The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Project

1
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Project

• Rich Carmona
• Michael Francis

2
The Original Bridge

• 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

3
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

4
New Bridge

• Total Length 1829m
• Width 72.3m
• 12 Lanes
• Height 70 ft
• 18 Spans
• Box-girder construction
• Cost 492 million

5
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

6
Parsons Transportation

• New Tacoma Narrows Bridge (completed 2007)
• Total Length 1645m
• Main Span 853m
• Width 20.1m
• 3 Lanes
• Deck stiffened suspension
• 615 Million

7
Cost Comparison

• Both bascule spans are much cheaper per square
  foot
• Slightly higher costs of the new Wilson Bridge
  can be attributed to its greater height

8
Scientific
9
Social Impact

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

10
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.

11
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

12
Symbolic

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

13
Symbolic

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

14
Structural Art

• Does our bridge qualify as structural art?

15
Structural Art

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

16
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

17

• Change is not worthwhile unless it shows
  improvement
• -President Woodrow Wilson