Long Bridge Feasibility & Environmental Studies
What is the Long Bridge?
The Long Bridge is the only railroad bridge connecting Virginia to Washington, D.C. As such, our trains must use the bridge between Crystal City, L’Enfant and Washington Union Station. This steel truss bridge built in 1904 has only two tracks, resulting in a system bottleneck with the competing rail time needs of CSX freight trains, Amtrak intercity passenger trains, and our commuter rail service.
The Long Bridge Project
The Long Bridge Project aims to provide additional railroad capacity as the need to increase the number of trains in the region grows, as well as improve the reliability of railroad service through the area. To address the capacity issues and improve resiliency long-term, the project consists of potential improvements to the Long Bridge and related railroad infrastructure located between the Rosslyn (RO) Interlocking near Long Bridge Park in Arlington, Virginia and the L’Enfant (LE) Interlocking near 10th Street SW in the District.
VRE'S Involvement
VRE is a cooperating agency in the environmental process and continues to collaborate with the FRA, DDOT, CSX Transportation (the owner of the bridge), and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
What's the Latest?
The project reached an important milestone in September 2019 when the Long Bridge Draft EIS (DEIS) was made available for public review.
A public hearing for the DEIS, Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation and PA is scheduled for October 22, 2019, to be held at DCRA Building, Room E200, 1100 4th St. SW Washington, DC 20024.
Refer to the DDOT project website for more information: longbridgeproject.com
Last updated: 9/12/2019