in. Notice the new pylon with the name of the new bridge, carrying the same name as the original, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, and carrying the same medallion of President Woodrow Wilson which was formerly on the side of the original bridge's drawspan control tower.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing construction of the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria VA. The Washington Street Deck has been completed over the local and express Beltway Outer Loop roadways. Washington Street is the highway that crosses the Beltway, and its traffic is being maintained during construction over the Beltway. The completed Washington Street Deck will span the entire reconstructed 12-lane Beltway, and the deck will be over 200 feet long and over 200 feet wide, and will carry the 4-lane divided Washington Street with landscaping over the rest of the deck. The section of the reconstructed Beltway from the Virginia abutment of the Potomac River Bridge to a couple hundred yards west of the Washington Street Deck and inclusive of the Washington Street Deck, is being built under the US Route 1 Interchange Tie-In contract.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing construction of the Washington Street Urban Deck, with construction of the Beltway U.S. Route 1 Interchange in the distance.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing construction of the Washington Street Urban Deck, with construction of the U.S. Route 1 Interchange in the distance.

WWB Project construction, photo of the demolition of the Virginia abutment of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.

WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure, and the Virginia-side bascule leaf has already been removed from its bascule pier. Notice the raised drawspan of the original bridge. The under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge is to the left of the new Outer Loop bridge.

WWB Project construction, the new pylon with the name of the new bridge, carrying the same name as the original bridge, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, and carrying the same medallion of President Woodrow Wilson which was formerly on the side of the original bridge's drawspan control tower.

WWB Project construction, the underside of the new 6-lane Outer Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

WWB Project construction, a V-pier under construction on the new 6-lane Inner Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge bridge, on the Virginia Approach Spans contract (Potomac River Bridge Virginia Approach Spans contract).

WWB Project construction, the underside of the new 6-lane Outer Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge, looking from the Virginia overland section towards the Potomac River.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished, and to the right, V-piers under construction on the new 6-lane Inner Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge bridge, on the Virginia Approach Spans contract.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished. Looking westward from the access road to Jones Point.

Virginia approaches construction to the Potomac River Bridge, looking at the V-pier at the Virginia shoreline, the newly-opened 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge is visible.
The V-piers on the approach spans are being constructed via the precast segmental method, whereby reinforced concrete segments are cast in a fabrication yard, and assembled on the pier foundations and post-tensioned with steel cables that pass through channels in the piers. The arches are held in place by temporary steel cables until the reinforced concrete cross-member links the two arches. The bridge's steel beams and roadway deck are constructed across the top of the piers.

WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.

Potomac River Bridge construction, to the left is the Virginia approach of the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge.

Potomac River Bridge construction, looking east from Virginia shoreline, view of the Bascule Span construction, which is being built under the Potomac River Bridge Bascule Spans contract. To the right is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge.

Potomac River Bridge construction, looking east from Virginia shoreline, view of the Bascule Span construction. To the right is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge. To the left is the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge which is being demolished.

Potomac River Bridge construction, looking west from the western (Virginia side) bascule pier. To the left is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge. To the right is the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge which is being demolished.

Potomac River Bridge construction, looking west from the western bascule pier. To the left is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge. To the right is the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge which is being demolished.

WWB Project construction, the raised eastern (Maryland side) bascule leaf of the original bridge.

Potomac River Bridge construction, looking east from Virginia shoreline, view of the Bascule Span construction.

Virginia approaches construction to the Potomac River Bridge, looking at the span between the Virginia shoreline and the bascule span.

Lead article - Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project Photos

This article was released on September 1, 2006, with the 13 photos of August 14, 2006 numbered 01 thru 13. The 27 photos of August 14, 2006 numbered 14 thru 40, were added on September 21, 2006. The 2 demolition photos of August 29, 2006 and information was added on January 3, 2007.

Copyright � 2006-2007 by Scott Kozel. All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse, or distribution without permission is prohibited.

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By Scott M. Kozel, Capital Beltway dot com, Roads to the Future

(Created 9-1-2006, updated 1-3-2007, moved to capital-beltway.com on 3-24-2007)

	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened (in June and July) approach roadways to the new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, which is currently configured to carry 3 Beltway Outer Loop lanes and 3 Beltway Inner Loop lanes.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished. Piles of demolished asphalt pavement are visible to the left, and they were from the Beltway temporary tie-in roadways between the original bridge and under the southern half of the Washington Street Urban Deck.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure, and the Virginia-side bascule leaf has already been removed from its bascule pier. Notice the raised drawspan of the original bridge. The under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge is to the left of the new Outer Loop bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened (in June and July) new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, which is currently configured to carry 3 Beltway Outer Loop lanes and 3 Beltway Inner Loop lanes. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat. The Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the new bridge is in the lower left corner of the photo.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat. Notice the raised drawspan of the original bridge.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, looking across the Beltway, notice the Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the original bridge, being demolished, in the upper middle part of the photo.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, looking across the Beltway, notice the Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the original bridge, being demolished, in the left of the photo. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in. Notice the new pylon with the name of the new bridge, carrying the same name as the original bridge, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, and carrying the same medallion of President Woodrow Wilson which was formerly on the side of the original bridge's drawspan control tower.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in somewhat. The Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the new bridge is visible in the foreground where the asphalt (dark) pavement meets the concrete (light brown) bridge roadway deck.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in. The Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is currently being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure, and the Virginia-side bascule leaf has already been removed from its bascule pier.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, looking across the Beltway, notice the Virginia abutment (terminal structure) of the original bridge, being demolished, in the left of the photo. Same vantage point as previous photo, but zoomed in. Notice the new pylon with the name of the new bridge, carrying the same name as the original, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, and carrying the same medallion of President Woodrow Wilson which was formerly on the side of the original bridge's drawspan control tower.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing construction of the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria VA. The Washington Street Deck has been completed over the local and express Beltway Outer Loop roadways. Washington Street is the highway that crosses the Beltway, and its traffic is being maintained during construction over the Beltway. The completed Washington Street Deck will span the entire reconstructed 12-lane Beltway, and the deck will be over 200 feet long and over 200 feet wide, and will carry the 4-lane divided Washington Street with landscaping over the rest of the deck. The section of the reconstructed Beltway from the Virginia abutment of the Potomac River Bridge to a couple hundred yards west of the Washington Street Deck and inclusive of the Washington Street Deck, is being built under the US Route 1 Interchange Tie-In contract.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing construction of the Washington Street Urban Deck, with construction of the Beltway U.S. Route 1 Interchange in the distance.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the top floor of a Hunting Towers Apartment building, showing construction of the Washington Street Urban Deck, with construction of the U.S. Route 1 Interchange in the distance.
	WWB Project construction, photo of the demolition of the Virginia abutment of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.
	WWB Project construction, photo taken from the Washington Street Urban Deck in Alexandria, Virginia, showing the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge. The original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is to the left and it is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure, and the Virginia-side bascule leaf has already been removed from its bascule pier. Notice the raised drawspan of the original bridge. The under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge is to the left of the new Outer Loop bridge.
	WWB Project construction, the new pylon with the name of the new bridge, carrying the same name as the original bridge, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, and carrying the same medallion of President Woodrow Wilson which was formerly on the side of the original bridge's drawspan control tower.
	WWB Project construction, the underside of the new 6-lane Outer Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
	WWB Project construction, a V-pier under construction on the new 6-lane Inner Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge bridge, on the Virginia Approach Spans contract (Potomac River Bridge Virginia Approach Spans contract).
	WWB Project construction, the underside of the new 6-lane Outer Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge, looking from the Virginia overland section towards the Potomac River.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished, and the concrete roadway deck has already been removed from the steel girder superstructure.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished, and to the right, V-piers under construction on the new 6-lane Inner Loop Woodrow Wilson Bridge bridge, on the Virginia Approach Spans contract.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished. Looking westward from the access road to Jones Point.
	Virginia approaches construction to the Potomac River Bridge, looking at the V-pier at the Virginia shoreline, the newly-opened 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge is visible. The V-piers on the approach spans are being constructed via the precast segmental method, whereby reinforced concrete segments are cast in a fabrication yard, and assembled on the pier foundations and post-tensioned with steel cables that pass through channels in the piers. The arches are held in place by temporary steel cables until the reinforced concrete cross-member links the two arches. The bridge's steel beams and roadway deck are constructed across the top of the piers.
	WWB Project construction, the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge is being demolished.
	Potomac River Bridge construction, to the left is the Virginia approach of the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge.
	Potomac River Bridge construction, looking east from Virginia shoreline, view of the Bascule Span construction, which is being built under the Potomac River Bridge Bascule Spans contract. To the right is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge.
	Potomac River Bridge construction, looking east from Virginia shoreline, view of the Bascule Span construction. To the right is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge. To the left is the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge which is being demolished.
	Potomac River Bridge construction, looking west from the western (Virginia side) bascule pier. To the left is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge. To the right is the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge which is being demolished.
	Potomac River Bridge construction, looking west from the western bascule pier. To the left is the newly-opened new 6-lane Outer Loop Potomac River Bridge, and in the center is the under-construction new 6-lane Inner Loop Potomac River Bridge. To the right is the Virginia approach of the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge which is being demolished.
	WWB Project construction, the raised eastern (Maryland side) bascule leaf of the original bridge.
	Potomac River Bridge construction, looking east from Virginia shoreline, view of the Bascule Span construction.
	Virginia approaches construction to the Potomac River Bridge, looking at the span between the Virginia shoreline and the bascule span.