CHIRAG NARA SIMHA

chiragns@umich.edu (734) 747-3120

ISD 520 HW 1: SOLUTION

UMID: 77031766

I have not provided and have not received any unauthorized help on this assignment.
1. List the stakeholders for the Woodrow Wilson bridge.
Solution:
a. Financial Stakeholders
US Department of Transportation
Maryland State
Virginia State
District of Columbia
b. WWB Project Design committee and Civil Engineers
c. Citizens/People of Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia and others who use I-95/I-495 to
commute.
d. Sailors on the Potomac River and US coast Guard
e. Environmentalists and Cyclists
2. How were each of the stakeholders formally represented?
Solution:
a. Financial Stakeholders
US Department of Transportation were represented by Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) and were responsible for funding most of the WWB Projects expenses. Out of the
$2.4 billion which was the project estimated cost, FHWA was responsible for $1.97 billion.
Maryland State were represented by Maryland State Highway Administration (MDOT) who
had agreed to provide $200 million for the project. Maryland state had signed an agreement
to share the maintenance and ownership of the bridge with Virginia state after the completion
of the project.
Virginia State were represented by Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and had
also agreed to invest $200 million for the project. Virginia had also signed the agreement
along with Maryland State to share the maintenance and ownership of the bridge after project
completion.
District Department of Transportation (DDOT) were representing District of Columbia and
were to invest $30 million. They were responsible for the draw span portion of the WWB.
b. WWB Project Design committee and Civil Engineers
The Project Design Engineers proposed a suitable design plan for the renovation of the old
WWB carefully considering all the factors which was later agreed by the local governmental
and public involvement process, and the state and federal DOTs. The proposed design was to
build a new 12-lane twin-span Potomac River Bridge, with twin bascule spans with 70 feet of
vertical navigational clearance when closed, and widened 12-lane dual-divided beltway for
several miles on each approach, for a total of 7.5 miles of Beltway reconstruction. The
additional 20 feet of main span clearance will reduce drawbridge openings by two-thirds. The
Civil Engineers were responsible to bring this design into reality in the given time period.
c. Citizens/People of Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia and others who use I-95/I-495 to
commute
They are the Tax Payers and the sole purpose of this project. WWB Project was focused to
unclog the areas worst bottlenecks, caused by the merging of I-95 and I-495. Public officials
from the affected jurisdictions in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia were

representing formally on behalf of all citizens by participating in the Project Coordination

Committee formed by local, regional, State and Federal government.
d. Sailors on the Potomac River and US Coast Guard
The draw bridge on the WWB was to facilitate the movement of big vessels across the
Potomac River and US coast guard were the representatives and had the authority over the
raising and lowering of the draw span.
e. Environmentalists and Cyclists
They were represented by Environmental Groups who were able to raise their concerns to the
project planning committee.
3. To what extent did the Woodrow Wilson bridge design satisfy each of the stakeholders?
Solution:
a. Financial Stakeholders
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had approved the WWB Financial Plan budget at
$2.443 billion, but the project completed its financial close in early 2015 at $2.357 billion.
Which is $86 million below its original budget after more than 10 years of construction.
Therefore, the proposed design proved to serve its purpose successfully and the financial
stakeholders were very satisfied with the overall turnout of the project expenditure.
b. WWB Project Design Committee and Civil Engineers
The WWB Project Design Committee and civil engineers not only had suggested a perfect
design considering and satisfying all factors but also implemented the task faultlessly. And as
a result for their effort The Woodrow Wilson Bridge project was the recipient of numerous,
prestigious awards, including four ARTBA national awards for environmental excellence, the
ASCE OPAL award, the Gustav Lindenthal Award, the Marvin M. Black Excellence in
Partnering award and the ACEC Grand Award.
The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project was named the 2008 Outstanding Civil Engineering
Achievement (OCEA), by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Thus the project
was a great success for the civil engineers as well.
c. Citizens/People of Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia and others who use I-95/I-495
When it opened in 1961, the original Woodrow Wilson Bridge was designed to accommodate
75,000 trips per day. By the end of its life it was carrying nearly 200,000 trips and was
classified as functionally obsolete. The new Woodrow Wilson Bridge project replaced nearly
12 percent of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495/95) and created four new interchanges,
resolving one of the worst bottlenecks on the East Coast.
The inner lane each way that is for HOV/busway or rail transit purpose, is built as part of the
WWB Project. This will also provide for the ability to have reliable high-speed express bus
transit service for the citizens.
The new bridge design with a 70-foot navigational clearance would not present a real
aesthetic problem, which was a concern for the citizens of Old Town Alexandria.
d. Sailors on the Potomac River and US Coast Guard
The Woodrow Wilson Bridge is one of only nine bridges on the U.S. Interstate Highway
System that contains a movable span. Under Coast Guard regulations, the 50-foot vertical
navigational clearance draw span opened approximately 260 times per year to allow for the
passage of marine traffic with greater than 50-foot height above water, traveling the Potomac
River. This resulted in additional delays and congestion within the highway corridor. But the
new WWB drawbridges are 20 feet higher than the pre-existing bridge, the number of
openings will be reduced to about 65 per year (or about one per week), down from the
previous 260 openings per year. Based on current marine traffic this is a 75 percent reduction.
Thus enabling a smoother movement for the vessels.

e. Environmentalists and Cyclists

The WWB project included an environmental mitigation program, which used a holistic and
water-shed based approach to link local and regional environmental needs. Additional
environmental mitigation efforts included park land improvements, reforestation, wetland
creation, fishery restocking, submerged aquatic vegetation planting and replacement of an
abandoned landfill along the Anacostia River with more than 23 acres of tidal wetlands.
The northern span of the bridge also includes pedestrian and bike passage, separated from
traffic by safety barriers. The path, which opened on June 6, 2009, is approximately 12 feet
(3.7 m) wide and 1.1 miles (1.8 km) long, with "bump-out" areas where users can stop to
observe views of Washington and Old Town Alexandria.
4. What were the external interfaces?
Solution:
a. Two merging roadways on the bridge. One I-95 and the other I-495 made the bridge very
congested.
b. The Drawbridge openings on the original bridge often caused severe traffic jams. With around
200,000 vehicles passing per day, opening the drawbridge was causing additional traffic jam.
c. The traffic made it impossible for the bike riders and pedestrians to travel across the bridge
safely.
d. There was no express public transport system on the old Bridge.
e. The bridge created a bottleneck which resulted in accident rates twice those of other segments of
the Beltway.
f. The stop-and-go peak period traffic conditions contributed to a decreased air quality near the
bridge area.
5. How did the Wilson Bridge project address each of these interfaces?
Solution:
a. Two merging roadways on the bridge. One I-95 and the other I-495 made the bridge very
congested.
To address this issue, the pre-existing 6-lane bridge, which carries I-95 and I-495 across the
Potomac River, was replaced with side-by-side bridges with a total of 12 lanes to ease the
congestion.
b. The Drawbridge openings on the original bridge often caused severe traffic jams. With around
200,000 vehicles passing per day, opening the drawbridge was causing additional traffic jam.
To address this issue, they constructed a new draw bridge which is 20 feet higher than the preexisting bridge. This allows passage of marine traffic with up to 70 feet height and based on
current marine traffic, this has led to 75 percent reduction in the opening of draw bridge.
c. The traffic made it impossible for the bike riders and pedestrians to travel across the bridge
safely.
To address this issue, hey included a pedestrian and bike passage, separated from traffic by safety
barriers. The path is approximately 12 feet wide and 1.1 miles long, with "bump-out" areas where
users can stop to observe views of Washington and Old Town Alexandria.

d. There was no express public transport system on the old Bridge.

To address this issue, in the new design the inner lane each way is dedicated for HOV/busway or
rail transit purpose. This also provide for the ability to have reliable high-speed express bus
transit service for the citizens.
e. The bridge created a bottleneck which resulted in accident rates twice those of other segments of
the Beltway.
To address this issue, the new design consists of Two merge/auxiliary lanes to allow safe
acceleration and deceleration of vehicles traveling between the adjacent Maryland I-295 and
Virginia US-1 interchanges. This would be a 3-3-3-3 dual-divided lane configuration with full
inside and outside emergency shoulders on each individual roadway.
f.

The stop-and-go peak period traffic conditions contributed to a decreased air quality near the
bridge area.
The new 12 lane bridge design has significantly contributed to reduced congestion traffic and thus
reducing the air pollution in the area.