Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge

Most of us who live in the Washington, D.C. area know this bridge.  We may have driven on it a few times crossing the Potomac River. This bridge however actually is a movable bridge! The bridge is a movable bridge that both side of the bridge lift up to allow incoming boats to sail right through.

Awesome right?

The Woodrow Wilson bridge crosses the Potomac River and connects the two states, Virginia and Maryland. This movable bridge took 55 YEARS to build.  The construction finished in April 2013. The total cost of this movable bridge was $2.42 BILLION,  Yes that’s right over a billion dollars to make and years to finish.

It involved the design and construction of a huge structure. Engineers had to design this specific structure to cross a river using a motorized vehicle and allow shipping traffic.

Also what makes the Woodrow Wilson bridge stay up is the support beams that are under it and has piles that go under for extra support to help keep the bridge stable.

Here are some related stories:

http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Woodrow_Wilson_Bridge.html 

https://www.aecom.com/projects/woodrow-wilson-bridge-project/

https://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/woodrow_wilson/