Heather Curtis
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) There may be relief in the future for people caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the American Legion Bridge. The Montgomery County Council and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors wrote a letter to Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn and Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne asking for help easing traffic jams on the bridge.

“We have collectively been making this case for this for a long long time, and then we’re just, frankly, re-iterating an unquestionable need to get working on the American Legion Bridge,” said Montgomery County Council Vice President Nancy Floreen.

She said as elected leaders, her council and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors can’t locally fund repairs or improvements to the 53-year-old bridge. Even though Maryland owns the bridge, she said her state and Virginia would need to work together to solve congestion problems.

Layne said he talked to Rahn and both are willing to work together with the counties on the problem.

“The real issue is getting more people through there, not so much more vehicles or single occupant vehicles, but more people,” Layne said.

Possible solutions including extending Virginia’s HOT Lanes and adding a bus route to the bridge, which is the most-used Potomac River Crossing in the area.

Layne said doing nothing is not an option because the traffic jams will keep getting worse.

The biggest obstacle according to Floreen is money, but Montgomery and Fairfax counties need to push to get repairs and improvements prioritized.

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