Virginia plans to expand the Long Bridge connection with another crossing
TRANSIT By Stephen Repetski (Editorial Board Alum) November 20, 2019



The Long Bridge by Elvert Barnes licensed under Creative Commons.

The state of Virginia and the District are planning to add another crossing to supplement the rail capacity of the 115-year-old Long Bridge and expand commuter, intercity, and freight rail service throughout the region. Addressing the Long Bridge bottleneck is vital to Amtrak and the Virginia Railway Express’s (VRE) ability to run more frequent trains and prepare for expected growth in ridership, as well as growth in freight throughout the eastern seaboard.

The Long Bridge is a two-track bridge which carries the only rail tracks between Virginia and DC other than Metrorail. No other rail bridge connects Virginia to DC or Maryland south of the Long Bridge, and the next connection point north is at Harpers Ferry. The bridge is a critical link in the east-coast rail network for both passenger and freight rail traffic.

Being able to run more trains over the Long Bridge eliminates the bottleneck that currently constrains ridership potential on all commuter and intercity systems in the region, which adds to existing congestion and adds to parking needs in urban areas such as downtown DC and Crystal City and Alexandria. Virginia feels the constraint most acutely, and is leading efforts for the region to expand the bridge’s capacity.

“The Long Bridge is everything for VRE,” noted Fairfax Supervisor John Cook. “Without the Long Bridge, VRE probably disappears…If it doesn’t grow because of the economies of scale, it eventually gets to the point where it can’t fund itself.”
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Alternative A, the preferred alternative for Long Bridge. Image by DDOT.



The rest of Alternative A for Long Bridge Image by DDOT.
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A glimpse of the Long Bridge Project. Image by DDOT.
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Stephen Repetski is a Virginia native and has lived in the Fairfax area for over 20 years. He has a BS in Applied Networking and Systems Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology and works in Information Technology. Learning about, discussing, and analyzing transit (especially planes and trains) is a hobby he enjoys.