By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 29, 1999; Page

Federal transportation officials, offering their first estimate of how long it might take to comply with a federal court decision ordering more review of a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, said yesterday that a full environmental study would likely require two years.

But transportation officials told members of the area's congressional delegation that they are still consulting with the Department of Justice about whether a less extensive evaluation would satisfy U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin's ruling two weeks ago. This could avoid a delay during which heavy trucks would have to be banned from the primary Potomac River crossing until a new Wilson Bridge is built.

If government lawyers are unable to provide a definitive answer about how much review is required and whether engineering for the new $1.8 billion span can continue at the same time, federal officials may ask Sporkin to clarify his decision banning construction until all environmental laws are met. The Clinton administration has not decided whether to appeal the ruling. Administration and congressional officials repeated yesterday that an appeal could be impractical because of the tight construction schedule for replacing the rapidly deteriorating span.

The lingering uncertainly over how the Federal Highway Administration should respond to the legal setback has prompted Reps. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.) and Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) to press for legislation exempting the Wilson Bridge project from further review. But that strategy opened differences at the session yesterday with other members of the area delegation, in particular Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), who have warned that a complete waiver would set a precedent gutting the country's environmental oversight.

Nor did the U.S. Department of Transportation encourage the lawmakers to take the matter into their own hands. Members of the delegation asked the administration last week for guidance on what Congress could do to assure that a new span is in place before at least 14,000 trucks a day are banned from the existing bridge in 2004. Some members had hoped to draft a measure minimizing any extra review and attach it to the emergency spending bill now before Congress.

"I believe we need a legislative remedy or, I believe, we will be bogged down in a morass of rules and regulations and lawsuits for a decade," Davis said.

But Mikulski said that area representatives should work with the administration to address whatever shortcomings remain in the environmental evaluation of the new bridge. "The need for a new bridge is immediate, but we cannot abandon the strong environmental standards we worked so hard to include in the Clean Air Act," she said.

Sporkin ruled that the highway administration had not properly evaluated any increase in air pollution from vehicles using the proposed 12-lane bridge or the project's impact on historic sites in Alexandria. It might take only a few months to address those concerns, although the government still must identify sources of funds for the project to comply with the Clean Air Act, officials said.

More nettlesome is the judge's finding that the highway administration failed to adequately consider alternatives to the 12-lane bridge, namely a 10-lane version favored by a coalition of Alexandria residents and environmentalists who sued to block the project.

In reporting yesterday that a full review of the 10-lane option would likely take two years, the transportation department offered an estimate more pessimistic than that previously provided by other officials, who said it would require as little as six months.

Chip Nottingham, assistant Virginia transportation secretary, said yesterday that even two years might prove too short a time frame in which to complete a full environmental review. He warned that anything more than a 16-month delay would preclude construction crews from beginning work in fall 2000, considered the latest starting date if the new span is to be finished by 2004.

Most of the area's congressional delegation plans to reconvene soon to chart strategy. Meanwhile, transportation officials are scheduled to meet with Alexandria activists today to see if any compromise is possible.