A large, brightly colored map is spread out over a conference room table and John Undeland studies it from above, his hands firmly planted on each side of the complex schematic.
Undeland, a spokesman for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project, is trying to explain the palette of rainbow hues that tangle together on the graphic to depict the next year of bridge construction.
Construction equipment is prevalent in the view looking east from the Hunting Point apartments in Alexandria.
(Photos James M. Thresher -- The Washington Post)
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"There will be giveth, and there will be taketh away," Undeland says, describing the ramps and stretches of roadway that will appear and disappear over the next year as planners and engineers make way for the first six-lane span of bridge, which is scheduled to open in late spring 2006.
Although commuters and Alexandria residents are already well acquainted with the $2.4 billion project to build twin bridges over the Potomac -- the months of ear-splitting pile driving, the congestion, dust and dirt -- officials say the next phases of construction will cause the project's most challenging traffic "impacts" to date.
"This will be the bite-the-bullet year," said Undeland, whose office is hoping that a well-informed public will be a forgiving public.
At $147 million, the rebuilding of the Route 1 interchange is the largest roads contract that the Virginia Department of Transportation has ever awarded -- and one of the biggest traffic headaches of the bridge project thus far. Project officials have continued their public outreach campaign, placing "What to Expect" brochures on doorknobs in affected neighborhoods and posting weekly updates on lane closures on the project's Web site, www.wilsonbridge.com.
But it seems that no amount of warning can truly prepare drivers for bumper-to-bumper traffic. On Feb. 7, motorists got a preview of things to come when the ramp that takes drivers from northbound Route 1 to the outer loop of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495 north) lost a lane and was merged with the ramp that takes motorists from southbound Route 1 to the outer loop. The ramps now taper down to one lane for about a quarter of a mile before entering the outer loop.
Rush-hour traffic backups, exacerbated on the first day of the change by an unrelated traffic accident and a steady stream of construction vehicles trying to navigate the roadway, have sometimes been dramatic.
"The people in the Washington, D.C., area hate being stuck in traffic," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "They hate gridlock, but this is a necessary evil. . . . They're saying, 'I'm going to put up with it because in the long run it'll be better.' That long-term gain will come with some pain."
Officials say the lane reduction, which is expected to be in place for about a year, is necessary to lay the groundwork needed to eventually tie in traffic to the outer loop of the Beltway, which eventually will be widened.
Drivers will see plenty of other changes as crews continue to prepare the roadway for the new bridge, which will open in its entirety in mid-2008.
This summer, commuters can expect more congestion when traffic on the outer and South Washington Street overpass. Officials say the switch will mean, among other changes, temporarily closing the Church Street ramp -- at least for a year -- to allow access for equipment.
Later in the summer, a new, permanent ramp will be opened to deliver traffic from northbound lanes of the Beltway to Route 1 south.
And this fall, officials say, a temporary ramp and traffic light will be installed to take cars from the Beltway's outer loop onto Route 1 north into Old Town, eliminating the existing exit ramp that often startled speeding motorists with its tight curves.
