MCA Agrees that Beltway Bridge Will Last Another 25 Years

Oooooops!

That's essentially what the McLean Citizens Association said last week when they agreed that the American Legion/Cabin John bridge which carries the Beltway across the Potomac River, would  indeed last 25 years more.

In January, the citizens association, McLean's unofficial town council, said the heavily-used commuter bridge had only 10 years "remaining useful life."  The association and its transportation committee  made clear they  wanted to sound an alarm. The board then approved a resolution "to get folks to focus on the need to replace and expand the bridge. . . The MCA needs to start the ball rolling to get more public attention."

In February, Jim Phelps, chair of the Transportation committee was saying, “Maryland, the Federal Highway Administration have all agreed that 10 years was incorrect. It’s all agreed that it’s at least 25 years. . .  The effective  life of that bridge is 25 years.”

MCA revisited the issue again because McLean Patch reported after the January meeting that  Maryland State Highway Authority spokesman David Buck said, "The bridge has 25-plus years of usable life left." Maryland owns the Cabin John Bridge which opened in 1962.

How did this confusion happen? The McLean Citizens Association is concerned that  traffic using the new HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes, now under construction down the center of the Beltway, will flow back into the Beltway very close to the American Legion Bridge. That will add to the existing bottleneck at the bridge. The MCA wants the bridge expanded.

This fall MCA convinced Cong. Frank Wolf, (R-VA), whose district includes McLean,  to call a  meeting with the Federal Highway Administration, according to the resolution the MCA adopted in January. Then the Feds hosted a meeting on this topic with representatives from MCA, the Virginia Department of Transportation, The Maryland State Highways Adminisration and staff members of Cong. Wolf and Montgomery County Cong. Chris Van Hollen.

"MCA representatives learned as a result of the meeting hosted by (the Feds) that the American Legion/Cabin John Bridge has a remaining useful life of approximately ten more years," said the resolution approved by the MCA board. They misheard.

The new revised resolution passed last week said simply, Resolved that MCA calls on officials to address congestion problems on the bridge.