September 2003

In the second part of a two-weekend operation, a crew from High Steel Structures, Inc. installed the remaining three of six 100-ton bridge beams 100 feet into the air over Interstate 95/395N, at the Springfield Interchange, 12 miles south of Washington DC. The beams filled a 600-foot gap on the mile-long bridge that will eventually carry traffic from the Washington Beltway's Inner Loop to I-95 south.

I-395N was closed to traffic on Saturday evening, September 6, 2003, during this critical operation. I-395N motorists were detoured seven-miles onto the Beltway's I-95N/495E Outer-Loop and rerouted to the east for a turn-around back onto the Inner Loop to return to I-395N. While I-395N was originally scheduled to reopen at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 7, work was completed sooner then expected and the road was reopened to traffic at 9:15 a.m.

The structural steel work is part of Shirley Contracting Corporation's contract to complete Phase 4 of the seven-phase Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) eight-year, $676 million Springfield Interchange Improvement Project.