THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994            TAG: 9411260060
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B03  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                         LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

POTOMAC RIVER NEEDS A NEW SPAN, STUDY SAYS

The crumbling Woodrow Wilson Bridge is carrying twice the traffic it was designed to handle and will fail within 10 years unless it is extensively repaired or replaced, according to a study.

The 33-year-old drawbridge carries about 167,000 cars and trucks daily as part of the Capital Beltway over the Potomac River between Alexandria and Prince George's County, Md. The bridge is one of the major chokepoints on the Beltway, and backups there also affect traffic on Interstate 95 and other major routes.

``It's a source of huge delays every day,'' said Lon Anderson, spokesman for the American Automobile Association. ``I feel sorry for anybody that has to use that bridge every day.''

After the study earlier this year by a group of federal and state engineers, a bipartisan group of engineers and local officials said a new Wilson Bridge authority should finance, build and operate a new crossing of the Potomac River. It would be built next to the existing span. The existing six-lane bridge would be limited to automobile traffic, and a new crossing near it would be designed to carry heavier trucks. The cost could be as much as $1 billion.

Under a proposal announced this week, the bridge would be turned over to a regional transportation authority similar to the agencies that run Washington's subway and the area's airports.

The federal government owns the bridge, and Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia share maintenance and operation. The proposal is to transfer ownership and operation to the regional authority, which could raise money from tolls, bonds and private sources.

Former Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman John F. Herrity said a regional authority is needed because existing government bodies cannot address the bridge's problems. Herrity is chairman of the bipartisan group, called the Interstate Study Commission. by CNB